The Rapid 1

Hi my mate at work needs some help

We are not trying to hack windows registration or anything so please dont remove

What has happened is he bought a pc for his kids at xmas, set them both up with limited user accounts, and set himself up with a password protected Administrator account .

All good with his uncrackable password

Well either he forgotten it himself or somehow the kids OR ex wife have locked him off the pc that now needs some work doing on it

So can anyone tell us anyway arround the windows user log on password, so he can reset the account and give himself back administritve rights to HELP them fix the pc

PM if some of the answers may be a bit "unsavoury", we aint fussed lol just trying to get his kids back up and running


Cheers

Steve

The Rapid 1

Doh double post

JohnnyB

boot it with ERD comander and change the password

The Rapid 1

Thats what I want POSITIVE input

Now help again

WTF is ERD commander

Soz but really dont do this sort of thing often

Is it something I would be better "googling" to read about or is it pretty easy , am reasonably computer literate but not on this obviously lol

Steve

collierm

Google it, its pretty straightforward to use and is a free download.

Oh and for reference, kids are always smarter than their parents. They probably locked him out

Sunil_FiestaRS1800

iTrader: (1)

Log on as "Administrator" and use the password "Admin" or "Adminstrator" . Should then be able to create a new account if it lets you log in

ballin

iTrader: (1)

Highly highly highty unlikely to have that account on there, not like its a default account or anything

Sunil_FiestaRS1800

iTrader: (1)

Administrator is a default account im sure. The password could be anything but generally people use Admin or Administrator

The Rapid 1

Na dont think it is or dont know how to access that as a "name"/account.

All he gets is the choice of three "account" pictures, his two kids which are limited which when u log on cant access anything worth accessing or his own which like collierm says looks like his kids have locked him out of

Downloading a copy of that software mentioned earlier so will have a read up on it, as basically all we want to do is create a new admin account so can delete his old one, then it will be back where he left it

Did read a bit on that software that it will let you access restore points, so if it does that SHOULD be enough AS long as he typed in what he thinks he did as the password orriginally lol, but swears its what he thinks it is as says he has logged on b4, tbh tho dont think the kids will have randomly guessed it as it a mix of random numbers and letters about 10 digits long, sumit like his old ntl password.


Cheers for input so far, and if anyone can give a bit more info on doing either a sys restore or creating an admin account wiv this software would be appreciated

Cheers

Steve

andyhardy

Can you not log in via Safe mode and go to Start -> Run -> Type 'control userpasswords 2' hit enter?

I can't remember if you can log in via Safe Mode this way - it's been a long time since I've had the login screen on my PC as I switch it off being the only user!

Cheers,

Andy

Ish

you have to boot WIN XP into safe mode for the Administrator account to come up in the list of accounts.

to boot to safe mode tap F8 key before windows starts booting screen and then choose safe mode from the list of options

if the Admin account has a pssword the you will have to use the software

Sunil_FiestaRS1800

iTrader: (1)

There is a way of getting a window up so you can type any username and password you want in. Pretty sure there is an icon on the log on screen you press

The Rapid 1

tried logging on in safe mode yesterday and it didnt seem to bring up an option for admin

Thats what I thought I would do as have seen it b4 on my own pc when booting into safe mode, but his just seemed to bring up the same three acconts

Maybe I did it wrong

Will go try it now on mine

Steve

andyhardy

If you can't get into the User Accounts section in Control Panel then try the above out.

I don't actually know if you can get to that dialogue box through any of the menus - I've never tried.

That menu has proven very useful to me when rebuilding my PC from an old hard drive locked out by Windows security!

Cheers,

Andy

The Rapid 1

Doh

Damn stupid usb keyboard wont work like that at boot

Cant be arsed right now to either plug my other keyboard in or get my laptop out

Will have a go latter


Steve

andyhardy

If your motherboard supports it then when you get into BIOS switch on 'USB keyboard support' or similar (will depend on your BIOS).

That way, next time you won't have to dig out the old PS/2 keyboard!

Cheers,

Andy

The Rapid 1

Will get him to drop his pc off latter and will give it a try, gotta admit never heard of it tho, but gotta be worth a go if it could work


Steve

The Rapid 1

Na aint got that in there

Have looked as I got this other weird set up where it halts the pc if my cpu fan aint spinning, which most boots it aint and u need to hit a key to continue, so when was setting all that up was looking then, and there wernt so just had to set it to not stop on errors , only thing in there like it is usb legacy support but that dont work for the keyboard at boot as tried that as well, so just left it set how i wanted it and aint needed to keep diving back in so aint been a problem


Steve

andyhardy

Ahh well, I'm still not entirely sure that the control userpasswords2 thing will actually work though if you can't log in as administrator.

