Forgot my Admin Password!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pegasus [MVP]
  • Start date Start date
P

Pegasus [MVP]

effdee said:
How can I get it back?
or reset it?

effdee
Click to expand...

Google is your friend. Type this into a Google search box, then take your
pick:

Forgot windows password
 
SPAMCOP said:
Some users need to take some lessons in how to search Google:

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

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

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321305

There are many more hits to other utilities & even if you had searched
this newsgroup the same thing has been asked over & over again
Click to expand...

What! you think I didn't search Google first!

Everything I have found on Google and have tried hasn't worked, so I
came here to ask.... as a last resort, because I knew I'd get the
inevitable 'search google' responses
 
effdee said:
What! you think I didn't search Google first!

Everything I have found on Google and have tried hasn't worked, so I
came here to ask.... as a last resort, because I knew I'd get the
inevitable 'search google' responses
Click to expand...

When you create a post then it's a good idea to say what you've tried so far
so that respondents don't point you in the wrong direction. Your initial
post ran like this:

"How can I get it back? or reset it?"

Can't get it much shorter or with any fewer details than this . . .

Anyway, the Nordahl boot disk / CD
(http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html) which is mentioned
countless times on Google is a tool that has never let me down. If it does
not work for you then you should report *exactly* what you did and what
happened.
 
effdee said:
How can I get it back?
or reset it?

effdee
Click to expand...


effdee:
Here's some detailed step-by-step instructions for using the "Nordahl"
program recommended by Pegasus in his/her response to you...

That program is a popular & freely-available one that many users employ to
get over this lost-password hurdle by resetting the administrator's password
to a blank. You may want to give it a try in case you've found no other way
to resolve your password problem.

Obviously you have available another PC connected to the net so that you can
download the necessary program.

Download the file to reset your password from...
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
1. On the top of the webpage click on the "Bootdisk" button.
2. In the "Download" section toward the bottom of the page click on the
cd080802.zip file and download it to your Desktop. Note it's a ZIP file so
the contents of that file will have to be extracted.
3. I assume you know how to do this by merely right-clicking on the ZIP
file, click on Extract All, Next, Next, Finish.
4. A folder will be created on your Desktop titled "cd080802".
5. Inside that folder will be the cd080802.iso file. It's this .iso file
that allows you to create a bootable CD from that .iso image.
6. Hopefully, you have a CD-burning program, e.g., Nero, Roxio, etc., that
allows you to merely double-click on the .iso file and the program will open
and create a bootable CD from that .iso image. If you don't have such a
program perhaps you have a friend or acquaintance who does and he or she can
help you with creating the bootable CD. There are other programs available
on the net that allow you to do this as well - one popular program is the
freely-available ISO Recorder program - see...
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

Now that you've created the bootable CD that's designed to reset your
password, insert the CD in your optical drive and boot to it.

The following are step-by-step instructions for using the program. The
example involved is a single-partitioned HDD, but the basic steps are the
same for any size HDD, except where the drive is multi-partitioned. If the
latter is the case the steps will be slightly different but they will not be
unduly complicated or substantially different under those circumstances.

As you progress through the screens the information provided and steps
involved may appear more complicated than they really are. In virtually
every step during the process the user will simply be pressing the Enter key
or some other simple keystroke. So don't be intimidated by what appears to
be a lengthy & complicated process. It really isn't.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Case is important when responding to the prompts so ensure
you enter the correct lower or upper case.

1. Hopefully your PC is set up so that it will boot to a bootable CD. If
it's not, change the motherboard's BIOS boot priority setting so that the
CD-ROM (optical drive) is first in boot priority.

2. Boot to the password reset CD. At the first screen you will see the
"boot:" prompt. Press Enter.

3. "Step ONE" is to select the drive on which the Windows OS is installed.
If the drive has been multi-partitioned all the partitions will be listed.
The prompt ("Step ONE") will be "Select: [1]".
Press Enter assuming [1] is the boot partition. Otherwise enter the correct
number of the partition containing boot system.

4. The next prompt ("Step TWO") will be "What is the path to the registry
directory? (relative to windows disk) [WINDOWS/system32/config]:". Once
again, press Enter.

5. The next prompt will list a number of options of which [1] is "Password
reset...". Press Enter.

6. The next prompt at "Step THREE: Password or registry edit" will list
three options. The default prompt "[1]" will reflect the first option, "Edit
user data and passwords". Again, press Enter.

The next prompt will ask for the username listing the default
[Administrator]. Enter your the username - presumably yours - ensuring that
you enter the proper case, e.g., effdee or whatever, and press Enter.

The "User Edit Menu" will display listing various options. The first option
is to "Clear (blank) user password" so enter "1" at the prompt.The
confirmation "Password cleared!" message should appear.

