Placing the SAM?

[jlightfoot1]

If you move or delete the SAM file - Windows 2000 will create a new one on the next reboot with a blank administrator account password. I have had to do this many times when a help-desk tech tried to change the PC name and unjoin a domain simultaneously. XP on the other hand will most likely not ever boot all the way up again. Do this at yourwn risk.

[ghostmachine]

Originally posted here by nuClear
Is there some way to configure windows to place its SAM somewhere else rather than the default %systemroot%\system32\config\. May be it could be an additional security step.

there's another alternative to that if you are really afraid of someone breaking your SAM.
you could look into the syskey utility..
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;310105

I have not really did what you have asked, but my guess is the folder %systemroot%\system32\config\ is mapped to the registry, something like HKLM->SECURITY. If you change that, i guess Windows may break(??)...
someone with more experience on SAM please correct me thks

[nuClear]

May be it could be possible by editing the installation files of the OS. Can we ask Miscrosoft to make a utility for that

[Irongeek]

SysKEy does little good amore unless you store it on a floppy, Samdump2 and SAMInside both decode SysKey with ease.