RE: locked out of XP, need file access

[". ." <miklohnews () hotmail com>]

hi.

i had the same problem but with a w2k box at home. i cant remember from the 
top of my head the address to the site where i found the great little tool i 
used to regain admin access. basically it was a floppy image u put on a 
diskette, just pop the diskette in and boot from it, and u can reset any 
password, hack the registry and a few more neat tricks. the only thing to be 
ware of, is if u have encrypted files on your harddrive. since these r 
encrypted using the password, resetting the password will render these files 
unreadable... unless u remember the password again.

this shows very clearly that without physical security, there's really no 
security at all!

if u r interested, send me a personal email and ill find the address and 
some instructions at home. it should work for win xp as well.


cheers,

mike





> From: "J. Yoon" <supercool9000 () hotmail com>
> To: security-basics () securityfocus com
> Subject: locked out of XP, need file access Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 10:45:40 
> -0500
>
> I'm locked out of my own Windows XP box.
> Being a paranoid,
> I have not provided myself with any password hints
> even for the administrator mode.
>
> I do remember about 2 characters from it though
> but there's just too many combinations.
>
> There are personal files in there that I need to access.
>
> I remember that with the old Win98,
> it was possible to do something with the .pwd file
> (not that we needed it,
> since all the files are accessible anyway)
> but I'm sure things have changed significantly since.
>
> I did infact try using a XP password recovery tool kit
> and global-resetter thing I got from the net...
> but the software asks me to enter root password
> and then tells me to get lost.
> It's strange and ironic,
> because the passwd is precisely what I'm trying to figure out.
>
> I don't wanna read a 1,000 page book just yet
> cuz I need access to my files asap.
>
> What would be some of the necessary simple steps to take at this time?
> Thanks in advance...
>
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