Acer Iconia W500 Lost Password

LaurieN
LaurieN Member Posts: 6 New User
in 2016 Archives

Acer Iconia Tab W500 Windows 8.1. I haven't used it in two years and can't remember my password. I've tried everything I can think of to solve the problem, but I can't restore Windows 8.1 because the USB port is inaccessible when I have the keyboard attached.

Does anyone know how I can recover Windows 8.1? I no longer have a way to recover Windows 7. Is there any way to do recovery from my SD card if I can install the recovery media on it? Do I have any other options?

Thanks for any advice you might have.

Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,246 Trailblazer

    Things will be much easier if you pick up an inexpensive USB Hub, if you have the choice, get one with its own power supply. With the hub you can have several devices connected at once, such as your keyboard, a mouse and the thumb drive.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • LaurieN
    LaurieN Member Posts: 6 New User

    Thanks for the reply, Pathfinder. But I'm confused. How can I connect a USB hub to this netbook/tablet when the only USB port is covered by the keyboard? I would need a wireless keyboard. I'm not willing to invest that kind of money in this machine since I don't know how long it will last and I never use it. I had thought I might start using it, but it's so heavy it doesn't work well as a tablet.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,246 Trailblazer

    You would connect a keyboard to the USB hub to use during the process and go back to the normal keyboard once it's fixed...

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • LaurieN
    LaurieN Member Posts: 6 New User

    I see what you mean now. I forgot that the keyboard has two USB ports. But now I've run into a different problem.

     

    I have the Windows 8.1 recovery media on two different USB drives, but when I try to use them, I get a message that both are wrong for recovery. The instructions with my Iconia said you have to connect an external DVD drive and use the DVDs (Windows 7) that came with the computer. But when I upgraded to Windows 8.1, I did it only because I understood that you can use a USB drive for recovery. I'm not going to buy an external DVD drive.

     

    Could the problem be because I used a USB 3.0 port instead of 2.0 to load the media? I don't think that would matter since the USB drive should be backward compatible. Do you know of any way I can reinstall Win 8.1?

     

    Laurie

     

    P.S. I did manage to boot to BIOS in spite of the ridiculous keyspread, "Press the Windows key, volume up key, and power button simultaneously to turn on the system."

  • baggytrousers
    baggytrousers Member Posts: 8 New User

    if it's a windows password you might be able to reset it at the windows site if they have yur email.. i recently did this after it insisted my password was wrong and didn't remember changing it.

  • LaurieN
    LaurieN Member Posts: 6 New User

    It isn't a Windows password. Unfortunately back then I didn't trust my password to them. Now I wish I had.

     

    Thanks anyway. I've decided to give up on this since I can't reinstall Windows 8.1 with a USB stick. I did manage to connect to my LAN, but I don't see any way to install Windows that way either. If I can figure out how to wipe my hard drive, I'll probably sell it at a garage sale later this year. It seems my desktop is the best option for me.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,246 Trailblazer

    There are two pieces for recovery. The disk that holds the system image and the disk that holds the recovery software. I'm guessing you have the first on your USB stick and don't have the second. Luckily you can create the recovery disk on any machine running the same version of Windows (32/64 bit at least needs to be matching).

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • LaurieN
    LaurieN Member Posts: 6 New User

    >There are two pieces for recovery. The disk that holds the system image and the disk that holds the recovery >software. I'm guessing you have the first on your USB stick and don't have the second. Luckily you can create the >recovery disk on any machine running the same version of Windows (32/64 bit at least needs to be matching).

     

    Oh, no. I didn't realize there were two pieces. Guess I've missed understanding that in my research about doing recovery. How do I find the recovery software so I can put it on the USB stick?

     

    My desktop is 64 bit & the tablet is 32 bit, so I guess I can't do that, after all. My daughter and my son and his family all run Windows 7, except for my grandson who put Windows 10 on his Christmas laptop.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,246 Trailblazer

    Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Backup and Restore (Windows 7)

     

    That should give you the links for Create a System Image and Create a System Repair Disk. The latter is what you need to use to recover the System Image. You will have to find someone with a 32 bit computer, or else reinstall from scratch, create the disk and do the restore. The former is much safer since you won't have to get rid of everything before you find that the recovery disks are good.

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • LaurieN
    LaurieN Member Posts: 6 New User

     

    > Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Backup and Restore (Windows 7)

     

    > That should give you the links for Create a System Image and Create a System Repair Disk. The latter is what you need to use to recover the System Image. You will have to find someone with a 32 bit computer, or else reinstall from scratch, create the disk and do the restore. The former is much safer since you won't have to get rid of everything before you find that the recovery disks are good.<

     

    I can't restore Windows 7 because it's not on the ACER. The drive is so small there isn't room for it. Win7 is on disks. Anyway since I upgraded to Windows 8.1, I want to restore that, not Win7. The other problem is I can't get to the Control Panel. I checked the USB stick that I'm trying to use and it does have the Win8.1 image and the boot option. It just won't work on the Acer because I prepared it on my 64 bit desktop.

     

    I found on the web how to use a program to recover the password and ran it but it didn't work (maybe again because it's 32 bit vs. 64 bit desktop). The web page listed other password recovery programs to try, but I just don't have time to keep trying them. 

     

    Thanks for trying to help me, everyone. I really appreciate it.

     

Categories