Admin Catch 22

[bdrcca]

Have read every post and still have no answer.
Cannot login as Admin in Safe mode and obviously
cannot get to a command prompt without login.Have
a work laptop XP Pro that no longer even ASKS for
a domain login/pswd.Is there any way in XP Pro to
get to a command prompt to do a restore without
recovery console?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Have read every post and still have no answer.
Cannot login as Admin in Safe mode and obviously
cannot get to a command prompt without login.Have
a work laptop XP Pro that no longer even ASKS for
a domain login/pswd.Is there any way in XP Pro to
get to a command prompt to do a restore without
recovery console?

You could change the admin password with any of the dozens of password
cracking applications out for Windows.. Some free, some not. Search on
Google. Even TechTV (screensavers I think) showed how to change the
administrator password.

Don't do this if you have Encrypted files you need to save.

Physical access to a machine - it's yours.

 

[bdrcca]

Thanx Shenan but I dont want to go that route if I
dont have to.The IT guys at work may need access when
I set back up there.I was hoping to be able to do a
restore without changing anything else.Do you have any
idea why my Domain login would disappear and Admin(or
any user/pswd)would no longer work,even in Safe Mode?
bdrcca

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Have read every post and still have no answer.
Cannot login as Admin in Safe mode and obviously
cannot get to a command prompt without login.Have
a work laptop XP Pro that no longer even ASKS for
a domain login/pswd.Is there any way in XP Pro to
get to a command prompt to do a restore without
recovery console?

The Command Prompt is a process under WinXP, and
it lets you access any file on that PC. If you could get
to it without entering a password, where is the security?

What exactly do you mean with "do a restore"? Restore
what? If you want to restore the domain login then only
your network administrator can do it for you, as Carey
observed. If you want to restore or replace a password
then you must use a password cracker or replacement
tool, again as Carey said. If you want to acess some
files then you could boot the machine with a Win98
boot disk (www.bootdisk.com), then open up your NTFS
partition(s) with ntfsdisk.exe (www.sysinternals.com) -
unless they are encrypted.

 

[Guest]

Hi Pegasus,
Thanx for the input but I seem to be asking the wrong
questions cuz the answers sure are convoluted.I can
get the IT guys to redo domain login Monday.I was looking
for a way to get to a restore POINT so I could access
some files on the laptop today.And nobody seems to have
any input on passwords you never had,just "forgotten" ones.
I have no idea why the domain login went away and never
had any other login/passwords to this machine.As it is
a work laptop I don't want to change anything the network
guys may require to get me back up on Monday.Thanx for the
bootdisk info though because if this should happpen again
I'll give it a try.

bdrcca

PS:In my possession is all the security I require but I
guess thats not good enuf for Microsoft...LOL...
----------------------------------------------------

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You asked the right questions but it seems you
did not quite understand the answers. Let me
reword them.
a) To fire up Win2000 now, you must use a password
resetting program.
b) To fire up Win2000 on Monday, you must ask your
network administrator to re-register your machine
on the domain.
c) To get at some of your files without using a) or b)
above, you must the Win98 method I outlined in
my previous post. You must then process these
files on a different machine.

I'm afraid I can't put it any simpler. If you believe that
these obstacles make life difficult for you then you
should ask your administrator to give you Win98. It's
a toy operating system, it is unstable and has no
security but it won't lock you out.

 

[Guest]

Thank you Pegasus.Finally a question asked and answered.
Life without obstacles means a pc free environment I'm
sure.Any ideas on WHY the domain login disappeared on me?

As far as 98 goes my personal opinion is its probably
still crap as it always was and it doesnt lock you out
because its too busy locking UP...ROTFL...

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

See below.

Thank you Pegasus.Finally a question asked and answered.
Life without obstacles means a pc free environment I'm
sure.Any ideas on WHY the domain login disappeared on me? No.

As far as 98 goes my personal opinion is its probably
still crap as it always was and it doesnt lock you out
because its too busy locking UP...ROTFL... Yes.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

There is actually a way to gain access to your
Windows installation. It requires a Win2000 or
WinXP installation CD. This method will not
alter the current accounts/password. Do you
have such a CD?

 

[bdrcca]

Hi Pegasus,

Have a disk but no longer need it.Found a generic
Administrator login on my desktop and it worked on
my laptop.Thank you IT guys for thinking ahead.Once
I got in I did a restore to Friday and my domain and
workgroup were back.Still haven't a clue as to why
they disappeared.You can bet that I now have a generic
Administrator of my own as backup and will be making
a password reset disk.Thanks for your input Pegasus.

Bdrcca

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

All of my machines, without exception, have at least
two admin accounts. It's like with my car: I wouldn't
dream of doing with less than two sets of keys. You
might want to adopt this policy too.

 

[bdrcca]

Oh You betcha...LOL...
My mistake was in believing 2 was enough.When my
regular login didnt work I assumed Admin with
no password WOULD work.I will no longer make that
mistake.I'm still not totally sure why it didn't
work because it is not password protected on the
laptop in question.