Powershadow 2008 / Workstation Trial - default password?

Hoping someone might be able to help me out. Like the total doofus that I am, I was keen to try the new PowerShadow and so I went ahead and installed the Chinese trial version of Powershadow2008. I thought the options would be pretty intuitive without knowing any Chinese. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting it to kick into a default Shadow mode everytime I boot up now, and it appears to be asking for a default username/password to be able to boot up normally. Problem is, I have no idea what that is! I don't recall being asked to set one up during the trial installation so I'm assuming it must be a default code. Simply typing '1234' takes me into the Shadow mode but I can't get out of it to uninstall the program!

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm kicking myself for being such a dooofus.

 

Probably the best would be to send an e-mail, and ask them what can be done. In the future to backup your system to another drive would make life easier for you, no matter what happens: A simple recovery CD would set your system in working order within half an hour.

Now I do have a program that is 'similar' to PowerShadow, and I have also collected some info to get out of 'shadow mode' in an emergency. The point is to disable the active drive, using the XP installation CD. I have never tried it because it's never happened to me (as I mentioned restoring an image for me would be a lot easier) but if you or a friend of yours has some familiarity with these kind of processes, you could give it a try (it's still better than to reinstall windows).

How to get out of ShadowUser if you are stuck

1) Boot in the Windows recovery environment found in the Windows install CD.
2) Once in the recovery environment delete the shadow.idx file in the root of the system drive.
It is a hidden file, so use the following command to display to display the file:

C:\attrib –h –s –r shadow.idx. This will unhide the file so you can delete shadow.idx.

To use the Windows XP Recovery Console:

The Windows XP Recovery Console allows you to:
Use, copy, rename, or replace operating system files and folders.
Enable or disable service or device startup when you next start your computer.
Repair the file system boot sector or the Master Boot Record (MBR).
Create and format partitions on drives.

Here's how to use the Recovery Console:
Insert the Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.
On the menu that appears, click Install Windows XP.
Press R to repair the selected Windows installation.

When you use the Recovery Console, you will be prompted to enter the Administrator account password. If you enter an incorrect password three times, the Recovery Console will close. If the database that contains user account information for your computer is missing or damaged, you will not be able to use the Recovery Console.

After you enter your password and the Recovery Console starts, type exit to restart the computer. The Recovery Console has some other limitations. For details, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 314058: Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console.

Good luck

 

Actually, I was in the process of starting to put PowerShadow 3.0 through the wringer, when for reasons that are unclear (could be an error on my part or a subtle compatibility issue - I've had issues with Acronis DD in the past, and it is on this partition), it decided to remain in shadow mode.

Email to support@ensurebit, they should be able to provide you with a mechanism to disable shadow mode and allow recovery. Do allow for timezone differences, the communication will be a tad asynchronis, but they do return communications by the next day (again, this is expected based on the time zones involved).

Blue

 

Thank you both for your responses.. I finally managed to get out of Powershadow. How? - I went into my Bios and forwarded my date by a year. Powershadow still kicked in at boottime but once the Windows Desktop came up loaded, it recognized that I was past the 'trial' period and after clicking some popup window Powershadow was disabled, thus allowing me to uninstall it. *phew*.

You know, I bet I was having the same issue as you BlueZannetti - I am sure I left the user/pass blank so I should have been able to bypass the Shadowmode but it just wouldn't let me. The only way I could get into the desktop (in shadow mode, before i did the bios time resetting trick) was to type 1234 in the username and then it went into the desktop in shadowmode. Weird. Well, let us know when you've wrung Powershadow3.0 through.. once it's stable I might try it out....

 

Glad to hear you've gotten through it, but the folks in support could have walked you through a disable protocol as well.

The are working on the issue that I experienced and noted it would likely take a few days to pull everything together. As with any new release, the downside is an unexpected twist or two. The upside is that their support seems top notch and quite responsive thus far between email and live chat sessions.

Blue