Lost admin Password XP pro

[drdoug26]

Hi all,

How can I recover my sons lost admin password? Any programs and advice would be appreciated. That kid! Just cleaned up the nimda mess now this!

A reset app would also work.

He is currently logged on as Mark which does NOT have administrative right set.

Thanks

Doug

 

[Showstoppermd]

if you only lost the password to a user account with admin privileges, you can still safe boot and use the general administrator account. then rename the user account with lost password.
if its the main admin account then no idea

gl

 

[redduc900]

I'm afraid your son is going to need to reformat Doug, since there's no way (short of using third-party software) to recover the Administrator password.

One thing you may want to suggest to your son is...next time, create a password recovery disk. He can create this disk by opening Control Panel | User accounts | Under "or pick an account to change", select the "Computer Administrator" account | Under "Related Tasks", select "Prevent a forgotten password". This will open the "Forgotten Password Wizard" where he can create a "Password Reset" disk. If he forgets the password to his user account and is unable to log on, he can use this disk to create a new password.

 

[Tycho]

if your options are down to reformatting try giving this a go

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

 

[Gerst240]

you should really try a program named lophtcrack http://www.atstake.com/research/lc/ if you can log on and install anyhting this program will work for you

 

[ThePerfectCore]

Hey, hold on... wait a minute!

Does XP Pro still have the SAM in the same place as 2kPro? If so, it's just a simple matter of deleting a few files. You'll have to reset *all* of your passwords, though.

 

[Gerst240]

omg tpc i forgot all about the sam...you should be able to do it umm if i can remember correcly it is WINNT\system32\config\ i may be wrong here i have not played with that in a long time please corrcect me if i am wrong

 

[Crash893]

isnt there some sort of password recoery disk you can use or is that just for home

 

[Xaotic]

It's the one that redduc900 mentioned for either Home or Pro, but it has to be created while you have access to the account.

 

[Crash893]

im going to say up the river with this one

but if nothing else youll learn a very hard to learn lesson

always leave a backdoor or tatoo the password to your arm