administrator password !!!!!

[iffy]

hello folk,
my window xp failed to boot up one day with error message saying window system32/config/system file is either missing or corrupted,so using another pc and my friend google i've found some dos info on recovering the config file but (my own fault) i rebooted it before i completed the programming change and now it asking for the 'administrator password' to access the C: drive in recovery mode,it won't boot up in window.

i'm looking for some kind of method of fixing or reset tools for password cos i do want to save the family photos!(reformatting is the last option)
any help will be great .

Ian

[Tycho]

Google for Emergency Boot Disk.
This is a linux disk IIRC and can display the admin password for XP.

[joewilliams]

This is what you want:

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

[Marf]

If you can't retrieve the password then you can always put the drive in another machine and save what you need to before trashing it and reinstalling windows.

[fluffnik]

I've used the Ophcrack live CD to retrieve XP passwords in the past - you just boot the CD and wait ~15-20 mins...

If that fails you can use the Trinity Rescue Kit, another live CD, to hack the password out of the registry which is a little riskier. You can also use it dump data across the network or to a USB disk in case it all goes horribly wrong.

Best of luck!

[snowy]

ERD Commander works very well, boot from CD and change the local administrators password

[Moose.]

Marf said:

If you can't retrieve the password then you can always put the drive in another machine and save what you need to before trashing it and reinstalling windows.

This is certainly the safest method Then have a go at one of the password cracking tools.

[The_Burg]

Have you tried a blank password? Nearly every PC i see doesn't have one as users don't realise the accounts even there as it doesn't show up on the pretty click screen.

[fluffnik]

The_Burg said:

Have you tried a blank password? Nearly every PC i see doesn't have one as users don't realise the accounts even there as it doesn't show up on the pretty click screen.

That is indeed the toppest tip.

[spitfire-ian]

fluffnik said:

The_Burg said:

Have you tried a blank password? Nearly every PC i see doesn't have one as users don't realise the accounts even there as it doesn't show up on the pretty click screen.

That is indeed the toppest tip.

Unless it was the laptop I was working on at the weekend, then no

[MrBennett]

I know exactly what you've done, as I came across the same problem recently. You restored some of the config files using the recovery console but rebooted without remembering to restore the SAM file?

I used WHAX, a live Linux distribution which has NTFS breaking software bundled and ready to use. You'll need something like this if your Windows stuff is on an NTFS partition. Use the WHAX distribution to access the drive and restore the rest of the files, including the SAM file (Windows password file).

Your config directory should have:
AppEvent.Evt
default
default.LOG
default.sav
Internet.evt
SAM
SAM.LOG
SecEvent.Evt
SECURITY
SECURITY.LOG
software
software.LOG
software.sav
systemprofile
TempKey.LOG
userdiff
userdiff.LOG

Just to add.. Guessing the administrator password won't work as there isn't actually a correct answer.. Windows won't be able to find your SAM file to verify!

Edited by MrBennett on Monday 10th December 17:57

[iffy]

joewilliams said:

This is what you want:

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

i try that but it failed to mount the ntfs file.thank