Re:

Anonymous · ‎02-19-2002

Someone changed the Administrator Password for one of my field computers and
now I've been locked out of it. Is there some way to get administrator
rights back?

Anonymous · ‎02-20-2002

Log on as the user that changed the password, and then change the
Admin's password using the User Manager.

If you are really up a creek then you can install the OS over itself and
reset the password that way. But I would only recommend this in
extreme circumstances, and if done a total wipe and reload would be wise.

Now here's a question, why would you give the user the rights to reset
the Admin password?

I don't know about you, but that is a aggregious violation of company
policy. I would recommend a very stern discussion with the user, and if
it is done again, I would re-evaluate the need for that user to work there.

but that's just my $.02

CMF

Russell Keller wrote:

>Someone changed the Administrator Password for one of my field computers and
>now I've been locked out of it. Is there some way to get administrator
>rights back?
>
>

Anonymous · ‎02-20-2002

Unfortunatly the user who had the administrative access had it before I got
here and was laid off reciently and took the passwords with him because no
one knew he'd changed them.

I was afraid that a reinstall was in order. boy that'll a can of worms.
Formatting it first is the only clean way.

"Chris Ferris" wrote in message
news:3C7418C9.4050707@hbcommunications.com...
> Log on as the user that changed the password, and then change the
> Admin's password using the User Manager.
>
> If you are really up a creek then you can install the OS over itself and
> reset the password that way. But I would only recommend this in
> extreme circumstances, and if done a total wipe and reload would be wise.
>
> Now here's a question, why would you give the user the rights to reset
> the Admin password?
>
> I don't know about you, but that is a aggregious violation of company
> policy. I would recommend a very stern discussion with the user, and if
> it is done again, I would re-evaluate the need for that user to work
there.
>
> but that's just my $.02
>
> CMF
>
> Russell Keller wrote:
>
> >Someone changed the Administrator Password for one of my field computers
and
> >now I've been locked out of it. Is there some way to get administrator
> >rights back?
> >
> >
>

Anonymous · ‎02-20-2002

isnt the password in the cmos when you boot up.

if this is a laptop just pull the harddrive out plug it into another machine
look thru it and find the password.

drew

"Russell Keller" wrote in message
news:F8158F06A95AE07EC58D27B1BDAE2FE8@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Unfortunatly the user who had the administrative access had it before I
got
> here and was laid off reciently and took the passwords with him because no
> one knew he'd changed them.
>
> I was afraid that a reinstall was in order. boy that'll a can of worms.
> Formatting it first is the only clean way.
>
> "Chris Ferris" wrote in message
> news:3C7418C9.4050707@hbcommunications.com...
> > Log on as the user that changed the password, and then change the
> > Admin's password using the User Manager.
> >
> > If you are really up a creek then you can install the OS over itself and
> > reset the password that way. But I would only recommend this in
> > extreme circumstances, and if done a total wipe and reload would be
wise.
> >
> > Now here's a question, why would you give the user the rights to reset
> > the Admin password?
> >
> > I don't know about you, but that is a aggregious violation of company
> > policy. I would recommend a very stern discussion with the user, and if
> > it is done again, I would re-evaluate the need for that user to work
> there.
> >
> > but that's just my $.02
> >
> > CMF
> >
> > Russell Keller wrote:
> >
> > >Someone changed the Administrator Password for one of my field
computers
> and
> > >now I've been locked out of it. Is there some way to get administrator
> > >rights back?
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>

Anonymous · ‎02-20-2002

I haven't tried it but you can find a program for that purpose here:

http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/locksmith.asp

Dan Elkins

Anonymous · ‎02-20-2002

BIOS sometomes has a separate password, but that is not the password that
hte operating system uses. And windows encrypts it's passwords, so it would
bnot be so simple. I'm sure that their encryption is not so amazing htat it
cannot be broken (security is not one of MS's strong poins), but that is
probably beyond the skills of the average user (certainly beyond mine)

