Wife forgot Windows 2k logon password.... shoot me!

Ok guys, need help here... on wife's computer (running Windows 2k), she only uses the administrator logon, and typically leaves the computer on all day, only rebooting once a month or so (when I remind her). This isn't a rant about my wife... but seems that she changed the password and now can't remember what it is to get into the computer! I can boot up in Win98 DOS prompt (previous operating system), but how do I get back into Windows? I have tried to crack the SAM file in c:\windows\system32\config with LC4, but no luck - guess it's SYSKEY encrypted? Anything I can do, Major Geeks?

 

This might sound silly but

have you tried typing whatever password she thinks it might be in all caps or not all caps

 

Believe me...

I don't mind taking silly advice at this point. Yeah, we've tried every password she can think of, CAPS, no caps, Capitalize only the first word - nothing. I'm starting to wonder if this is the result of maliciousness on someone's part? She was on a msg board a couple of days ago asking for advice on something, and apparently pissed off some beligerent guy (that ended up getting banned from the board, he was such a pain). She just told me that she thought it was weird, but everyone's IP address was posted with every msg!!! I have Norton Anti-Virus and BlackIce running, but I know nothing perfect. Is there a common attack that changes all your logon passwords so you can't log on the next time you re-boot?? Grrrr.......

 

try and remember, this is a hard thing to get past

 

no, he posted the second time while i was writing my post. i dont like to take drastic measures untill they ae needed

 

i dont know about 2k, but on xp there is a help script that pops up if you dont type the correct password. is there anything like that?

 

Negative... just won't let me in the pc

 

hmmm, what options do you have at the logon screen. as in: advanced, ok, cancel, stuff like that

 

Not sure what the policy here is about password breaking here at majorgeeks, but I see two options (Unless you find a person who can put your wife into hypnosis) but both requires some technical knowledge:
1. Get an utility called NTAccess and place it on a floppy (Google the word)
2. Since you have access to the SAM files through Win98, then I guess you are using either FAT16 or FAT32 on the drive. If you rename the SAM files in Win98 and boot into Win2k, it will recreate two Accounts, Administrator and Guest with blank password (But you are then required to point the new Administrator account to your wife's old user profile directory)

 

YEA!!! Since I don't want to shell out $90 for NTAccess yet, I renamed my SAM file to SAM.bak, rebooted, and the adminstrator account was set to no password (just hit enter). Thank you, thank you, thank you! I obviously have to re-set all her shortcuts, etc. - you said something about pointing it to the old SAM file?

 

Nevermind - I figured out where the settings, etc. are (c:\Documents and Settings, duh!) Major Geeks rulez...

 

Yep just to what chaslang says. That is the best tool ever! :/

 

Agreed with Star, if you don't have anything to contribute, increasing your post count can easily be accomplished in the Lounge



Good link chas, I bookmarked that one

 

Sorry I posted the wrong name for option 1 (Chaslang is the one to listen to), for some reason I just trusted my memory instead of actually confirming it was right.
There should be no problem in renaming the old SAM files back to activate the old account password again and change it with the utility(Avoid reinstalling all programs again, and re-change all settings to how you like them). Unless you have found out how to point an account to use a different userprofile/ntuser.dat .