How
can I gain access to a Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 computer if I forgot the
administrator's password? How can I reset the administrator's password if I
forgot it?
Ok, so you say you forgot your Windows administrator's password, huh? Oh well, it doesn't really matter if you did or you just say you did. The fact is that you need to gain access to a computer and you cannot "remember" the administrator's password. How can you get out of this situation without formatting and re-installing the operating system? One method of gaining access to the system is by trying hard to remember the forgotten password, or a password of another user which has the same level of administrative rights. However I don't think this approach will help you, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here reading article, would you?) Another method is by trying to restore a backed up System State (in Windows 2000/XP/2003) or a ERD (in NT 4.0) in which you do remember the password. The problem with doing so is that you'll probably lose all of the recently add users and groups, and all the changed passwords for all of your users since the last backup was made. A third method might be to install a parallel operating system on a different partition on the same computer, then use a simple trick to gain access to the old system. Read more about it on my Forgot the Administrator's Password? - Alternate Logon Trick article. Note: If you are looking for password cracking tools that can be used for miscellaneous objectives such as password-protected PDF documents, zipped archives, Office documents, BIOS protection and so on then this pages is NOT for you. See some links at the bottom of this page for hints on where to find such tools, but I can tell you right away that Google might be a better choice for you. The fourth option is by using 3rd party tools that will enable you to reset the lost password and logon with a blank password. Update: You can also discuss these topics on the dedicated Forgot Admin Password - Related Discussions forum. Here are some of these tools: Free ToolsFree Windows password-cracking tools are usually Linux boot disks that have NT file system (NTFS) drivers and software that will read the registry and rewrite the password hashes for any account including the Administrators. This process requires physical access to the console and an available floppy drive but it works like a charm! I've done it myself several times with no glitch or problem whatsoever. Beware!!! Resetting a user's or administrator's password on some systems (like Windows XP) might cause data loss, especially EFS-encrypted files and saved passwords from within Internet Explorer. To protect yourself against EFS-encrypted files loss you should always export your Private and Public key, along with the keys for the Recovery Agent user. Please read more about EFS on my What's EFS? page. Here are 5 of these free tools: If you happen to
know about other free tools please let me know
Note: These password resetting tools are usually good for local users on a stand alone computer. For Domain Admin password resetting procedures please see the Related Articles section at the bottom of this page. Note: I'd
like to put together all the info you have about these issues. If you have
any tips, recommended links or any ideas about how to figure out a lost
password - please e-mail me and I'll get back to you
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor (v050303)Petter Nordahl-Hagen has written a Windows NT/2000/XP offline password editor:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd
Caution: If used on users that have EFS encrypted files, and the system is XP or later service packs on W2K, all encrypted files for that user will be UNREADABLE! and cannot be recovered unless you remember the old password again! Download links:
To write these images to a floppy disk you'll need RawWrite2 which is included in the Bootdisk image download. To create the CD you just need to use your favorite CD burning program and burn the .ISO file to CD.
Support and Problems? Don't call me!
Talk to the creator of this great tool. He also has a good FAQ set up
covering most of the day-to-day questions. Read it right
HERE Author claims that this tool was successfully tested on NT 3.51, NT 4, Windows 2000 (except datacenter), Windows XP (all versions) and Window Server 2003. Notice that it is NOT compatible with Active Directory. Need to change Windows NT/2000 Domain Admin password? This tool, however useful, will only reset the local administrator's password (e.g. the one found in the local computer's SAM). To reset a password of a domain administrator (or any other user for that matter) you must perform the routine that is described in the following page: Forgot the Administrator's Password? - Reset Domain Admin Password in Windows 2000 AD. Note: The above trick will probably not work under Windows Server 2003 due to service account security changes. To work around these limitations please read the Forgot the Administrator's Password? - Reset Domain Admin Password in Windows Server 2003 AD page. John the Ripper (v1.6)John the Ripper is a fast password cracker, currently available for many flavors of Unix (11 are officially supported, not counting different architectures), DOS, Win32, BeOS, and OpenVMS. Its primary purpose is to detect weak Unix passwords. Besides several crypt(3) password hash types most commonly found on various Unix flavors, supported out of the box are Kerberos AFS and Windows NT/2000/XP LM hashes, plus several more with contributed patches. Read more at
http://www.openwall.com/john Download links:
John the Ripper 1.6
(768kb) EBCD – Emergency Boot CD (v0.60)EBCD is a bootable CD, intended for system recovery in the case of software or hardware faults. It is able to create backup copies of normally working system and restore system to saved state. It contains the best system software ever created, properly compiled and configured for the maximum efficient use. EBCD will be very useful when you need to:
Also the disk includes full set of external DOS commands, console versions of the most popular archivers/compressors. Moreover, emergency boot CD includes minimal Linux distribution (Rescue Linux distribution) which may be very useful to a professional user. Read more at
http://ebcd.pcministry.com Download links:
EBCD Pro distribution (18mb) More download links: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. One of them has got to work, and if not, please send me a note. Austrumi (v0.9.2 - December 2011)Reader Cory Zerwas pointed out this tool. I haven't tested it myself, but from what I read about it it seems to do the job. Austrumi is a Linux bootable ISO image for recovering NT passwords and other cool tools and methods, sized for Business Card size CD media (50Mb). It allows you to change any password, including that of the Administrator, on a partition occupied by Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Simply boot the CD and when you get to the initial boot prompt, type:
This will launch a console utility that will detect Windows partitions on the hard disk and provide you with a menu to modify any user or Administrator passwords on the Windows system. It will even give access to the Windows registry for recovery purposes. Quite a handy utility to keep in your wallet (AUSTRUMI is small enough to fit on a business card-size CD) if you are unfortunate enough to having to deal with Windows machines in your line of work. Read more at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/austrumi Download links:
Austrumi v0.9.2 (ISO file, 50.9mb) XP Password RecoveryThis site provides a tool to recover lost Windows XP passwords. It works for administrator accounts, it doesn't change the password just tells you the old one. It works with encrypted files (EFS) and password hashes. It even works if no passwords at all are known for the machine (as long as you have another computer with internet access to view this website with). It does not work if the password has symbols or spaces in. Author (Oliver Mattos) claims it also works with Windows NT and Windows Server 2003 and Windows Longhorn, but the BEST thing about it is the fact that it won't reset your passwords, but simply reveal them for you to remember and then use. Give it a try. The author would like to receive feedbacks for debugging and troubleshooting purposes. Note: You'll need a blank floppy to run the process, and it will take anywhere between a few minutes to a few hours for the scan to complete. Update: Author now offers the same tool as a CD image for those of you who do not have a floppy in their computer. Usage, instructions and
additional information can be found at
http://www.xppasswordrecovery.co.uk
Related articlesYou may find these related articles of interest to you:
New:
Links
Changing the Administrator password if you
have forgotten it (Windows NT 4.0 only)
Lost your Administrator password and need the
ultimate hack? (Windows NT 4.0 only) |
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