[Jenna91]

Hi again,

 

 

I was asked to fix my elderly neighbors windows 10 laptop 2 days ago: Dell Inspirion 15 3000 Windows 10. No money, just as a friend. I was given her 4 digit password to log in to windows 10 and with the 4 digit password was able to log in and get to work.

 

During trying to fix up a few last things I told the laptop to boot into safe mode without networking. Like this:

 

When the computer booted up (safe mode, no networking), I was greeted with this screen:

 

A. As you see, this screen requires the password of her e-mail, not the 4 digit log in I was given.

B. I text her saying I need the password for her e-mail to log in.
C. She gives me her password to her e-mail. Proof (me logged in her email box):

D. I say thank you, and try to log in with the e-mail password I was given/ However, it does NOT work.

E. I am not really sure how this happened, but I figure I will reset her e-mail password with her.

F.  I go to her home with my laptop (again, she is my neighbor), and I sit down with her and we reset her e-mail password to something new.

G. I had her laptop there with us ( the one I am working on) and I try to log in with the new password she and I had just made. It does NOT work.

H. I say that I believe the laptop is trying to connect to the wifi at my house and is therefore not syncing the new information. I tell her there is no problem.

I.  I take the laptop over the my house and try to log in again and it does NOT let me log in still.

 

This is where I am stuck.

From this, I am speculating that because I booted the laptop in safe mode without networking, the laptop is not syncing to allow me to use the current password.

 

I have read that I can disable the safe mode boot through the command prompt:

 

However, when I click  ( restart + hold shift key ) to access the command prompt option, I am again redirected to the screen with the password requirement.

 

As a side note, I do NOT have a windows 10 cd (I do not own a windows 10) and she does not have one either. She bought this laptop and it just came as it is. If downloading a windows 10 CD would fix this I am willing to download and burn the ISO on to a CD.

 

Before I possibly mess this brand new laptop up trying to break into it, I would like your advice on what to do. I was thinking to search for some bootable USB that will let me launch the command prompt before that log in screen so I can turn off the safe mode boot and let the passwords sync. This is my best guess. However, I am getting in deep unknown waters for me so I would like your help if you have an idea on how to get past this screen.

 

-Jenna

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Hi,

Did you try the 4 digit login password from Safe Boot?

[iMacg3]

Hi,

Did you try the 4 digit login password from Safe Boot?

[Jenna91]

Did you try the 4 digit login password from Safe Boot?

 

Yes I had that idea also and the laptop did not accept the 4 digit password. I will take screens and/or video if someone needs to see what I can see from this end.

[Jenna91]

Here, you can see an idea of the loop its in. The loading time is a little slow so feel free to click through the video as needed. 

(1:11) = hold shift + click restart.

The password attempt (4:15) is the regular 4 digit one that lets you in on a normal boot, but again it's not in normal boot. It's stuck in the (safe mode + no networking) boot from the msconfig.

Edited by Jenna91, 24 March 2019 - 11:42 AM.

[iMacg3]

Hi,

Is the user account name that you logged into in Normal Boot the same as the one you are attempting to log into in Safe Boot?

[Jenna91]

Normal boot up (not safe mode) = asks for a PIN number (4 digits)

Msconfig/safe mode boot = asks for the e-mail password (which she originally typed in incorrectly and now will not sync with the correct password)

 

It's stuck in the safe mode boot loop (as shown in the video above) unless there is a way out of it.

Edited by Jenna91, 24 March 2019 - 12:25 PM.

[iMacg3]

Hi,

In Normal Boot, do you see a user profile name?

--------------

asks for the e-mail password (which she originally typed in incorrectly and now will not sync with the correct password)

The password is not related to the Yahoo email account password. It's the password set for the account on the computer.

Do you know if this account is a Microsoft account?

[Jenna91]

• On a regular boot (not safe mode), what was coming up (I believe) was "Roses" (her PC name) and then the PIN number requirement. This is the screen I am trying to get the computer back to.


• I thought about the microsoft account as well and I can sign in with the new password I made with her yesterday (shown in the video):

• This (above) means that the yahoo.com (her main e-mail) is used for syncing by the microsoft account (as far as I can tell). Everything is on the same password ..... except the laptop that won't sync to get the new password.

 

As I said earlier my best idea is to talk to it through the command prompt and tell it this:

https://i.postimg.cc/YCL4V2J4/4a.png

These are my options when I log in:

So I know it will talk to a bootable USB if I can find a tool that will run a command prompt before the operating system boots.

 

I found this:

https://www.dell.com...ge-dddp?lang=en

and it loaded up but it ended up not being the same thing as the command prompt.

 

I'll keep looking for something. If you have a better idea let me know.

Edited by Jenna91, 24 March 2019 - 01:53 PM.

[Jenna91]

I am going to try this:

[Jenna91]

I need some help.

My goal is to disable the safe mode by doing this (Option 3):

https://www.sevenfor...-safe-mode.html

I am here with the command prompt open now but having trouble finding the commands (picture below):

The goal is to stop the laptop from booting in safe mode through this command prompt. Either that or disable the login password requirement through this command prompt. It is Windows 10.

 

Edited by Jenna91, 24 March 2019 - 05:22 PM.

[iMacg3]

Hi,

The command is:

bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot

[Jenna91]

[iMacg3]

Type bcdedit and press Enter. Under "Windows Boot Loader", what is the Identifier?

[Jenna91]

Best Answer

I'll follow your instructions if you have an idea what to do from this point.

 

Edit: I got it working with your command iMacg3.

This is a summary of what I did for anyone who is in a similar situation:

 

1. I made a Windows 10 CD to access a command prompt before the operating system booted up.

    https://www.microsof...nload/windows10

I followed the above link which walks you through the download and burn process. The only thing you need is an empty dvd to burn the ISO file on.

2. From here, I made sure that my boot options allowed me to boot using the DVD. I had go into the bios settings and disable secure boot and some security features (I forget the exact name). I made sure I wrote down what I changed so I could change things back when I was finished.

3. I hit F12 (on this laptop) to get my boot options and booted up using the Windows 10 DVD I burned in step 1. This loads up the Windows 10 CD.

The tricky part here is you have to load up the Windows 10 DVD in UEFI mode if your windows 10 uses UEFI. There are only two options on mine: legacy boot, or UEFI boot. I had to make sure I booted up the Windows 10 DVD with a UEFI boot so that the command prompt would interact with the windows installation. Originally, I booted the DVD through a legacy boot (in the boot options), the command prompt opened fine but it would not recognize my commands.

 

After booting in the right mode (UEFI or Legacy):

4. When The laptop asked me if I want to repair or install Windows 10 (on the purple screen) I pressed function (fn) + shift  +   F10. The internet says you only have to press shift + F10, but on my laptop you have to press function as well. This key combination opens up a command prompt for you.

5. From here, I typed "diskpart" then "disk vol" to locate where my Windows 10 was installed (usually letter D or C).

6. Then I typed " C: " to change the " X: " in the command prompt to a " C: " ... this means it is talking to the  C drive when you enter commands.

7. From there I typed bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot which is a command you can either google search for or ask for. You may not use this command in particular unless you have my exact problem. You will need to look up your own commands for your own issues.

8. A word of caution: Don't just type random commands you find in the command prompt... it is a powerful tool that can mess your computer up quickly. Be safe: either look things up or ask for help.

 

A big thank you to iMacg3 who read all of my post spam and helped me work through this very strange issue.

 

Never been so happy to see the desktop.  

Edited by Jenna91, 24 March 2019 - 10:17 PM.

[123Runner]

Thanks for letting us know what you did and how to get there.