Damaged SAM file

[RJK]

Hi all

Just had a call from a lady whose Logon Password is being rejected on her
Vista Home Premium PC, (and of course there was no backup image policy in
place !!!).

So, does a system "Restore Point" contain the SAM file, i.e. would a "System
Restore" restore an uncorrupted SAM file ?

regards, Richard

 

[RJK]

oooh !

http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html

looks like the SAM hives are not restored :-(

regards, Richard

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

oooh !

http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html

looks like the SAM hives are not restored :-(

regards, Richard

Look here and pray:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/passrecovery.htm

My first hit on Google, but not guaranteed - I didn't try anything
there.

The best bet might be to reset the password rather than to try to
recover it. I suggest Googling for reset password.

 

[RJK]

Look here and pray:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/passrecovery.htm

My first hit on Google, but not guaranteed - I didn't try anything
there.

The best bet might be to reset the password rather than to try to
recover it. I suggest Googling for reset password.

Many thanks for your help but, been there, done that, i.e.
If I get her to do a password reset, she'll lose all her emails etc.
whereas most people are simply happy to regain access to their PC, this
particular lady has quadzillions of data in the sole user account, on the
PC, that she does not want to lose !

(...PARTICULARLY annoying as I had FREQUENTLY warned and advised her, across
the past few years, to get disaster recovery in place) !!!!!

....have been exploring OPH Crack CD, ...burnt CD from ISO, ran it to see if
it can reveal my XP Home ed, pw ...and it can't ! I get a Linux menu,
....none of the options seem to do very much !

....anyhooo have to go to bed now !!

regards, Richard

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Many thanks for your help but, been there, done that, i.e.
If I get her to do a password reset, she'll lose all her emails etc. whereas
most people are simply happy to regain access to their PC, this particular
lady has quadzillions of data in the sole user account, on the PC, that she
does not want to lose !

(...PARTICULARLY annoying as I had FREQUENTLY warned and advised her, across
the past few years, to get disaster recovery in place) !!!!!

...have been exploring OPH Crack CD, ...burnt CD from ISO, ran it to see if
it can reveal my XP Home ed, pw ...and it can't ! I get a Linux menu,
...none of the options seem to do very much !

...anyhooo have to go to bed now !!

regards, Richard

Note that I said *reset password*, not reinstall Windows.

The idea of resetting the password is that it will allow her to boot to
Windows even though there is now a problem in the password process.

If you find something that is meant to produce a different result,
don't use it.

I think it's time for a real expert to chime in, just to make sure both
you and I are on the same page and that I have understood the problem
you described, and that you have understood what I am suggesting.

 

[Oldster]

Note that I said *reset password*, not reinstall Windows.

The idea of resetting the password is that it will allow her to boot to
Windows even though there is now a problem in the password process.

If you find something that is meant to produce a different result, don't
use it.

I think it's time for a real expert to chime in, just to make sure both
you and I are on the same page and that I have understood the problem
you described, and that you have understood what I am suggesting.

I have a Bootable CD called "Windows Password Reset from Linux Shell"
which is probably the name I gave it! I have used that in the past and
it worked for me. Some words in a text file with the CD are as follows :-
" Windows Change Password / Registry Editor / Boot CD

(c) 1998-2011 Petter Nordahl-Hagen. Distributed under GNU GPL v2"

It's claimed to work on :-
"NT 3.51, NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server,
Vista, Windows 7 and Server 2008."

Good Luck

 

[RJK]

Hi all

Just had a call from a lady whose Logon Password is being rejected on her
Vista Home Premium PC, (and of course there was no backup image policy in
place !!!).

So, does a system "Restore Point" contain the SAM file, i.e. would a
"System Restore" restore an uncorrupted SAM file ?

regards, Richard

Thanks for all help,

I got to sit in front of afrementioned PC just after midday today,
....it booted into Safe Mode okay, and allowed me to chkdsk /r and remove the
sole user a/c pw etc.,
....after quizzing lady as to when it last booted up okay,
....performed a system checkpoint / restore dated 28/11/2013 | rebooted,
....and hey presto all is lovely !!!

....though a quick peek in Event Viewer | System
revealed
"The following boot start orsystem driver failed to load i8042prt"
....so am researching that now.

regards, Richard

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Thanks for all help,

I got to sit in front of afrementioned PC just after midday today,
...it booted into Safe Mode okay, and allowed me to chkdsk /r and remove the
sole user a/c pw etc.,
...after quizzing lady as to when it last booted up okay,
...performed a system checkpoint / restore dated 28/11/2013 | rebooted,
...and hey presto all is lovely !!!

...though a quick peek in Event Viewer | System
revealed
"The following boot start orsystem driver failed to load i8042prt"
...so am researching that now.

regards, Richard

Thanks for the report. I had forgotten about the method you described,
so double thanks.

Also, see the post from Oldster, which describes what I was talking
about better than I did. That would non-destructively get you into your
account (rather, her account). But you didn't need it, so at this
moment it's moot anyway.