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Win 7 Admin lost password
seacam
Posts: 21,364 Forum Member
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I DO NOT WANT TO RESET but want to recover a forgotten administration password in Win 7 Professional .
I tried Ophcrack as I have had success with this tool on other machines but it didn't recover the password this time around on this particular PC.
Any suggestions to RECOVER not reset the password?
Win 7 was preloaded and no OS or recovery disc.
I tried Ophcrack as I have had success with this tool on other machines but it didn't recover the password this time around on this particular PC.
Any suggestions to RECOVER not reset the password?
Win 7 was preloaded and no OS or recovery disc.
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Does this help?
http://www.howtogeek.com/96630/how-to-reset-your-forgotten-windows-password-the-easy-way/
Sorry just re-read and you need the installation disk which you say you don't have
Scroll down here: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/lost-pc-password-here-s-how-to-recover-it-1151893
Are you stuck on Login/Welcome Screen for W7?
Was a Password Hint set? (Displayed if you get password wrong at Login screen (if set))
Is it a password for Administrator you want or for a User (Admin)?
Do you just want access to the machine or it logs in automatically or you log in on a different account?
It's a laptop and I require full access. Once booted it goes straight to " Welcome Screen, Administrator log in. "
I downloaded, booted from and used the Ophcrack live CD in automatic mode and used its launcher for a deep scan.
Once it has done its scan the report shows Admin and in the NT PWD section it shows "not found " and "User Admin disabled".
Basically, when you create or change a password Windows performs a series of mathematical calculations on the entered password and it saves the overall result of the calculation rather than the text of the password. This makes it - for all intents and purposes - impossible to reverse the process and calculate the text password from the saved computed value.
There is a vulnerability in this process due to the fact that the calculations always produce the same result for the same values, so you can pre-compute an (extremely) large table of plain text passwords and their mathematical counterparts and then lookup the mathematical side to find the text side.
This is the method of attack that Ophcrack uses, but Microsoft significantly strengthened the process with Windows Vista meaning Ophcrack is far less effective on Vista and above.
Basically - you probably cannot achieve what you're looking for. Resetting the password may be the only way to recover admin access to this system.
There are some free Vista tables for Ophcrack for download here: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/tables.php
You may get lucky and find that one of those delivers the correct password.
You still haven't explained why you can't reset the password. Hirens CD can set it to blank.
If User is an actual account name you could try enabling it, but it may have a password too.
Repeatedly tap F8 at boot after you press the Power Button.
Select Repair your computer then Command Prompt.
Type net user User /active:yes
You can also have net user Guest /active:yes if you want to see if Windows boots further. It won't let you do much else though as a Guest.
As Roush says, Password Recovery isn't gonna happen.
You need to Reset a Password or Reinstall Windows.
The 'Repair your computer' menu may have a Restore to Factory settings' or it maybe an option at boot.
Or you need a DVD and the COA label under the laptop (or in battery compartment) needs to be readable.
Another Utility here. Also see link above it.
Edit:
I see net user lets you add another user too.
Whether it lets you add an Admin user or demands the Administrator password or just complains you don't have Permission, I don't know.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/commandlinereference/p/net-user-command.htm
Just checked on my spare W7 laptop.
F8 Repair your computer wants the Admin password.
Booting from DVD and selecting Repair option doesn't (allowing you to get to cmd prompt)
You can add a user and set it in Admin group if you don't want to change existing Administrator and User (Admin)
http://superuser.com/questions/515175/create-admin-user-from-command-line
There can only be one reason !
A couple of years ago I used Ophcrack on two Win7 laptops, it found the passwords on one but not the other. On the other I used Hirens.
I don't think we should condone hacking into someone's PC without their knowledge.
One of the laptops is a Dell Latitude E Series Model in good working order but she managed to lock her self out by forgetting her admin password, her solution, she purchased another laptop and has since replaced that one because she sent it flying.
Both laptops given me are in great condition.
The usual methods of resetting Window passwords has not worked on this laptop, Wimware, Pogostick, Hirens, a couple of others, no matter what I do, I can not reset the Admin password, something has been installed or done that will not allow any changes to take place.
So I thought I'll recover the password instead using Ophcrack, nothing doing.
It's bugging the life out of me but there comes a point where I will simply replace the HD with a SSD before passing it on.
Unless it has got something like BitLocker or some kind of BIOS protection, I don't see why you can't just do a factory reset. If the user hasn't asked you to recover her data you should wipe the PC anyway as a matter of courtesy.
Been looking at some forensic analysis tools that might (or not) do the job for you. The problem is finding ones with free trials and/or at a reasonable price. Here's a list of tools from ElcomSoft. Scroll down to Password Recovery Software. There's a free trial of ElcomSoft Distributed Password Recovery that may work. Also the very last line of links at the bottom left of the page ElcomSoft System Recovery, but costs £49: http://www.elcomsoft.co.uk/products.html
Windows Password Kracker (free): http://securityxploded.com/windows-password-kracker.php
Rainbow Crack (free): http://project-rainbowcrack.com/
Lophtcrack (15 day free trial): http://www.l0phtcrack.com/
Not sure about these next three -
NTPWEdit version 0.5 GPL (free): http://cdslow.webhost.ru/en/ntpwedit/
SAMinside (free): http://www.insidepro.com/
pwdump7 (free): http://www.tarasco.org/security/pwdump_7/
http://cdslow.webhost.ru/en/ntpwedit/
Recovering the Password is unnecessary in this case, even if it was possible.
Resetting is declared as not possible, but the other programs above could be tried.
But I did post before, maybe you missed its full import.
You can use the W7 DVD 'Repair' to open a Command Prompt and create a new User with Admin privileges.
Then you can see if there is a Recovery Partition and make a Factory Restore if you want.
Or you can just use the W7 DVD and do a Clean Install from it (License key must be available on the laptop on a label somewhere)
(Or, where a computer has a Recovery Partition, it can be used by pressing Manufacturers designated Function keys at boot, without needing to go into Windows.
Or
A Recovery Partition can be set to boot automatically and may continue automatically doing it's thing.
Doesn't work on all computers.)
(Use MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable CD to mark a Recovery Partition as Active and reboot.)
Alternatively any other Win7 Pro DVD will work providing the text on the CoA sticker is still legible.
I would expect anyone who works on PCs to have a Windows 7 DVD on the shelf somewhere.
Actually there's another reason.
If there is stuff on the machine that's encrypted with bitlocker, resetting the password would render that data unreadable (presuming that the documented encryption recovery procedure has not been followed in advance).
Or Truecrypt but I don't think that is the case here, just a forgotten admin password.