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I'm trying to follow these instructions to reset a forgotten Windows 10 password using chntpw on a Ubuntu live USB drive:

https://www.top-password.com/knowledge/reset-windows-10-password-with-ubuntu.html

When I get to actually running chntpw I get a read only error:

openHive(SAM) failed: Read-only file system, trying read-only
openHive(): read error: : Read-only file system
chntpw: Unable to open/read a hive, exiting..

I found this old question:

Recovering a Windows 10 password when the partition is read-only

But the solutions are ineffective. Any updates or clarification?

Mastiff
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    I've always used the NT Offline Password Editor from its Bootable image, instead of installing it on an existing OS. may be worth a shot. http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/ – Frank Thomas Sep 23 '21 at 04:19
  • The simplest option to change an account's password is to use the built-in Administrator to do it. Is there a reason you cannot use the built-in Administrator account? – Ramhound Sep 23 '21 at 06:17
  • It's a one person, "no admin", offline kind of setup. There is no way to log into the machine at the moment. – Mastiff Sep 23 '21 at 13:49
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    Does this answer your question? [What can I do if I forgot my Windows password?](https://superuser.com/questions/72244/what-can-i-do-if-i-forgot-my-windows-password) – Moab Sep 24 '21 at 00:20
  • I don't know the way around the chntpw problem, but I just paid for PCUnlocker and it worked after some fussing with bios settings. – Mastiff Sep 24 '21 at 01:49
  • First thing to do is to see if you can write a file to the filesystem mounted with Windows. If not, thats your issue, and you need to fix it. Most likely the filesystem is in an unclean state, so can't be mounted RW by linux for fear of causing corruption. Your best bet is to try plug this into a working Windows system and filecheck the filesystem, then shut down correctly and move the disk back to Linux. A more risky way might be to play around with ntfsfix ("sudo apt udate; sudo apt install ntfs-3g ntfsprogs" to get it) then "sudo ntfsfix /dev/sdX?" where X? is the unmounted partition. – davidgo Oct 16 '21 at 21:01

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