Resetting Win XP admin password remotely (when I don't know the username)

Discussion in 'Software' started by Imbecile, Jun 28, 2009.

  1. Imbecile

    Imbecile Private E-2

    Hi,

    I was recently given a Fujitsu Siemens S Series Lifebook laptop (perfectly legit - from a guy I know who runs a company who did an IT refresh and would otherwise have thrown the laptop in the bin) which I'm trying to access.

    However, there is a BIOS password (which I don't know) and I don't know any usernames or passwords to log in to the OS (Windows XP). The BIOS has been set so that it won't boot from anything other than the hard disk and obviously I can't access the BIOS to change this.

    What I do have is another PC and have networked via a hub so I can ping the laptop.

    I have tried removing and replacing the the laptop's BIOS battery but with no joy.

    I was wondering if anyone is aware of any tool which might allow me to reset the admin password remotely from my PC - but without knowing either the username or password?

    Any help would be much appreciated!
     
  2. Imbecile

    Imbecile Private E-2

    Obviously another way around this would be to reset the BIOS password so if anyone knows how I'd do this (without being able to log in to Windows nor boot from floppy or CD) then please let me know!
     
  3. kipfeet

    kipfeet Corporal

    RE: the battery removal, it usually has to be removed and kept out for a while for this to work. 10 minutes should do it if this method is going to work at all. If you simply took it out and put it back in, try it again. You might call Fujitsu or visit their website to see if there are other options if the battery-removal one doesn't work. Until you pass this hurdle attacking the admin-password one will be pointless.
    Once you get past the BIOS password (which could be either BIOS or hard-drive based) then you can obviously change the boot order, but first try booting and see if perhaps any user accounts (preferably administrator ones) have passwords at all. Many times they don't. If you can get to one administrator account you can change the other administrator accounts. If there is only one administrator account and it is password-protected, then you'll have to blank the password using a Linux boot disk, which you can find at
    http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html
    Download the iso image zip file and burn it to a CD and boot from it.
    There's instructions on that site for blanking the password, which is the most reliable thing to do. I've used this method and it worked for me.

    Perhaps I didn't tell you anything you already didn't know, but maybe there's something there that will help. Good luck.
     
  4. greasemonkey

    greasemonkey Private First Class


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