Tutorial: Windows Password Recovery

[MrLinus]

Nokia: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ is still decent. You should check some of the caveats with it however. What OS were you trying to get into? I have found that sometimes it takes a few tries to get it (there are a few quirks I've run into in some classroom setups when I was using it in my courses).


There is also SamInside which isn't too expensive at $40USD.

[Nokia]

Hi MsMittens,

I was trying it out on an XP pro unpatched system - straight outta the box.
I've just re-read the FAQ's and the author recommens to let it run through the scan disc and boot up fully and then restart it from the CD and try again!

It does seem a very tempremental app!

SamInside looks quite promising - cheap too!

Thanks for your help!

Nokia

[Spekter1080]

Originally posted here by HTRegz
Hey Hey,

Resetting passwords is a very common occurance where I work. From a personal point of view, dumping the SAM file and using a brute force method may be feasible, if you have the time to do it. However in a business environment, a practice like this would never succeed. If you told your boss it'd take more than 5 minutes to recover his password (especially if it took you a month to generate the file), you may as well just start heading for the door. We use two pieces of software for password recovery. The first is the bootdisk on the link that MsM provides... it's absolutely wonderful. The other tool is ERD Commander. However for personal use, it's price tag may not justify it's use. Another tool we have recently started using is Passware Kit. It also contains a tool for generating a bootdisk for Admin password recovery. We also have a BartPE built bootable XP at work. There are many modules available for BartPE, which includes modules to use Nero, AdAware, AV Software, the ERD Utilities. I used all of those when I built the CD. Now it does password recover, virus and malware removal and we can burn off data if the drive is a lost cause (assuming we can even read the drive). It is definately very handy software.

Anyways Nice tutorial, just from a personal point of view, not the business aspect that a lot of people here would look to it for. For those the commercial/free tools that are out there are more realistic. Good read though.

Peace,
HT

I agree with you, as my work environment is also somewhat fast-paced. I have used ERD and I think it works great.

[Spekter1080]

Originally posted here by MsMittens
Then again, you could go the easy way.

I take it you're Adam Scheblein?

I have had some experience with the program that your link points to, however, I like to recover my passwords rather than change them. It has been more of a learning experience for me, which I prefer to just downloading some quick fix to my problem. Personal preference I guess....lol The program is a descent solution however...

[MrLinus]

I have had some experience with the program that your link points to, however, I like to recover my passwords rather than change them. It has been more of a learning experience for me, which I prefer to just downloading some quick fix to my problem. Personal preference I guess....lol The program is a descent solution however...

Hence the recommendation of SAMInside for those that want to do that. With the passing of L0phtCrack, there doesn't seem to be as many decent password cracking tools out there. You can, of course, also use something like ophcrack or Project Rainbow Crack

[Spekter1080]

ahhh, yes. I have not used SAMInside, but I have heard some good things about it. I have, however, had much success with the other programs.