Remove the syskey startup password from Windows 7, 8 & 10
To remove the genuine Windows password see Windows Password removal program.
So, there is an added, built-in layer of protection within windows and it's called SYSKEY. This article is about removing the syskey password upon start up in order for you to access your Windows 7 / 8 / 10 machine.
Some laptops/PC's I have repaired recently have had SYSKEY activated by 3rd party crooks who are just after people's money. A couple of customers have fallen for the phone call that is supposed to be from Microsoft or another IT company, stating that their PC is infected. What they will do is say that the PC is infected and they get the customer to download something like 'logmein'. The fraudsters will ask for the login details to "prove" that the system is corrupted. They access via Logmein and install a fake scanning program that reports errors on the customer's system. Then they activate syskey to "protect" the customer from any further attacks, but of course, it's so they can hold the customer to ransom. The customer is then asked to pay a silly amount of money in order for the PC to be cleaned. If not, they get locked out by the syskey password that the scammers have set.
I decided to help others by telling you how I've overcome this problem in the past. Some / all / none of these may work for you, but each has worked for me so just work through until one does.
So, there is an added, built-in layer of protection within windows and it's called SYSKEY. This article is about removing the syskey password upon start up in order for you to access your Windows 7 / 8 / 10 machine.
Some laptops/PC's I have repaired recently have had SYSKEY activated by 3rd party crooks who are just after people's money. A couple of customers have fallen for the phone call that is supposed to be from Microsoft or another IT company, stating that their PC is infected. What they will do is say that the PC is infected and they get the customer to download something like 'logmein'. The fraudsters will ask for the login details to "prove" that the system is corrupted. They access via Logmein and install a fake scanning program that reports errors on the customer's system. Then they activate syskey to "protect" the customer from any further attacks, but of course, it's so they can hold the customer to ransom. The customer is then asked to pay a silly amount of money in order for the PC to be cleaned. If not, they get locked out by the syskey password that the scammers have set.
I decided to help others by telling you how I've overcome this problem in the past. Some / all / none of these may work for you, but each has worked for me so just work through until one does.
Option 1.
The scammers seem to leave the contents of the 'Regback' folder alone, so the first method is to just use the registry backup from that folder. First though you have to boot the Laptop / PC into a command prompt. I used a windows password removal program DVD that has other options built into the program to get to my command prompt. If you have no other options to get to a command prompt, you can purchase my Windows Password removal program - which has the added bonus of allowing you to remove Windows passwords (as the name suggests!). Sorry about the plug....but I genuinely DID use this DVD to help me out! By the way, It will remove Windows password but NOT syskey passwords.
So boot into a command prompt (but you cannot be running the Windows whos registry we are going to replace) and type the following:
xcopy c:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack c:\Windows\System32\config /y
The scammers seem to leave the contents of the 'Regback' folder alone, so the first method is to just use the registry backup from that folder. First though you have to boot the Laptop / PC into a command prompt. I used a windows password removal program DVD that has other options built into the program to get to my command prompt. If you have no other options to get to a command prompt, you can purchase my Windows Password removal program - which has the added bonus of allowing you to remove Windows passwords (as the name suggests!). Sorry about the plug....but I genuinely DID use this DVD to help me out! By the way, It will remove Windows password but NOT syskey passwords.
So boot into a command prompt (but you cannot be running the Windows whos registry we are going to replace) and type the following:
xcopy c:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack c:\Windows\System32\config /y
Option 2.