PCunlocker... what's the consensus?

[tmboss]

I usually use net user commands to manage local accounts but a Microsoft account is new to me. Everything I read points to PCunlocker to bypass or reset or make local a Microsoft account.

Ready to buy but I know this is just a layer executing commands. Is there anything better?

Sounds like it would be nice in the toolbox.

My wife's 25 year old nephew passed away suddenly and I've been asked to go after this account on his laptop and look for other browser account Id's and passwords once inside. I've already created another admin local account and have access to files. Just want to run nirsoft tools inside it.

Anything else I should be using?

 

[JustSmartGuys]

I usually use net user commands to manage local accounts but a Microsoft account is new to me. Everything I read points to PCunlocker to bypass or reset or make local a Microsoft account.

Ready to buy but I know this is just a layer executing commands. Is there anything better?

Sounds like it would be nice in the toolbox.

My wife's 25 year old nephew passed away suddenly and I've been asked to go after this account on his laptop and look for other browser account Id's and passwords once inside. I've already created another admin local account and have access to files. Just want to run nirsoft tools inside it.

Anything else I should be using?

PCunlocker is well worth the money. We had been using "PC-Login Now" for all previous versions of Windows but it wasn't capable of unlocking a MS account; PCunlocker has not yet failed to unlock any user account --- money for the program was recouped after the first $50 unlock. Hope this helps.

 

[SAFCasper]

PCunlocker is well worth the money. We had been using "PC-Login Now" for all previous versions of Windows but it wasn't capable of unlocking a MS account; PCunlocker has not yet failed to unlock any user account --- money for the program was recouped after the first $50 unlock. Hope this helps.

Interesting. I've had the exact opposite experience. Not once has it worked to unlock a Microsoft Account on Windows 10.

Maybe we need to update to a newer version because it does work on Windows 8.

EDIT:
We bought the enterprise version for UEFI booting. Never had this work either. We have to switch the bios to legacy before it will boot.

So yeah, overall I haven't been overly impressed.

 

[tf76]

Um....Parted Magic $10. Great tool every tech should use

 

[NJW]

Not once has it worked to unlock a Microsoft Account on Windows 10.

I have successfully unlocked Windows 10 installations (Home, pre-Anniversary Update – never tried Pro or more recent versions) using PCUnlocker. I have the Standard version, so I have to change the BIOS settings anyway (not so onerous), but the .iso can be written to a USB stick (with Rufus) or added to Easy2Boot.

Whereas a Local account can have the password removed, an MS account has the password set to 'password123'. It is then possible to change the account type, within Windows, to Local, if required.

Um....Parted Magic $10. Great tool every tech should use

I don't think it can do anything with MS accounts. If you follow the doc trail (Parted Magic -> chntpw) it refers the reader to PCUnlocker.

 

[gadgetfixup]

PC-Unlocker user for about a year - only ran into a problem unlocking Win10 when it came out and just needed to upgrade. Now it unlocks anything I've come across. Well worth the money. Takes me longer to unset secure boot then it does to reset the password. Some of these BIOS today really run you through an obstacle course to allow booting from a flash drive.

 

[tmboss]

Well, PCunlocker did remove the password from the Microsoft account. I tried the bypass but couldn't get it to work. Maybe "password123" was what I needed. Selected Remove password and then after a lot of work, I ended up with a local account.

Nirsoft tools still never showed any browser passwords.

Thanks for all the input. I was reading along and then finally remembered to update my experience with it. Good tool!

 

[mikeroq]

Did you look in the browers themselves and check for the passwords? Perhaps the MSFT account becoming a local messed them up.

 

[tmboss]

Did you look in the browers themselves and check for the passwords? Perhaps the MSFT account becoming a local messed them up.

I've not done that manually. Is there a file(s) located somewhere? Only ran the Nirsoft utility.

The only browser was Edge in Win 10. I checked the Credentials but it was blank.

I thought the transition to local may have done something. In hind sight, I should have imaged the drive first.

 

[johnrobert]

Very disappointed with PC Unlocker
Spotmau is much better and does so much more used it for years

http://www.spotmau.com/products/package/full.html

 

[NJW]

The only browser was Edge in Win 10. I checked the Credentials but it was blank.

Are you sure that Edge was configured to save passwords? I don't think it is by default.

I haven't had any problems with recovering browser or other passwords after using PCUnlocker, but I don't recall if any of those were Edge. Chrome is the only one that makes it difficult (synchronised off the machine).