Win XP Professional Password

**gutm** · September 27th, 2004, 11:00 PM

Hypothetical situation: Locked out of Win XP Professional machine. Tried using this: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ - didn't work. Tried using other logons/passwords - no luck. Any other ideas?

**MobilePCPhysician** · September 27th, 2004, 11:12 PM

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_admini...r_password.htm

Good luck.

**skiitz** · September 27th, 2004, 11:43 PM

In c:\WINDOWS\system32\config\ you will a file called SAM. If you create a boot disk and delete the file it will remove all passwords (i think it might reset user prefences)
Then you can logon as an admin without a password.

I know this works as i have used it for a friend who forgot his password

Do a goodle if you need more info however it will reset the password for you. you can also copy the file to a floppy and there is a way of decrypting the password however i do not know what software in needed

**gutm** · September 28th, 2004, 07:20 PM

Tried all of the above - no help. I've been able to use the boot CD on XP Home edition, but it didn't work with XP Professional. Beginning to think a reinstall is the only fix.

**MobilePCPhysician** · September 28th, 2004, 07:23 PM

Hypothetical?????

**gutm** · September 28th, 2004, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by MobilePCPhysician

Hypothetical?????

I was wishing I was dreaming...

**skiitz** · September 28th, 2004, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by gutm

Tried all of the above - no help. I've been able to use the boot CD on XP Home edition, but it didn't work with XP Professional. Beginning to think a reinstall is the only fix.

Deleting the sam file will remove all passwords even with xp pro as i have had to do it. all you need is a NTFS boot disk.

To save you some time you need to know that reinstalling wondows will not remove the password it will still be there after the reinstall.

You could try a brute force attack on the SAM file. i have no idea how to do it however i found the following on another forum:
There are a few program options to brute force a SAM file. LC probably would be the best option, they redubbed it @stake LC4, and yes they sell it, but they have been before L0pht went with @stake from version 3 on.
(http://www.atstake.com/products/lc/download.html)
I believe if you uninstall your current load of LC and reinstall it, it reactivates the trial use. Not sure.

Another option is SAMInside. That will do a Brute Force on SAM files as well. (http://www.insidepro.com/eng/saminside.shtml)

Let me know how you go!

**gutm** · September 28th, 2004, 10:19 PM

I deleted the SAM file - I ended up getting an error message stating that the file was corrupt or missing and I needed to reboot in safe mode. When I rebooted in safe mode I got the same error message and the computer automatically rebooted. I let it reboot several times with no luck. I finally decided to do a reinstall. I tried to do a repair install but that same error message kept popping up. I ended up installing "over the top", keeping the partitions and file system the same. That worked fine, with the exception of having to reinstall my MS Office.

**MobilePCPhysician** · September 28th, 2004, 10:28 PM

Originally Posted by gutm

I deleted the SAM file - I ended up getting an error message stating that the file was corrupt or missing and I needed to reboot in safe mode. When I rebooted in safe mode I got the same error message and the computer automatically rebooted. I let it reboot several times with no luck. I finally decided to do a reinstall. I tried to do a repair install but that same error message kept popping up. I ended up installing "over the top", keeping the partitions and file system the same. That worked fine, with the exception of having to reinstall my MS Office.

If you got a message that said you needed to reboot in safe mode, what mode were you in then? I'm glad you achieved your goal, but I believe you achieved it the hard way...

**gutm** · September 29th, 2004, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by MobilePCPhysician

If you got a message that said you needed to reboot in safe mode, what mode were you in then? I'm glad you achieved your goal, but I believe you achieved it the hard way...

In both normal and safe modes I got the same message - either way I didn't have the option of typing in anything.

**futuretech** · September 29th, 2004, 11:15 AM

I have successfully used the ntpasswd utility to reset the admin password in XP Pro, but set it to the default blank password.
I then booted to the admin logon and set a new password.
I havent had any success changing the password and logging on only by using the blank option has it worked for me.

**skiitz** · September 29th, 2004, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by gutm

I deleted the SAM file - I ended up getting an error message stating that the file was corrupt or missing and I needed to reboot in safe mode. When I rebooted in safe mode I got the same error message and the computer automatically rebooted. I let it reboot several times with no luck. I finally decided to do a reinstall. I tried to do a repair install but that same error message kept popping up. I ended up installing "over the top", keeping the partitions and file system the same. That worked fine, with the exception of having to reinstall my MS Office.

Hmm,
Sorry if deleting SAM caused you too much trouble. When i found that deleting SAM would reset the password i tried it for a friend and it worked fine.

At least you have got back as an admin

**Atodini** · September 29th, 2004, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by skiitz

Hmm,
Sorry if deleting SAM caused you too much trouble. When i found that deleting SAM would reset the password i tried it for a friend and it worked fine.

At least you have got back as an admin

Are you sure your friend had XP?

It works fine with 2K / NT but with XP it definitely doesn't!!!

For whatever reason XP is very different here.

Been caught out on this one a number of times, at least an over install will give you control again though...

John

**skiitz** · September 29th, 2004, 11:24 PM

Originally Posted by Atodini

Are you sure your friend had XP?

It works fine with 2K / NT but with XP it definitely doesn't!!!

For whatever reason XP is very different here.

Been caught out on this one a number of times, at least an over install will give you control again though...

John

Yes i am sure that he had windows XP. It was XP Pro. I cannot remember the site i found it from however when i found it it said for win2000 and win XP

As for the reinstall. When i have reinstalled windows it has not removed my admin password

**gizmo1_1** · September 30th, 2004, 12:03 AM

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd] http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd[/URL]

I have used this many times. Create a bootable cd with the bin.

Make sure that your follow the instructions exactly (can be a little tricky) "*" for blank password I believe

Hasn't failed me yet.