+1 on the Ultimate Boot CD.
Awesome tool. If he doesn't want all the other stuff that is on it, then I would second the following link that Richard provided, which just contains the offline NT Password and Registry Editor: http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/ Thanks, James Winzenz Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 17:07:44 -0500 Subject: Re: Latitude access problem From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Use the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. You will need a CD of Windows XP as it will need the i386 directory and other files from that CD. When you get that up and going, there is a Password Recovery option on the first menu screen. This utility is real good on changing the Adminstrator Password. Just 'blank' it out. Reboot into the main screen and login as Administrator, local account, and just hit Enter. Once you get into Windows, just change the Administrator Password and his password. On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 4:45 PM, Len Hammond <[email protected]> wrote: Dell Latitude Genuises: Just had a call from a customer. He decided to set an account password on his Latitude laptop three days ago. He did this after drinking a bottle of wine, and now he can't remember his password. He either typed it wrong twice when setting it or doesn't remember it. Either way he can't get into his machine. He also doesn't remember or can't figure out what the Admin password is either. He does own the box and apparently he recently talked with Dell about this specific Service Tag to get drivers for a refresh. This is the box he has been using for some class he is taking so he needs to get the data off of it. It runs fine, he just can't get into it. He can pull the HDD and put it in an external case and attach it to another machine to grab the data before he wipes and reinstalls the OS. I have never tried to "repair" an operating system installation to reset passwords and I really think that will not work. Anyway, he is going to try a repair before he pulls the drive and recovers his data and then rebuilds. I believe that there are no viruses involved, but it did sound like alcohol was involved <grin>. Anyone have any thoughts, I can try or pass on to him? Len Hammond CSI:Hartland [email protected] _________________________________________________________________ Chat with Messenger straight from your Hotmail inbox. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/hotmail_bl1/hotmail_bl1.aspx?ocid=PID23879::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-ww:WM_IMHM_4:092009 ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
