(2019 Re-Post) Windows password reset pogostick not working: kernel panic

Question

I'm reposting this question (originally found here: Windows password reset pogostick not working: kernel panic) because I am having the same issue and none of the solutions listed in that thread solve the problem.

Trying to use ntpasswd (http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/) to reset the admin password on a Windows 10 box.

I am having the same issue with the USB version and it happens with both usb140201.zip and usb110511.zip. USB is FAT32 formatted (let me know if that is a problem, the ntpasswd website does not seem to mention anything about the filesystem requirements)

Getting stuck on kernel panic - not syncing: no init found after trying to boot with options boot irqpoll noacpi nolapic nosmp nousb. If I try to just boot with no options it just hangs on "booting the kernel"

please let me know if there's a way to get this working or if this tool no longer works as of 2019. I saw posts from 2018 saying it still worked so I figured I'd give it a try. No luck so far getting it to boot. Target device is a Dell Optiplesk 7050 booting in legacy mode (secure boot off)

Answer 1

"ntpasswd" works on all windows... from NT3.5 to Win8.1... and then not in windows 10!.

how did you create the image? did you used 'dd'?

dd if=image.img of=/dev/<usb>

or if use grub2(multiboot USB), add the lines in grub2.cfg file config...but first...create directorys in root USB "bin/ntpasswd" and put content of file 'usb110511.zip'. Now in file grub2.cfg:

menuentry "NTPasswd (Windows)" {
  set root=(hd0,msdos1)

  linux16 /bin/ntpasswd/vmlinuz rw
  initrd16 /bin/ntpasswd/initrd.cgz /bin/ntpasswd/scsi.cgz
}