I'm locked out of my Win2000 box as admin

[Bob H]

For some strange reason my administrator password was set to blank??,
and now I can't login to win2k as admin, as it won't accept a blank
password.
I have tried logging in as admin in safe mode but same thing.
I am admin in my winXP box, so is there any way I can set an admin
password in win2k?

Thanks

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

For some strange reason my administrator password was set to blank??, and
now I can't login to win2k as admin, as it won't accept a blank password.
I have tried logging in as admin in safe mode but same thing.
I am admin in my winXP box, so is there any way I can set an admin
password in win2k?

Thanks

The usual way is to use the alternative admin account,
which most people establish in much the same way as
they have a second set of keys for their car. If this is
not an option then this boot disk might help:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

 

[Bob H]

The usual way is to use the alternative admin account,
which most people establish in much the same way as
they have a second set of keys for their car. If this is
not an option then this boot disk might help:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

Thanks for the reply but how do I setup/use an alternative admin account?
I tried the bootdisk from the link and the information given on the
screen says:
'No NT MD4 Hash found. Probably blank password. No lanman hash found
either. Sorry can't change.' And then tells me to try using a blank
password which doesn't work.

Thanks

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thanks for the reply but how do I setup/use an alternative admin account?
I tried the bootdisk from the link and the information given on the screen
says:
'No NT MD4 Hash found. Probably blank password. No lanman hash found
either. Sorry can't change.' And then tells me to try using a blank
password which doesn't work.

Thanks

There is a "Users and Passwords" applet in the Control Panel
that you can use to create a new account. I do not remember
the exact details but here is the Command Prompt version:

- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type these commands:
net user Admin2 december /add {Enter}
net localgroup administrators Admin2 /add {Enter}

If successful then these commands will create an admin
account called "Admin2" with a password of "december".

Instead of using the Nordahl boot disk, check Google
for similar tools by looking for "reset windows password"
or similar terms.

By the way, posting the same question separately in two
newsgroups is not a good idea because it causes duplication
of effort and turns off potential respondents. Much better
to use crossposting.
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

 

[Bob H]

There is a "Users and Passwords" applet in the Control Panel
that you can use to create a new account. I do not remember
the exact details but here is the Command Prompt version:

- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type these commands:
net user Admin2 december /add {Enter}
net localgroup administrators Admin2 /add {Enter}

If successful then these commands will create an admin
account called "Admin2" with a password of "december".

Instead of using the Nordahl boot disk, check Google
for similar tools by looking for "reset windows password"
or similar terms.

By the way, posting the same question separately in two
newsgroups is not a good idea because it causes duplication
of effort and turns off potential respondents. Much better
to use crossposting.
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

Ok, thanks for that.
So now I have a second admin account called Admin2, but that won't let
me into 'Users and passwords' in control panel.
I'm not sure if nordhals boot disk has done this but after trying it
twice and now sometime later I see that the partitions on the win2k box
are all only 5.00mb!!
The HD was/is an 80Gb in size and split up into 4 partitions of about
20Gb each, but now only 5mb, eh?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Ok, thanks for that.
So now I have a second admin account called Admin2, but that won't let me
into 'Users and passwords' in control panel.
I'm not sure if nordhals boot disk has done this but after trying it twice
and now sometime later I see that the partitions on the win2k box are all
only 5.00mb!!
The HD was/is an 80Gb in size and split up into 4 partitions of about 20Gb
each, but now only 5mb, eh?

The Nordahl boot disk has no effect on your partitions. Run
the Disk Manager (Start / Run / diskmgmr.msc) do see your
true partition sizes.

Run this command from a Command Prompt to see if Admin2
is an administrator:

net user Admin2 {Enter}

If it is then it would be a member of the "Administrators" group,
shown at the bottom.

 

[Bob H]

The Nordahl boot disk has no effect on your partitions. Run
the Disk Manager (Start / Run / diskmgmr.msc) do see your
true partition sizes.

Run this command from a Command Prompt to see if Admin2
is an administrator:

net user Admin2 {Enter}

If it is then it would be a member of the "Administrators" group,
shown at the bottom.

Admin2 is only a member of *Users account, whereas Administrator is a
member of *Administrators account (which I can't get into).
Thanks

 

[Bob H]

The Nordahl boot disk has no effect on your partitions. Run
the Disk Manager (Start / Run / diskmgmr.msc) do see your
true partition sizes.