7. At the next prompt enter "!" (exclamation mark) to quit the "User Edit
Menu". Press Enter.

8. At the next prompt enter "q" to quit the process.

9. At "Step FOUR" enter "y" to write changes. Press Enter.

10. At the "EDIT COMPLETE" message, press Enter to confirm ending the
process.

11. The "#" prompt will appear indicating termination of the process. Remove
the CD and reboot.

Hopefully your Administrator's password has now been reset to a blank
password and you should gain access to the system.

Let us know how this works for you.
Anna
 
A tip - no-one in their right mind is going to click on an encrypted link in
Usenet without having the long version as well so they can verify that it's
kosher...
Click to expand...


I completely agree with you that clicking on a tinyurl link like that
is a dangerous thing to do. You won't do it, I won't do it, but
unfortunately many people will, since they are not aware of the
dangers of doing so.
 
effdee said:
What! you think I didn't search Google first!

Everything I have found on Google and have tried hasn't worked, so I
came here to ask.... as a last resort, because I knew I'd get the
inevitable 'search google' responses
Click to expand...
Anna posted the place to go. I use it about two weeks ago on an old
WinXP SP3 computer and it worked like a charm.
good luck. You will need a CD burning program to make the boot disk.
 
I completely agree with you that clicking on a tinyurl link like that
is a dangerous thing to do. You won't do it, I won't do it, but
unfortunately many people will, since they are not aware of the
dangers of doing so.
Click to expand...

If you're using Windows, it's dangerous, I agree. If you're using Linux,
not so. I clicked on it and it's a Google search and not harmful.

C
 
C said:
If you're using Windows, it's dangerous, I agree. If you're using Linux,
not so. I clicked on it and it's a Google search and not harmful.

C
Click to expand...
I would not click on an unknown link with any OS Linux is not immune to
malware.
 
Rick said:
I would not click on an unknown link with any OS Linux is not immune to
malware.
Click to expand...

No malware for Linux in the wild now. When there is, alert the media. If
you have a decent router firewall, clicking on a web site will not be
harmful to your computer. Linux can only be compromised by someone
sitting in front of it with their hands on the keyboard and mouse and,
yes, not only can it be compromised, one can render the PC useless in
seconds but I digress ...

C
 
Roy said:
Try using this site and see if there's something that can help:
http://tinyurl.com/yz2pj4n
Click to expand...

Please add the "preview" hostname in your TinyURL links. This takes the
reader that clicks on that link to TinyURL's preview page to let the reader
know beforehand to where your short-link points. For example, use:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/yz2pj4n

In fact, after creating the short-link, you are shown a web page and should
be copying the preview copy of the URL.

At least TinyURL has a preview feature. Many of the short-link helper sites
do not offer a preview mode. As such, the longer URL should be shown along
with the short-link version, as in:

Long URL: http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=forgot+windows+password
Short URL: http://preview.tinyurl.com/yz2pj4n

However, in your case, you saved all of 14 characters in your shorter and
safer version (and only 21 characters in your non-safe redirection). You
weren't really providing a helpful shorter version. You were hiding that
you wanted to take the reader to the "Let Me Google That For You" web site
(which requires Javascript to work but may incorrectly claims the visitor's
web browser doesn't support Javascript or pukes because their jquery.js
script to offer up their advertising is blocked). That you hid the LMGTFY
web site behind a redirection which offered near nil advantage as a shorter
URL makes you appear a malicious user.
 
effdee said:
How can I get it back? or reset it?
Click to expand...

And how would we know you are actually the owner of the host where you claim
to have forgotten its password? If it has been so long since you used that
host then nothing on it was of much importance, so flatten and rebuild.

Please don't pretend that you have never heard of Google (or whatever is
your preferred online search provider).

http://www.google.com/search?q=+"windows+xp"+%2Bcrack+login+%2Bpassword
 
Paul Randall said:
Are you saying this is just a hoax:
http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/developer-ponders-release-of-linux-malware-2627
Click to expand...

No-one's saying it's not possible to write malware and viruses for Linux -
they just don't because it is quite difficult to do so for several reasons.
One. almost all Linux users do NOT run as root (aka Administrator). The
opposite is true in Windows. Large numbers of Windows users run as an
administrator on a daily basis (a legacy from the 9.x versions where you had
to log out and log in to perform administrative tasks) although that is
gradually changing with the advent of first Vista and then 7 where there is
no need to run as an administrator. Secondly, each distro is slightly
different in it's architecture and puts files in slightly different places.
Thirdly, large numbers of Windows users do not even bother with passworded
accounts - as witnessed by the large numbers of posts in the windows groups
in the vein of "I want to boot straight into my desktop with no password".
Admittedly that doesn't happen in a corporate environment, but those
machines tend to be behind pretty hefty security. Also not running as root
makes it VERY difficult to affect the system files. To write malware for
Windows however, is, apparently, as easy as falling off a log.
 
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