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If you've forgotten the pwd to ur admin account, on Win XP (I duno if it works on any other OS's), on the welcome screen, press alt ctrl del twice, and then you'll be in the other login screen. Type in Administrator, and no password. U'll be able to log in, unless the owner of the pc has changed either the password or user for that account (which u should do to increase sercurity).
This is not something new. You can see the admin login option from safe mode as well. Most everyone on this board, that uses windows, is going to set a password during install. exept maybe HT.
Well, good try....and it is somewhat useful information....but you should probably research to see if the subject is already discussed and of what level of difficulty this information pertains to. Like I said, close, but no cigar...maybe next time.
Yes it actually worked. I am at work and we have about 15 different notebooks/desktops on floaters that we use to assist customers and what not. Anyways, I was reading this thread while waiting on a call and I decided to give it a shot on one of our 'test' machines and it worked good, gave me administrator access. Very cool trick indeed, here dude/dudette take some greenies. I liked the thread because I didnt know about it. Cheers, Michael
Alot of home call-outs i get for forgotten passwords are resolved this way. Surprising that alot of oem installs dont have a password set for the admin account.
That's because most people just click Next (or Skip).
If you've forgotten your password to your admin account (or any user account if you happen to be an admin) there's a simple way of resetting it, having said that you do need an admin login of some sort to do this. It's also a good way to generate a decent password.
Open a command prompt and enter: net user username /random (username is the login account name)
Press enter and Windows will generate a strong password which will overwrite whatever password you had and couldn't remember.
Or you could (again from an account with admin privilegs) type start > run > control userpasswords2 which gives the option of resetting the admin pass.
Or you could download lc4 and find the password that way :) you need a registered version if the program has to start brute forcing but most passwords that users choose don't fall into this category.
The best way dat i hve knwn to reset xp passwords is:
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/
You just hve to boot up using this utility on a floppy...and the rest is easy.
What if there is password set for administrator account and user account and no one remembers tht ?
Here is the solution to that all you need is phy., access to that machines, a CD drive from which you can boot, and for sure a Bootable CD created with BartPE with "Windows Password Renew 1.0-RC2" plug-in
This works with WinXp, Win2k windows 2k3 (all)
Below is the link for creating a BartPE cd with this plug-in (documents).
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/start/
(this link shows how to create BartPE bootable CD for Creating BartPE CD with plug-in you are on your own, but the software which creates BartPE CD is really helpful for the same just few clicks and you are done.)
Below is the link of all BartPE plug-in which would be helpful to many support persons and Admin as well.
http://www.bootcd.us/BartPE_Plugins_Complete.php
You mean if nobody remembers any of the passwords, or no administrator password anyway?Quote:
Originally Posted by sheth
You might have a problem as without at least one user account running as admin, then it's difficult to reset the admin pass (which is the reason user accounts are created, precisely so normal users can't do that sort of thing!).
Your excellent advice sounds very useful in these circumstances :) better still, don't forget your admin password, particularly if there is only one admin account :)
Actually the easiest way is to use F8 during boot up, and you can go into safe mode as admin and change your passwords.
So yes, basically if anybody has physical access to your M$ box they can get access.
i prefer the bootable cd as many new boxs don't have floppies. it has not failed me yet. works for 2k, xp and 2k3Quote:
Originally Posted by ashuznish
Actually Ted~ that software does support floppies and CDs. It is just that its origins are back in the days of NT 3.51 and 4.0 when floppies were the norm.
:)
How can you change the admin pass from F8 if it's set to something you don't know? Surely you can't just "get into safe mode as admin" without the password?
I think they are refering to an XP Home machine...OEM install where the admin password is left blank.
Most OEM machines are installed like this...
If there is a password on the admin account...then no...they will need the admin password...even in safe mode or the recovery console.
or a boot disk to access the data
MLF
Yes - like I said, you might have a problem if you don't have access to at least one admin account on the system. It's unbelievable that anyone would leave their PC so insecure if it came with Windows pre installed - but then it had never occured to me that the admin pass was left blank and probably wouldn't to a number of people, particularly the people who buy PCs that have Windows pre installed with Home. I've always installed Windows myself and use the Pro version anyway.
ahhh
That is the difference between us and them... ;)
I find most people could care less about security on thier computer. :eek:
Just as long as they can surf and get the mail.............all is well.
My boss will bring in his home computer to me about every 6 months...just chalk full of spyware, trojans amd all round crap.....and he pays me to clean it for him...he wont trust anyone else with it.....I told him to take it to the local shop....but he wants me to fix it at twice the cost..min :rolleyes:
I usually will give the speach about antivirus updates, OS hotfixes, good practices, etc....and I am sure i sound like Charlie Browns teacher
wahwahwahwahwhawhahahhwah
I visualize him sticking his fingers in his ears and repeating "I am not listening"
I find it the same with most users.....
MLF
3 words
"bios boot password"
Most bios' can be set this way
it's a PITA but prevents (mostly) even local access linux boots and the like
yes you can open the box and yes you can reset the bios with jumper j14 or whatever (unless you have something like my dell optiplexs with the tamper guard case open schtick) but you -really- got to want to
btw...any laptop without a bios pwd set is justing asking to be a identity theft victim (at minimum...E&Y, the VA are you listening)
edit: btw...don't want to sound like a bios pwd is a 100% fix ...there are ways around like flashing or even just removing the battery but it is one more layer...
more info on defeating what I just said ;0 here... http://www.elfqrin.com/docs/biospw.html
Or even better
Seagates encrypted harddrives...dont lose the password though :eek:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/54004.html
MLF
Or better still - just set an admin password. A BIOS password can be a mixed blessing, I once had one on a PC which I completely forgot, and as you say the only option there is to reset the CMOS. I tried removing the battery but that didn't work, so I had to fiddle around with jumpers.
I have a little piece of software a buddy from a large company in vagas gave me it is a bootable cd that loads a linux window that looks alot like a win98 boot disk but with one hugh difference it give you the option to set a new admin password with out knowing the original password I have had to use it to reset a password on a 2000 server where the person who set up the server deleted all user and admin accounts except the original one which he was the only that new it he did this as a last act of definance as he was leaving on bad terms the company that owned the server does gov. contract for circut boards long story short all local computer shops told them it would take a couple day to recover there data and reload the server well with this NT password cracker it took all of 5 mins and a couple of reboots and they where back in business I wish I could remember where he said downloaded it at pertty cool boot disk though
I found the site where the nt password crack came from if anyone intends on trying this program read all docs first as it is use at own risk but the docs are very clear on how to use it and the risks involved.
here is the link
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/