MBDR Password Recovery 0.2.2 — experimental
13 October 2026

Open MBDR.PasswordRecovery.exe in this folder.
MBDR Rescue 0.30 includes this app in its boot environment.

WHAT IS INCLUDED
Local Windows password-record removal, and an explicit option to convert a
recognized personal Microsoft-linked account to local before removing its
Windows password. The online Microsoft account and its password are unchanged.
The existing Windows account identifier, profile association and permissions
are preserved in the database. Actual Windows sign-in is not yet validated.

The conversion retains inactive copies of five recognized identity fields and
clears only the existing local password-length fields. It does not recover an
old password or securely erase credential bytes. Unknown identity providers,
Entra/domain accounts, disabled/locked users, inconsistent metadata and previous
conversion markers are refused. This is not a complete Passcape replacement.

WORKFLOW
1. Boot MBDR Rescue and choose Password recovery.
2. Select the offline Windows folder. Unlock BitLocker with its recovery key
   first if required. Included storage drivers are matched automatically at boot.
3. Select an account and a persistent, private backup folder. Do not use X:.
4. For a recognized Microsoft account, explicitly tick Convert Microsoft
   account to local, then remove its Windows password.
5. Read the acknowledgement and choose Back up & prepare. This writes a backup
   and an edited copy, leaving the source unchanged.
6. Review the exact account, operation and backup, then choose Apply.
7. Keep the whole backup folder. Restore original is available while Windows
   remains offline and the target still matches the recorded state. After an
   interruption, Open session and Recover backup restore the original state.

Password removal/conversion can make EFS-encrypted files and saved credentials
inaccessible. It cannot unlock BitLocker or reset the online Microsoft password.
Use disposable test installations until Windows sign-in validation is complete.

VALIDATION
132 artificial-hive checks pass, including conversion, metadata preservation,
independent Windows registry parsing, operation tampering, interruption and
exact restoration. The local and conversion interface workflows also pass.
See the MBDR Rescue 0.30 TEST-RESULTS.txt for boot-test results.
No real account or physical USB was modified during these checks.

DEPENDENCIES
The unmodified Microsoft Offline Registry Library is included beside the app;
its WDK license and provenance are supplied in this folder. The source includes
the build scripts and tests for the Windows .NET Framework compiler.
No Passcape password-reset program, source code or icons are included.


RESCUE BROWSER FIX (0.2.1)
Windows folder, backup folder, SAM-copy and session selection use a local
filesystem browser that works without Explorer. Find Windows catches and
reports scan errors. Error details are saved under the temporary folder, in
MBDR-PasswordRecovery. Copy a reported log before rebooting if needed.
Choose a persistent backup folder before preparing any account changes.

PROTECTED HIBERNATION FILE FIX (0.2.2)
Selecting Windows lists accounts even if its shutdown state cannot be verified.
A permission-denied hibernation-header read is retried using the rescue
environment's backup-read privilege. Ownership, permissions and file contents
are unchanged. A cleared header passes; an active, unknown, short, locked or
unreadable header blocks applying and restoring changes. Preparing a separate
backup and edited copy remains available. Shutdown state is rechecked before
each write to the installation and when reopening a saved Windows session.
