Solved need input for Win live account password recovery tools

Im an IT technician and i deal with a fair amount of clients who have locked themselves out of their computers. This is normally a very quick and painless process no matter the windows operating system; other then with windows 8 live accounts. Local accounts are no problem as we(my company) use(s) MSDART or Passcape to remove or preferably recover the users password for our clients. So this brings me to my question. Does anyone know of any GOOD software to recover (preferably recover) or remove windows live account passwords? I dont mind paying a few hundred dollars for a quality product that will pay dividend in the future but dont want to wast my time and money trying a product that doesn't fulfill my needs.

Also on a somewhat unrelated topic, is there a windows 8 product key recovery tool that can recover the windows 8 key from the bios without having to be in a windows installation first? Such a tool would be very useful for recovering the product key from computers with completely failed HDDs for installation purposes. I know when you load windows 8 it should pull the product key from the bios but ive ran into a few where this is not the case. Running a business i cant give a clients computer back with an unactivated windows. Thats just extreamly unprofessional, although some shops in my area do so, and boot loaders/activators are out of the question for obvious reasons.

Thanks in advance for any input into the subject.
-Aj

Hello Aj,

No need to pay anything. You can use the method in the tutorial below to reset the password of your Microsoft account as needed online at Microsoft.
When you install the same Windows 8 that came preinstalled on the OEM computer, the installation will automatically detect and enter the product key that's embedded in the BIOS/UEFI firmware chip on the motherboard. Once installation is finished, it should be able to activate with that key.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for the write up on passwords. So as an IT profesinal if im working on a clients PC and they are needing me to help them unlock it for some reason i have 3 options:

1.Email me a reset link = Microsoft will email you a reset link to your alternate email address.

2.Send a code to my phone = To get the code with a text message or automated call.

3.I can't use any of these options = Allows you to enter an email address to have Microsoft send an email to with a reset link.

Just to be certain i understand correctly i can have Microsoft email my clients login credentials to my email??(this seams like a security risk) or will it go to my clients email?(this could be bad if email password is the same as the lost password for the MS Live Account) or my clients phone if the phone option is selected? (which kind of cuts me out of the process... aka less profit for my company)


Is there any easy way to figure out which version of windows 8 or 8.1 a computer came with if you are unable to access the OS? Such as when i receive a clients PC with a bad/dead hard drive that wont boot to the OS?

It's something that they can easily do on their own to reset their password. We're not allowed to discuss ways to bypass or recover passwords for someone else's computer here.

Usually, you could look up the computer model number at the manufacturer to see what OS came preinstalled on it if the computer didn't already have a OS sticker on it to let you know.