Support: Create a bootable USB Thumb Drive to Reset Windows Passwords...

These instructions are for advanced computer technicians.  Specifying the incorrect disk or partition may potentially cause your computer not to boot correctly.

Prerequisites:

1. 7-zip - open source utility. Download here.
2. A computer with Windows 7 or Vista (technician's computer).
3. The latest PCWin Recovery ISO image file. Download PCWin Recovery zip file (PCWinRecovery.zip).

Walkthrough:

Step 1 - Extract ISO file with 7-Zip
From the technician's computer download 7-Zip and install 7-Zip.

After 7-Zip is installed. Download PCWin Recovery zip file (PCWinRecovery.zip)  and then right click on the PCWin Recovery zip file and select 'extract'. The first extracted file will be PCWinRecovery.exe.  Right click on the PCWinRecovery.exe and select extract.  Among the extracted files is the PCWinRecovery ISO file (ie. Suite270.iso). Finally right click the PCWinRecovery ISO file and extract to a folder. The files in the folder are the files that you will xcopy after completing step two.

Step 2 - Prepare USB Flash Drive
From the technician's computer connect the USB Flash drive to the computer.

From the Windows Start menu, type diskpart. If a UAC warning displays click yes to continue.  The diskpart command window will display.  At the command prompt type list disk,(see image below). Identify the USB flash drive by the size. In this example the flash drive is Disk 2.

Next type the select disk command to select the USB Flash Drive. ( see image below)

Next type the clean command to remove partition and volume formatting from the flash Drive. ( see image below)

Next type the create partition primary command to create a primary partition on the USB Flash Drive. ( see image below)

Next type  select partition 1 command to set focus to the USB Flash Drive's primary partition. ( see image below)

Next type the active command to select the USB Flash Drive. ( see image below)

Next type format fs=fat32 command to format the USB Flash Drive. Formatting the USB Flash Drive may take a few minutes. ( see image below)

Next type the assign command to mount the USB Flash Drive.  Once you complete the assign command you are ready to copy PCWin Recovery files to the USB Flash Drive. ( see image below)

Type the exit command to exit DiskPart. ( see image below)



Step 3: Copy extracted ISO files to the USB Flash Drive.

Open a command prompt and change to the directory of the ISO extracted files and subfolders. Inside the ISO extracted folder type xcopy *.* /s/e/f f:\ , where f:\ is the drive letter of the USB Flash Drive. Your drive letter may be different!



Summary:
Once you completed creating your bootable USB drive, you can use it to reset Windows passwords, retrieve Windows and Office product keys, and list Windows drivers.  Even if you can't boot Windows you can still retrieve Windows and Office product keys and list Windows drivers.

If you have any questions or require additional assistance please send support request to info@windows-password-reset.com.