Administrator password

[Guest Arun]

Am using Win XP Professional.I forgot my administrator password.How to

retrieve it without doing format?

[Guest Meinolf Weber]

Re: Administrator password

 

Hello Arun,

 

See here:

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

 

Best regards

 

Meinolf Weber

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers

no rights.

** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups

** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

> Am using Win XP Professional.I forgot my administrator password.How to

> retrieve it without doing format?

>

[Guest Xandros]

Re: Administrator password

 

You might be able to retrieve it with ophcrack

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/ The Live CD version can reveal

unsophisticated passwords without the need to blank them out.

However if it doesn't work then you can blank the password using a program

like this one

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/tools/ntpassword/ntpasswordhack.zip

 

--

 

Xandros

 

 

"Arun" <Arun@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:E625C7E8-417A-47A0-BE9E-D9132E648FA1@microsoft.com...

> Am using Win XP Professional.I forgot my administrator password.How to

> retrieve it without doing format?

[Guest Anna]

Re: Administrator password

 

>> Am using Win XP Professional.I forgot my administrator password.How to

>> retrieve it without doing format?

 

 

"Meinolf Weber" <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote in message

news:ff16fb669eda28ca939df42963c4@msnews.microsoft.com...

> Hello Arun,

> See here:

> http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

> Best regards

> Meinolf Weber

 

 

Arun:

The website Meinolf directed you to has a freely available program that you

can download and then create a bootable CD that will allow you to reset your

password. We prepared some step-by-step instructions for using this program

for some local PC users. Hopefully it will be of some use to you (or others

interested in this issue)...

 

1. On the top of the webpage click on the "Bootdisk" button.

2. In the "Download" section of that page click on the cd070927.zip file and

download it to your Desktop. Note it's a ZIP file so the contents of that

file will have to be extracted.

3. I assume you know how to do this by merely right-clicking on the ZIP

file, click on Extract All, Next, Next, Finish.

4. A folder will be created on your Desktop titled "cd070927".

5. Inside that folder will be the cd070927.iso file. It's this .iso file

that allows you to create a bootable CD from that .iso image.

6. Hopefully, you have a CD-burning program, e.g., Nero, Roxio, etc., that

allows you to merely double-click on the .iso file and the CD-burning

program will open and proceeds to create a bootable CD from that .iso image.

If you don't have such a program perhaps you have a friend or acquaintance

who does and he or she can help you with creating the bootable CD. There are

other programs available on the net that allow you to do this as well but

these third-party programs that I've mentioned make it a very simple &

straightforward process.

 

Now that you've created the bootable CD that's designed to reset your

password, insert the CD in your optical drive and boot to it.

 

The following are step-by-step instructions for using the program. The

example involved assumes you are working with a single-partitioned HDD, but

the basic steps are the same for any size HDD, except where the drive is

multi-partitioned. If the latter is the case the steps will be slightly

different but they will not be unduly complicated or substantially different

under those circumstances.

 

As you progress through the screens the information provided and steps

involved look more complicated than they really are. In virtually every step

during the process you, as the user, will simply be pressing the Enter key

or some other simple keystroke. So don't be unduly concerned as you look

through the following. Relax, and take your time during the process.

 

1. Hopefully your PC is set up so that it will boot to a bootable CD. If

it's not, change the motherboard's BIOS boot priority setting so that the

CD-ROM is first in boot priority.

 

2. Boot to the password reset CD. At the first screen you will see the

"boot:" prompt. Press Enter.

 

3. The next prompt ("Step ONE") will be "Select: [1]". Press Enter.

 

4. The next prompt ("Step TWO") will be "What is the path to the registry

directory? (relative to windows disk)

[WINDOWS/system32/config]:". Again, press Enter.

 

5. The next prompt will follow text "Select which part of registry to load,

use ..." and list three options. The default prompt will reflect the first

option ("Password reset ..."), indicating "[1]". Again, simply press Enter.

 

6. The next prompt at "Step THREE" will indicate "What to do? [1]". Again,

press Enter.

 

7. A bunch of information will follow with the final line displaying the

prompt, "or simply enter the username to change [Administrator]". Type your

user name, e.g., ARUN, and press Enter. Ensure you've correctly entered your

user name in the proper case (uppercase or lowercase as you have originally

set it).

