TOTAL n00b question inside - please help

[skyceman]

Hi guys im new to this community, so id really appreciate it if i could get some help.

i know this is a totally n00b question, but how do i get into MS-DOS mode from my system which is running Windows XP professional version? i tried hitting F8 at the start, but there is no option for MS-DOS mode ( or maybe there was and they called it something else)... anyways i know the answer is simple, so please help


Thanks!

[FlamingRain]

It's not possible on XP. Back in the day of 3.1, 95, 98 DOS was truly at the heart of the system. Since everything ran 'on top of' MS-DOS (not quite true, but for the most part it did) it wasn't a big deal to kick into MS-DOS only and not load windows. But, the NT/2K/XP machines are based on the NT kernel and don't run on top of MS-DOS. So, there's no way to boot into DOS mode.

For many applications that require this, you're probably better off trying to get a copy of MS-DOS and d/l a copy of Bochs for your machine. Not sure why you'd want to go into pure DOS, it's only useful for a few things that you can't do while running windows.

[HTRegz]

Hey Hey,

Windows XP is it's own operating system and thus doesn't need to have MS DOS running under it. That's why people have problems with old DOS based games, because there is no MS DOS. You have to create a dos bootdisk and boot off it. Unless you create a DOS boot folder, my roommate has that.. he dual boots Windows XP and DOS 6.22, however DOS can't see NTFS partitions. If you Windows XP has NTFS Partitions you'll need NTFSDOS which costs money. For a regular old DOS bootdisk visit www.bootdisk.com

Peace,
HT

[wiskic10_4]

You can still get the C:\ prompt through START>>>PROGRAMS>>>ACCESSORIES, though...

Why do you need in MS DOS mode anyway???

-WISKI

[skyceman]

wow thanks guys

the reason im trying to do this is because i have this book that im reading atm, it teaches some basic hacking tricks that i wanted to test out on my 2nd computer..

basically it said to get passed the windows login password, reboot and wait for the message:

"Starting Windows 9X..."

When you see this on the screen, press F8. The boot menu will come up. Select option 7, to boot into DOS. Then go to the Windows directory by typing

"C:\>cd windows"

Then, rename all files with the extension .pwl by typing the following command:

"C:\windows>ren *.pwl *.xyz"

Or, delete them by typing:

"C:/windows>del *.pwl *.xyz"

Now, when the windows password login pops up, you can write anything in the place where the password has to be typed. as you have renamed ( or deleted) the password files, WIndows cannot find that file, so when you enter a password, windows just takes it as the original password.


would any of you guys know any updated version of this to use on XP or is this book i have totally outdated? lol thanks again for the quick response.

[wiskic10_4]

skyceman,

No, that aint gonna work on an XP box. You might try and Google for some way to get passed the XP login, but I doubt if anyone here will tell you how to get passed it (some of the folks around here look down upon that kinda of thing... read the noob tips on posting...)
Good luck...
-WISKI

[skyceman]

DOH sorry i just picked up this book and found the stuff really interesting.. it actually recommended this site too for good advice 0.o

[jinxy]

With win9x you realy don't nead to go through all that sh*t when you get to the log on screen just hit cancel and a way you go into windows, then you can edit all the pwl you like. Win 9x= no security. Unless there is a third party security ap installed.

Xp on the other hand has some measure of security built in, although there is no dos with xp you should be able to access a sudo dos mode with F8 when booting and choosing safe mode with command prompt. Your hacking commands probably will not have any effect though.

That book you talk about is probably out of date but maybe a good place to start an education from if you can get to use a win9x box.

But as Luke Skywalker said don't go to the dark side of the force.

Jinxy, Hic Hic

[AxessTerminated]

The book teaches you how to delete *.pwl files. Thats Win9x for you. For WinXP, you can boot into a live version of Linux (i.e. Knoppix, Knoppix STD, Moppix) and delete the "SAM" file. A great place for you to start learning at that level is astalavista.com, find the link to the directory/archive, and start reading.