Re: Password hell

From: Steven L Umbach (n9rou_at_comcast.net)
Date: 09/30/03 

Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 04:53:41 GMT

See the FAQ for options. -- http://securityadmin.info/faq.asp#password

One of the options is to down load the free program that resets passwords. You can
download the iso bootdisk image, burn it to a cd, and then boot the computer from the
cd. Follow the prompts where in general you will hit enter to select default options.
Eventually you will have to enter an * I think if you want to reset password to blank
and follow prompts to save changes. Renaming the sam file as described is also
usually effective if you have the means to do it. If you decide to reinstall [which
can be done rebooting from cdrom with install disk], you do not have to format the
hard drive/partition but instead can install to the same \winnt folder that setup
will detect. I think you are prompted to use L for that. Again do NOT select any
option to format, and after installation you will have to reinstall all applications
on top of themselves so that they are recorded in the registry, and reinstall your
service pack and critical updates from the Windows Update site
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp . Your data should still be
intact. The reinstall will also create a new user profile, but the old profile should
still be available to copy over the new profile. Be sure to developed a backup plan
in the future using something like Norton Ghost - the 2003 version that also comes
with System Works Professional. If you had a Ghost Image, you could be back up and
running in probably ten minutes.--- Steve

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

"Roger Himmel" <himmel@artexusa.com> wrote in message
news:14b101c3870b$a6ceda30$a301280a@phx.gbl...
> I need help. A former employee changed the password on win
> 2000 and we haven't an idea what it is. We installed
> windows 2000 on a point of sale system in our retail store
> and now we can't get into the system. We can't process any
> sales. Should we re-install win 2000? If we do, will the
> entire contents of the hard drive be obliterated?