 

8. More information will follow ending with the following prompt...

"Please enter new password:". Type an * (asterisk or star) and press Enter.

 

9. The next prompt will be...

"Do you really wish to change it? (y/n) [n]". Type y and press Enter.

(You'll receive the confirmation "Changed!")

 

10. The last line of the following prompt will read...

"or simply enter the username to change [Administrator]". Type !

(exclamation point) and press Enter.

 

11. The last line of the next prompt will read...

"What to do? [1]" . Type q and press Enter.

 

12. The next prompt ("Step FOUR") will read...

"About to write file(s) back! Do it? [n]". Type y and press Enter.

 

13. At this point you should get the "EDIT COMPLETE" message with the

following prompt...

"You can try again if it somehow failed, or you selected wrong New run? [n]"

Just press Enter.

 

14. The final prompt will be a "#" signaling that the program has finished

its work. Remove the CD from your optical drive and reboot.

 

Hopefully your Administrator's password has been reset to a blank password

and you should gain access to your system assuming that's the only problem

preventing you from booting to your system. Assuming you're able to do so

you can set a password of your choice and, of course, you'll be sure to make

a record of it, right?

Anna

[Guest Patrick Keenan]

Re: Administrator password

 

"Arun" <Arun@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:E625C7E8-417A-47A0-BE9E-D9132E648FA1@microsoft.com...

> Am using Win XP Professional.I forgot my administrator password.How to

> retrieve it without doing format?

 

Generally it can't be retrieved, just reset.

 

Since you mention that you have XP Pro, which supports filesystem

encryption, it's prudent to mention that changing the password from outside

the account instantly renders any encrypted files associated with that

account, permanently undecryptable.

 

There are two exceptions to this that seldom apply. The first is that you

actually did back up the account certificates. The second is that you

specified a recovery agent. Neither of these are particularly common for

people who post here.

 

So before you change the password using an external utility, stop and

consider carefully whether you might have invoked encryption. If you did,

it's time to consider the options and implications of permanent data loss.

 

HTH

-pk

[Guest ANONYMOUS]

Re: Administrator password

 

 

 

Patrick Keenan wrote:

> Generally it can't be retrieved, just reset.

>

> Since you mention that you have XP Pro, which supports filesystem

> encryption, it's prudent to mention that changing the password from

> outside the account instantly renders any encrypted files associated

> with that account, permanently undecryptable.

>

> There are two exceptions to this that seldom apply. The first is

> that you actually did back up the account certificates. The second

> is that you specified a recovery agent. Neither of these are

> particularly common for people who post here.

>

> So before you change the password using an external utility, stop and

> consider carefully whether you might have invoked encryption. If you

> did, it's time to consider the options and implications of permanent

> data loss.

>

In the same vain, most people who post here don't even "invoke

encryption" and so it may not be the time to consider any implications

of losing data because of using external utility!!

[Guest Patrick Keenan]

Re: Administrator password

 

"ANONYMOUS" <ANONYMOUS@EXAMPLE.COM> wrote in message

news:O3qtttaxIHA.4488@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>

>

> Patrick Keenan wrote:

>

>> Generally it can't be retrieved, just reset.

>>

>> Since you mention that you have XP Pro, which supports filesystem

>> encryption, it's prudent to mention that changing the password from

>> outside the account instantly renders any encrypted files associated with

>> that account, permanently undecryptable.

>>

>> There are two exceptions to this that seldom apply. The first is that

>> you actually did back up the account certificates. The second is that

>> you specified a recovery agent. Neither of these are particularly

>> common for people who post here.

>>

>> So before you change the password using an external utility, stop and

>> consider carefully whether you might have invoked encryption. If you

>> did, it's time to consider the options and implications of permanent data

>> loss.

>>

> In the same vain, most people who post here don't even "invoke encryption"

> and so it may not be the time to consider any implications of losing data

> because of using external utility!!

 

Unfortunately, that's the kind of thinking that leads directly to data loss.

It is *exactly* the time to consider consequences.

 

After you've permanently lost any chance of accessing your data is the wrong

time to think about the implications of your actions.

 

Questions about how to recover from exactly this kind of problem appear

regularly in this group.

 

The experience of seeing people permanently lose data because they didn't

understand the consequences of using these utilities does not incline me to

hide this information.

 

 

Hope this helps.

-pk