Perhaps you could create a new administrator account or change one of the accounts to administrator status as well and go from there?

However, trying it in Safe Mode might actually work - otherwise it could be re-install time!

PhilM

On the login page hit Control Alt Delete (twice if nessesary). In the box type "administrator" as the UID and leave the password blank.

Even if this is not an option on the graphical signin screen, the administrator account is usually there hidden and without a password due to how many people install Windows!

Give it a try.

collierm

Here you go, this should do the trick. Just tried it on my machine and worked a treat.

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

Thanks

Matt

***Thinking*** wonder if he wrote the password down on a post it and the kids found it

TrevCannon

No No! bulllocks to all that ^ i got a better idea.. PM sent

Dave Henshall

dunno about a account called administrator...?!?! only if the person or company that built it put that in as the default account, tbh that is a realy bad security back door, when ever i do a build i always create a unique admin acount that only i know of for back door entry...

The Rapid 1

PM replied to

Dave, I know when I boot my pc's into "safe mode" it normally always gives the option of my name or "administrator", have always wondered why as I am the/ an Administrator only, so guessing it does exist somewhere

Just it didnt seem to work like that on his pc, MAYBE it cos his pc HAS got accounts with "limited" use accounts on it, but on mine where I am the only user with full access, but like I say seems silly to offer me that choice when i Safe mode boot, or maybe it allows access but wont load all my drivers incase one of them is giving my "account" problems maybe lol


Steve

patchST

If you can find a copy of L0phtcrack and can run it on the restricted account you'll be able to crack any password.

But as JohnnyB said if you can find a copy of ERD commander it's takes about 10 secs to change the password.

I've just read one of your post about the pictures for logons, if you press CTRL ALT DEL at the same time you'll get the username and password box. You can then try just typeing administrator and then pressing enter. There might not be a password on the account, and the administrator account does't usually show on the pictures login screen

Dave Henshall

its no wunder why windows is like a sieve

unix all the way

JohnnyB

do a search for a erd commander torrent, fire up your torrent software.

download it it will come as image file , use nero to burn the image to disk.

switch of the computer place said disk in, boot it. will boot of cd. it wll look like windows is loading.

on the start menu select locks smith, there will be a option to chnage admin password. put new passsword in aaaaaaaaah job done.

The Rapid 1

Done ALL as above lol
Cept tried it on my mates pc, which he is gonna drop off on his way to work tonight so will have a go at about 10 ish

Sounds cool prog, only problem i can see is im gonna start playing with things I shouldnt

Thanks for all the advice guys, oh also got the Windows key one as a back up plan


Steve

JohnnyB

rapid1 a computer nerd in the making

JohnnyB

ERD is great when the machine blue sceens and you need your porn of it.


just boot it up and chuck a memory stick in a copy your porn off

The Rapid 1

well some have said I always been the nerd so may as well have a use pmsl

The second part is even more of a sore point had a 250GB drive full of the stuff go down on me, years of perving

got anything to help me get that lot back ???

Should actually add in seriousness tried get data back (more of the nerd in me, or was that perv ) but the drive caused windows to hang, so dont think aything gonna work on that, but still aint binned the drive JUST in case pmsl

Steve

JohnnyB

if itsa internal drive, then you fucked oooooooooor send it to a data recovery place. ha ha and have a lot of explaining to do

The Rapid 1

Even contacted the drive manufacturer to try and buy the electrical boards for it as recon thats what it is, and they recon even on drives with the same model no. they use all different bits and wouldnt be able to identify what the exact bits i could try would be

There suggestion was the same as yours, which I think im gonna pass on pmsl


Steve

Oh and had a look on my laptop and the ERD thing all seems to be there just like u said, not right off the start button but off a couple of menus I downloaded 2005 so may be slightly different to the one u use

Thanks again, even tho u let me down with MY little problem but mate is gonna be well chuffed

Thanks

The Rapid 1

Well that was easy

All done and one happy mate


Cheers for all your help especially JohnnyB


Steve

andyhardy

I'll have to download a copy of this ERD Commander now!