Windows 8.1 Forgot Password no CD Media or Reset Disk

You can download the ultimate boot CD. That works great for me.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

If the defaults were selected during the setup, an m$ account will probably have been created. In that case the offline password reset tool of the UBCD above won't help. You will rather have to go to the M$ Hotmail website and follow the instructions there for instructions on how to reset the password.

if they used a microsoft account
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows-live/account-reset-password-forgot-faq

Follow these simple steps to reset the password on Windows 8.1.

1. Open Power User Tasks Menus by Pressing Windows + X. After that Open Control Panel.
2. Click User Accounts >> Manage Account.
3. If you are prompted by User Account Control then select Yes button.
4. Reset password by clicking on simple Password Protected Local User Account and click Change the Password.
5. In a New Password type twice time to reset a new one for user account. Once you completed all these steps, put on Reset Forgotten Win8.1 or Removed Lost Win8.1 Login Password.

I think this will work for you.

i hope it's not a BIOS password she forgot
in that case :
You can't remove the password, without knowing it !   -->  ( what good is a password that can be "repaired" ?)
modern laptops keep it in a security chip - for anti-theft reasons
resetting the bios does not help;  nor does removing the battery, since the password is not in there
you would need to know in what chip it is, and how to reset that
you have to turn it in to the manufacturer, and show proof of ownership - then they can help
or replace the mobo !

You can try re-installing the windows if you know your license key, the key can also be embedded if it has a Microsoft sticker.

You can download Windows 8.1 from: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8

If you are not sure what you're doing, better contact Support!

Ophcrack Windows password cracker

I have used OPHCrack for Windows 7 password removal. It worked for me!

First and foremost thank you everyone for chiming in. I downloaded ophcrack and created a bootable usb drive utilizing rufus.  Unfortunately no matter what I do I can't get the notebook to boot from the USB device.  I'm not even sure if ophcrack works with Windows 8 since there is no reference to it from this site.  Am I wrong?  

https://sourceforge.net/p/ophcrack/wiki/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions/#which-version-of-the-livecd-should-i-download

collector - am i correct thinking it is the BIOS password you need? then the password recovery tools don't work, they are for recovering windows login passwords

and what system is this?
on a laptop - you can't recover the password :
You can't remove the password, without knowing it !   -->  ( what good is a password that can be "repaired" ?)
modern laptops keep it in a security chip - for anti-theft reasons
resetting the bios does not help;  nor does removing the battery, since the password is not in there
you would need to know in what chip it is, and how to reset that
you have to turn it in to the manufacturer, and show proof of ownership - then they can help
or replace the mobo !

In order to boot from anything that isn't signed and accepted by your BIOS you will need to disable "Secure-Boot" within the BIOS.

But as I already mentioned, if you have setup the OS using it's defaults, then you will be using an m$ account (and account linked with your hotmail account and OneDrive Cloud logon). Such a password you can reset using any boot media, but rather via the m$ web-site where you login to that account.

The password resetting tool is only useful for a standard local account that isn't linked to an email account.

@NOBUS
It is a windows account password that she created during the initial OS walk through wizard when turning on her PC for the first time.

since you can't login to your account - you 'll have to do a fresh install
you could download windows 10 : https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10      

if there is data you want to keep, best backup the data by connecting her disk to a another system
and copy your data

She can reset the Windows account password like any other password. The reset link goes to the email account she used to set it up. I just reset mine last week. All she has to do when logging in is put her login name or email address then select forgot password.