"Andrew" wrote in message
news:928926B1029E5050B152AB11F86339EF@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> isnt the password in the cmos when you boot up.
>
> if this is a laptop just pull the harddrive out plug it into another
machine
> look thru it and find the password.
>
> drew
>
> "Russell Keller" wrote in message
> news:F8158F06A95AE07EC58D27B1BDAE2FE8@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > Unfortunatly the user who had the administrative access had it before I
> got
> > here and was laid off reciently and took the passwords with him because
no
> > one knew he'd changed them.
> >
> > I was afraid that a reinstall was in order. boy that'll a can of worms.
> > Formatting it first is the only clean way.
> >
> > "Chris Ferris" wrote in message
> > news:3C7418C9.4050707@hbcommunications.com...
> > > Log on as the user that changed the password, and then change the
> > > Admin's password using the User Manager.
> > >
> > > If you are really up a creek then you can install the OS over itself
and
> > > reset the password that way. But I would only recommend this in
> > > extreme circumstances, and if done a total wipe and reload would be
> wise.
> > >
> > > Now here's a question, why would you give the user the rights to reset
> > > the Admin password?
> > >
> > > I don't know about you, but that is a aggregious violation of company
> > > policy. I would recommend a very stern discussion with the user, and
if
> > > it is done again, I would re-evaluate the need for that user to work
> > there.
> > >
> > > but that's just my $.02
> > >
> > > CMF
> > >
> > > Russell Keller wrote:
> > >
> > > >Someone changed the Administrator Password for one of my field
> computers
> > and
> > > >now I've been locked out of it. Is there some way to get
administrator
> > > >rights back?
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

Anonymous · ‎02-20-2002

Unfortunately, Locksmith is an add on to another system. Without Admin
rights, he couldn't install the client on the machine anyway.

CMF

Dan Elkins wrote:

>I haven't tried it but you can find a program for that purpose here:
>
>http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/locksmith.asp
>
>
>Dan Elkins
>
>

Anonymous · ‎02-20-2002

See answers below

CMF

Russell Keller wrote:

>Unfortunatly the user who had the administrative access had it before I got
>here and was laid off reciently and took the passwords with him because no
>one knew he'd changed them.
>

Next time I would recommend creating a policy of documenting any changes
to passwords. Hand written, encrypted DB with Upper management having
the password, whatever. So long as it is out of the hands of the normal
user, and in the hands of somebody who can handle the responsibility
incase something like this happens again.

In the mean time, have you tried to reach out to the user? Did he/she
leave on bad terms? If he/she didn't, I would imagine that person would
gladly provide the password. It might have been an honest oversight.

Now I am not to savy with business law, but there maybe a legal recourse
if the user doesn't cough up the password. But if it is only one
machine, it may not be worth it. If it was multiple machines, or a
server, I would definitely look into that path. Who knows how many
man/hours could be lost in those situations?

>I was afraid that a reinstall was in order. boy that'll a can of worms.
>Formatting it first is the only clean way.
>

Agreed. I was recommending installing over the initial OS so you can
retrieve vital data, then formatting after it was all done.

>
>
>"Chris Ferris" wrote in message
>news:3C7418C9.4050707@hbcommunications.com...
>

Anonymous · ‎02-21-2002

There's a big article in PC Mag like two issues back.
http://www.pcmag.com/article/0,2997,s%253D1481%2526a%253D19957,00.asp
HTH

--
James Wedding
IT Manager
Jones & Boyd, Inc.
Dallas, TX
jwedding@*NOSPAM*jones-boyd.com

Anonymous · ‎02-21-2002

What operating system?

Terry Scanlon

"Russell Keller" wrote in message
news:CBFCD1F9EB14F979E390022DE4F0DF99@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Someone changed the Administrator Password for one of my field computers
and
> now I've been locked out of it. Is there some way to get administrator
> rights back?
>
>

Anonymous · ‎02-22-2002

Russell,

If you're using MS Windows, check out http://www.jsiinc.com/ for
registry hacks. I had this happen recently on a computer. I'm pretty
sure there is a "hack" if you can logon as a "user", but I didn't find
a solution for my case where I couldn't get in as "user" or "admin".
I tried a second install of nt and poked around the other OS registry
but in the end, wiped clean and started over... after getting the data
off that was needed through the second OS install.

Tom

Thomas E. Momeyer, AIA, CCS

Anonymous · ‎03-08-2002

Can you log onto the machine at all? Even as a non-admin user? There are
password crackers out there that will extract every password for you,
but the need to be on the machine you want to crack, unless you are on
another machine that has admin access. I hesitate to post them here, but
if you'll send me a private email, I'll give you the name of a good one.
BTW, this stuff is commercial software, not some little hackers
gameware....

Phil(NM)

Russell Keller wrote:
>
> Someone changed the Administrator Password for one of my field computers and
> now I've been locked out of it. Is there some way to get administrator
> rights back?

Anonymous · ‎03-10-2002

I have a disk that boots Linux and lets you change the admin password
for a Win2k machine. If your still listening I can pass it on to you.

Anonymous · ‎03-10-2002

>this stuff is commercial software, not some little hackers
>gameware....
Why pay when the "gameware" works as good or better. We're not talking
about a CAD system here:) Seriously though, if your hacking why not use
a hackers tools.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2002

I've gotten 4 emails requesting this, it must be a popular problem.
Here is where you can get the disk
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
It is really easy to use and it works great. It has saved us a number
of times.

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