Lost Admin Pass, can't recover

[nobody]

I have a damaged WinXP Pro install that I will need the recovery console
to repair. Unfortunately, we have no idea what the admin password was,
and the RC is insisting that I have it to do it's thing. Is there any
way to recover an admin password for an XPP install that won't boot?

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

No, not really - not much security there if it was easily recoverable now
would it? See if this helps:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_passwords.htm

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[rifleman]

nobody cogitated deeply and scribbled thusly:

I have a damaged WinXP Pro install that I will need the recovery console
to repair. Unfortunately, we have no idea what the admin password was,
and the RC is insisting that I have it to do it's thing. Is there any
way to recover an admin password for an XPP install that won't boot?

If your XP came already installed, then it's quite likely that there is
NO password for the Administrator account. Try leaving the password
field completely blank.

 

[nobody]

Hi,

No, not really - not much security there if it was easily recoverable now
would it? See if this helps:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_passwords.htm

Actually, there appear to be several programs for recovering or changing
the admin password, much to my surprise. Not cheap, tho. This one is
almost $90 US (75 EUR). http://www.mirider.com/ntaccess.html

 

[R. McCarty]

There maybe one last way to get access. Find a program that
allows NTFS access from a boot floppy. Once booted, go to
C:\Windows\System32\Config folder. In that folder you will
find a file named Sam (no extensions), this is the Security part
of the Registry. If you rename that file, I seem to remember
that on the next reboot all account information will be reset &
the Administrator account is accessible with a "Null" (empty)
password. This is an extreme measure, which I used once on
an Windows 2000 Notebook that someone had twiddled with
and couldn't log in. I would add that if this gives you access, the
other accounts that exist on the machine will not be accessible.

 

[nobody]

"Seem to remember" makes me a bit uncomfortable. How confident are you
that this will work without screwing up the ability to get to this data?
Given that I can't load windows on this box I am concerned that I
might damage the ability to use the recovery console. If, for $90, I
can be assured that I can get at the password (or change it to a known
password) it is worth it to spend the $$. Of course, there is no
guarantee that the RC will be able to get WinXP back up...
If this method does work, tho, it is a pretty simple way to get past
XP's security. Seem TOO easy.

 

[R. McCarty]

Could you restate your exact problem?, I may be giving you advice
and not clearly understand your issue. I thought you were "locked"
out of your computer and couldn't access any of the accounts.
I couldn't offer you any guarantee of success, only a possible course
of action.

 

[Jim Britain]

I have a damaged WinXP Pro install that I will need the recovery console
to repair. Unfortunately, we have no idea what the admin password was,
and the RC is insisting that I have it to do it's thing. Is there any
way to recover an admin password for an XPP install that won't boot?

You can delete the password, but not recover it.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

 

[CZ]

There maybe one last way to get access. Find a program that
allows NTFS access from a boot floppy. Once booted, go to
C:\Windows\System32\Config folder. In that folder you will
find a file named Sam (no extensions), this is the Security part
of the Registry. If you rename that file, I seem to remember
that on the next reboot all account information will be reset &
the Administrator account is accessible with a "Null" (empty)
password. This is an extreme measure, which I used once on
an Windows 2000 Notebook that someone had twiddled with
and couldn't log in. I would add that if this gives you access, the
other accounts that exist on the machine will not be accessible.

R:

That hole was closed in XP: it does not work

 

[CZ]

Actually, there appear to be several programs for recovering or changing
the admin password, much to my surprise. Not cheap, tho. This one is
almost $90 US (75 EUR). http://www.mirider.com/ntaccess.html

nobody:

This works and it is free:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

 

[Malke]

Could you restate your exact problem?, I may be giving you advice
and not clearly understand your issue. I thought you were "locked"
out of your computer and couldn't access any of the accounts.
I couldn't offer you any guarantee of success, only a possible course
of action.

Use the offline ntpassword crack from
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ as suggested. With it, you can
set your password to blank or anything else. It works very well. If you
are uncomfortable doing this, then slave your hard drive in another
machine, copy off the data you should have backed up so you can burn it
on a cd-r. Then put your drive back in the original box, use ntpasswd
to get in. There are no 100% guaranties in life, let alone in
computing, but having good backups is a long step forward in the right
direction. I've used ntpasswd quite a lot, but ymmv.

Malke