Lost Password

[JamCo]

I know this quistion has been asked several times before, but when I searched the forums I do not find what I am after. I have a 2 part question:

1. A co-worker was fooling around his laptop (XP/Pro) in his Local Users and Groups accounts and deleted what he thought were "unused" accounts. He deleted his account and some others and does not know his Admin password. He bought the laptop from a friend and the friend does not know the correct password either! I tried "blank" and the others suggested by both former and current owners but the syntax may not be correct. How can I reset or recover the Admin password?

2. I suspect that he destroyed most of his data under the deleted account(s). Is it possible to recover the data or is the data still there just unassessable under other user log-ins?

There is no password hint option, the user does not know if his account had admin rights or not.

[trickytwista]

always an admin account on xp...try in safe mode with admin account

[keytotime]

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ to reset password.

[JamCo]

Tried that, no luck. Don't I still need a p/w in safe mode? I tried the passwords that he thought, 1Toshiba1, 1toshiba1, 1TOSHIBA1, 1Toshiba, ... (I won't list all combinations). I am pretty sure I blank, but I can't remember all the possibilities in safe mode.

[TiXer]

To reset the passwords of local users you can use this linux based program called X. Unfortunately I don't know where you can download it (it's a free program I'v used quite a few times at work), but this is a really handy program.. You boot from a cd or a floppy disk with the X program on and then u just follow the steps in the program..

[boooggy]

there is also a program made by passware

look in here:

http://www.lostpassword.com/windows-xp-2000-nt.htm.

only problem is that it does not recover the lost pass only reset the admin pass.

[jaclaz]

@boogy

there is also a program made by passware

look in here:

http://www.lostpassword.com/windows-xp-2000-nt.htm.

only problem is that it does not recover the lost pass only reset the admin pass.

You are talking about a $195 COMMERCIAL software, that will probably (hopefully) be used only ONCE in a lifetime!

@JamCo

The tool suggested by trickytwista works VERY well, it is recommended to use it to BLANK password, NOT to change/retrieve it.

If it sounds too difficult, here is the same thing pre-made (and with more tools):

http://ebcd.pcministry.com/

see here:

http://ebcd.pcministry.com/example_en.html

There are other FREEWARE for personal use way too:

http://www.d--b.webpark.pl/dreampackpl_en.htm

http://www.d--b.webpark.pl/down/dreampackpl-2004-06-10.zip

jaclaz

[boooggy]

u r right. it is a commercial program. but the demo is just doing the job reseting the admin pass.

[7thking]

get hold of Hiren's boot disk..... its got plenty password changers.....

[jaclaz]

u r right. it is a commercial program. but the demo is just doing the job reseting the admin pass.

you sure?

did you actually TEST it?

From the site:

Download demo

Demo version is available for download free of charge. Demo version will allow you to reset a 'demo' password only. This demo version will make no changes for all other passwords.

The above means that if you make an account with the password "demo" the demo version will reset it, UNTOUCHING every other accounts.

.....maybe Jamco's friend is VERY lucky and the old password is "demo"....

get hold of Hiren's boot disk..... its got plenty password changers.....

READ THE RULES

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=18408

Hiren's is considered WAREZ.

jaclaz

[raza]

At the log on screen press ctrl+alt+del twice and then enter administrator name in user box and leave password field blank and enter.Hope that works.