The Computer People
WINDOWS TIPS AND TRICKS
Product key to install Windows 10
When you’re asked to enter a product key, please enter one of the following keys depending on the edition of Windows 10 you’re installing or activating.
Windows 10 Home: TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99
Windows 10 Pro: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
Windows 10 Enterprise: NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43
These product keys can be used to activate all preview builds of Windows 10 that are officially released by Microsoft, which also means that the key might not work on leaked Windows 10 builds!
Note that the above mentioned Windows 10 product keys work irrespective of the architecture of Windows 10, meaning they support both 32-bit and 64-bit. Note that all these Windows 10 product keys are offered by Microsoft.
*** I M P O R T A N T ***
It is important to realize that whenever you replace some hardware (Motherboard, or a Hard drive) you will be asked to activate Windows.
Even if you just re-image the Hard drive (from another PC) you will again be asked to activate Windows.
That means you have to re-enter the Product key.
It is therefore very prudent to have copied your Product key before these operations.
You can download a free small utility program called
ProduKey to retrieve the Product key from your PC:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/produkey.html
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html
https://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=544
Recover a login password - Win 7 ( you can not login at all )
Restart the computer,
when Starting Windows comes up on the screen,
shut off the computer.
Start it up again,
select Launch Startup Repair (recommended)
and press Enter.
It will come up with:
Do you want to restore your computer using System Restore?
click Cancel
(this part can take up to 5 - 10 minutes)
next click the down triangle arrow in front of View problem details
then scroll all the way down to the last link:
X:\Windows\System32\en-US\erofflps.txt
and click on it
then click on File > Open > Computer
select Local Disk (may have a different drive letter)
and click Windows
( for Files of type: All Files )
look for System32 folder, click on it
look for sethc.exe ( or just sethc ) file
right click and rename it sethc0.exe ( sethc )
look for cmd.exe ( or just cmd ), copy it,
scroll all the way down and paste it to create a copy
and rename it to sethc.exe ( sethc )
close the window, click on don't send
click on Finish .. the computer will turn off.
Start the computer, when it comes up to the login screen,
click (tap) 5x the Shift key
and the command prompt screen will open.
Type: net user ( and press Enter ) to see user logins
Type: net user username * ( and press Enter )
where "username" is the user whose password you want to change.
Change the password, close the command screen
and login ( no need to restart the computer )
Change the Administrator password - Win 7 & 10
( you can login with a different login )
run cmd as Administrator
net user Administrator /random
will change the Administrator's password to a random one
then change it to what you want by:
net user Administrator *
More on password retrieval - Win 7
If you never changed the "built-in" Administrator password ( most people never do ) you can do the following:
Boot into Safe Mode with a Command Prompt
The Administrator login will be displayed on the login screen.
Click the Administrator login and press Enter
in response to password ( by default it has no password ).
Yet another login without a password - Win 10
Here you need the install DVD, or an ISO Win 10 file on DVD.
Once the start-up begins, press Shift + F10 and the Command window should come up. If instead you get a window with Upgrade or Clean Install choices, press Shift + F10 again.
Then replace the utilman.exe with cmd.exe ...
move d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe.bak
copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe
wpeutil reboot
net user "username" /add ... etc ...
How to Reset Forgotten Password in Win 10
Disabling WINDOWS 10 Update:
If you want to disable Windows Update, do this by changing this Registry setting:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows
> Current Version > WindowsUpdate > Auto Update\AUOptions
Set AUOptions to "1" and Windows 10 will never check for updates.
Disabling WINDOWS 10 Update:
If you want to disable Windows Update, do this by changing this Registry setting:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows
> Current Version > WindowsUpdate > Auto Update\AUOptions
Set AUOptions to "1" and Windows 10 will never check for updates.
Disabling Cortana in WINDOWS 10:
If you want to disable Cortana, do this by changing this Registry setting:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Policies > Microsoft
> Windows
At this point, if there is "Windows Search", expand it, if there is none, create one: right click in the right-hand pane, click New, then Key.
Rename the new item "New Key #1" to "Windows Search".
Press Enter to complete the edit.
Right-click in the right-hand pane again, click New, then DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Again, rename the "New Value #1" to "AllowCortana".
The value "0" is exactly what you want.
here is a link to more detail: Get Rid of Cortana