Run this command from a Command Prompt to see if Admin2
is an administrator:

net user Admin2 {Enter}

If it is then it would be a member of the "Administrators" group,
shown at the bottom.

ooops, just realised I missed something out from what you told me before.
I forgot to add admin2 to localgroup administrators, so now when I try
to add from this line:
net localgroup administrators Admin2 /add {Enter}, I get:
system error 5 has occurred, and nothing has happened/added.

 

[Bob H]

ooops, just realised I missed something out from what you told me before.
I forgot to add admin2 to localgroup administrators, so now when I try
to add from this line:
net localgroup administrators Admin2 /add {Enter}, I get:
system error 5 has occurred, and nothing has happened/added.

I eventually manged to get back into my win2k box as admin by using a NT
password program from Hirens Boot CD. This one I used did actually clear
the password and let me in as admin without asking for one.

Thanks anyway

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I eventually manged to get back into my win2k box as admin by using a NT
password program from Hirens Boot CD. This one I used did actually clear
the password and let me in as admin without asking for one.

Thanks anyway

Congratulations! No start planning ahead and avoid similar
"single points of failure" . . .

 

[Bob H]

Congratulations! No start planning ahead and avoid similar
"single points of failure" . . .

Thanks, but how would avoid a similar situation in the future?
On my winXP box, I have made a reset disk/floppy, but don't see how to
do the same in win2k.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thanks, but how would avoid a similar situation in the future?
On my winXP box, I have made a reset disk/floppy, but don't see how to do
the same in win2k.

As I said before: You create a second admin account, test
it, then lock its details away in a safe place.

By the way, to avoid duplication of effort you should now
close this ticket in the other newsgroup where you posted
it. If you don't then you will cause the respondents in that
group to waste their time.

 

[f/fgeorge]

Thanks, but how would avoid a similar situation in the future?
On my winXP box, I have made a reset disk/floppy, but don't see how to
do the same in win2k.

Write the info down and put it in a safe place. I am the only one
using my pc at home so the password is written on the side of the box,
in permanent marker. One other thing you can do is create an account
on each pc that has the same name and password, that will make
networking much easier BTW, but then not use that account as the
primary log in. The last thing I would suggest is to keep Hiren's Boot
CD around!!!!

 

[Bob H]

Write the info down and put it in a safe place. I am the only one
using my pc at home so the password is written on the side of the box,
in permanent marker. One other thing you can do is create an account
on each pc that has the same name and password, that will make
networking much easier BTW, but then not use that account as the
primary log in. The last thing I would suggest is to keep Hiren's Boot
CD around!!!!

Ok, thanks for the advice. I will do that and keep Hirens boot Cd
around, just in case!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Ok, thanks for the advice. I will do that and keep Hirens boot Cd around,
just in case!

It appears that you were disinclined to close the other thread
you started. To avoid further duplication of effort, I have
closed it for you.

 

[f/fgeorge]

It appears that you were disinclined to close the other thread
you started. To avoid further duplication of effort, I have
closed it for you.

I don't know about the OP but personally I would have ignored your
suggestion simply because I have no idea how to do it. Maybe in the
future you could either just go ahead and close the threads or give
some info on how to do it ourselves. I have left many, many threads
open over the years because I had no idea how first that you could
close one, and second how to do it.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I don't know about the OP but personally I would have ignored your
suggestion simply because I have no idea how to do it. Maybe in the
future you could either just go ahead and close the threads or give
some info on how to do it ourselves. I have left many, many threads
open over the years because I had no idea how first that you could
close one, and second how to do it.

The OP posted the same question in a different newsgroup at
first, then here again, two days later. He received an answer
in the first newsgroup, which did not resolve his problem.
Ultimately it got resolved it here.

What he should now have done is to post a brief note in the
first newsgroup so that the respondent there knows that the
case is closed. It's a matter of courtesy and it avoids further
duplication of effort.

You refer to something else, namely to "closing" an existing
thread when the problem is solved. While a little "Thank you,
problem solved" note is always welcome, it is not strictly
necessary because it is often obvious that the problem is solved -
provided that the OP did not engage in multi-posting!