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i have noticed recently with my interest in .pwl files that every win 98 coputer has a .pwl file called ADMINIST.pwl...now, does this file have a preset password? or does the system administrator set it when he is setting up his computers? and here is an equally important question. lets say someone stole that file, and decrypted it..if they were to log onto the system after that, would they gain administrator priviledges? how could someone prevent that from happening?
Windows 98 doesn't have any type of admin login. The security is just not there. I've never noticed that file. I'll have a look into it later tonight.
x
well to prevent someone from stealing and cracking their pwl, they could just use some insane 12+ char alpahnumeric pw, or for the truely insane, 12 chars alpahnumeric with a special characters thrown in like []}{';:"/?<>.
Quote:
Originally posted here by drew_1791
i have noticed recently with my interest in .pwl files that every win 98 coputer has a .pwl file called ADMINIST.pwl...now, does this file have a preset password? or does the system administrator set it when he is setting up his computers? and here is an equally important question. lets say someone stole that file, and decrypted it..if they were to log onto the system after that, would they gain administrator priviledges? how could someone prevent that from happening?
You couldn't really gain administrative priviledges on a Windows 98 box because there really isn't such a thing. If you're in Windows, you have 'admin' rights. Security on a 98 box, at least security provided by the OS, is something that just doesn't exist.
I'll take a look for that file too, though...
xmad > yeah, win98 is pretty security weak, it stores passwds in the .PWL files, thats how i found out the Netware passwords to my highschool. Lame, yes, but it was a learning experience.
Erm, my 98SE doesn't have that and there's no Admin account/all users are. Do you have multiple users able to log in to that one pc? It might exist then. :confused:
It sounds like your tying to get into the admin account of a school system or something like that. Check you don't have a different explorer program used instead. Our school's annyoying as it has 98SE installed, but you're only ment to use Windows CSE Explorer (a 95 hack? :eek: ) ;)
I had a Windows 98box and I never saw that file. I have seen *every* file... :D
If memory serves, win95/98 will create a PWL file for every user. You may get the lame logon window when you fire up windows95/98 but you can put whatever you want as the username in. Everytime you do it, it will create a new user...
Someone probably typed that username in and it therefore created that file...gotta love winderz
Neb
I am not going to negate the fact that you found ADMINISTR.pwl on "your" PC. That is neihter here nor there. But here is a run down on the PWL.
A pwl file is an encrypted password file. There is a service that runs on most, if not all win9x boxes called "Client for Microsoft Networks", this is the service that basically saves the password and username. It also does all the stupid windows logon crap. Saves profiles ect ect... You will notice, that if you remove Client for MSN you can no longer save passwords. And you will get prompted upon restart for a new windows logon. Thats because your network's Primary Network Logon defaults to Windows Logon. Now, you asked how can you make sure it doesnt happen again? Dont let Windows Save any passwords. That easy.
Like nebulus said, someone probably typed in Admin or whatever and it came up as a user. Unless someone created an account with the name "Admin" and it is just a regular user but name is Admin.
i am positive i never typed ADMINIST on the logon prompt....so that is not a possibility of why its there. i was just trying to put together a few similarities to maybe develop a law(lol) anyway, the other reason is while i was at my local library today, i noticed the same file on ALL of their machines.
Yea ive noticed the password list file.Unless someone gets thrir hands on a program like CAIN then they really cant do to much , but use strange ASCII characters to prevent dedcryption.
-N
Just another note... it is truncated to 8 chars. So if you log on as "SuperDuperDude", you'll only end up with superdup.pwl. Therefore someone must have tried logging on as 'Administrator' at some point in the past. Maybe a visiting kiddie?
Bottom line:
Don't worry about it. It's just there. That's all. By itself, the file isn't that important and deleting it wouldn't do much except erase some saved passwords (*****-autocomplete fields) while logged on as 'Administrator".
It could very well be a *domain* admin account....
(Urgh! an admin loging into not renamed admin account on a win9x box! Duh!)
Ammo
But One weak security feature about Windows 98 , is that if someone can boot up to the DOS screen , they can rename the *.pwl file to any file format they specify , therefore gaining access to your account.Definetely Lame , but it gets the job done at certain times.
-N
well, i compiled a neat pwl cracker myself.. the language used was C++.. ofcourse the source code wasnt originally mine but i edited it coz my file paths are quite different.. so i had to make it compatible with my PC.. and it did work.. it retireved the login name, password and ISP of my internet account. but thats because i ticked the "Save Password" box..
its quite relatively easy... the crack just uses a certain dll file located in the SYSTEMS FOLDER that decrypts the pwl file.. and displays the decrypted characters.. i still have the source code.. if u want, i can post it here on AO, but only if the Senior Members aprove of it.
delete this *.pwl, then reboot, and you will be asked to create the new one. so easy to reset.
so this pwl is not security level, it is just user1s identification.
Ah, but in order to 'unlock' the .pwl file you need the correct *and* password, so just renaming it shouldn't help you any more (and perhaps less) than if you just typed in someone else's name at the prompt.Quote:
Originally posted here by n01100110
But One weak security feature about Windows 98 , is that if someone can boot up to the DOS screen , they can rename the *.pwl file to any file format they specify , therefore gaining access to your account.Definetely Lame , but it gets the job done at certain times.
-N
And a .pwl file is NOT your account. It's a Win98 profile password list. There is no need to even log in as the other person, log in as yourself, crack the file, and then just browse the other user's c:\windows\profiles\USERNAME\ area for stuff.
Sonic: I've seen those before, but they require you to already be logged in. There are several bruteforce/dictionary .pwl crackers out there, however. Win95 .pwls (before some patch) were ludicrously easy to crack, but 98/98SE made it harder, but still not super-tough.