cannot login with administrator 1

[nortelfan]

I have a 2000 server that is not set up as a domain, but only part of a workgroup. It serves the purpose of running an app for a medical group. As of yesterday, the administrator account cannot login. The password was always blank (yes a bad idea. However any other user account can login. The administrator account says the old bad username or password error. I have tried the following and am now at a loss for anything else to try. Please help solve this great bowl of ignorance (or stupidity) I have been served.

I have verified we have no other members of the administrators group.
All other user id's login just fine.

I have tried to change the password with some of the linux password changers and it said it was successful, but no luck logging in.

I have sent the password files off to a remote company and they say the administrator account password is blank.

I have had the server run a chkdsk (because of the password change) and nothing comes back wrong

All apps are working except for the veritas backup which errors that there is a login failure because of the admin account.

I tried to login remotely from another pc.

I have nearly lost my sanity. Never seen this before.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[netwalker1]

you said :
I have tried to change the password with some of the linux password changers and it said it was successful, but no luck logging in

Just do it again but reset the password to a blank password ...



Mohamed Farid
[green]Know Me No Pain , No Me Know Pain !!![/green]

 

[ncotton]

Can the other accounts log onto the server?

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant

 

[netwalker1]

yes
he said All other user id's login just fine

Mohamed Farid
[green]Know Me No Pain , No Me Know Pain !!![/green]

 

[ncotton]

What I am trying to ascertain, is whether they can log into the server, the statement you posted may specify that other users can log on to their specified machine. There maybe a problem with the windows netlog service for the Machine (That just happens to be the server), which would elliminate any issues of it being an actual password problem with the, and would specify it to a machine problem.

This is for clarification purposes, cause making assumptions wastes more time than getting the information you want to help target a problem.

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant

 

[nortelfan]

Thanks for the start - All other user id's that are setup on the server are able to login to the server and use the programs as they have existed on the server.

The only ID I can find that is affected is the administrator.

On the password changed I set it to blank twice, then to "temp" then back to blank and none of the four times was I able to login with administrator.

 

[nhbilly]

can't you remote manage it via Computer Management?

right click on my computer - manage - right click on Computer Management (Local) and connect to the server and change the password that way?


just a thought

 

[nortelfan]

I think I tried that yesterday and got a message that "access is denied". I had logged onto a workstation with administrator rights (to the workstation) and then tried to remote manage. I guess it would not let me since it continues to think the username and password are incorrect.

 

[Seaspray0]

remote management won't help, nhbilly. Unless you have an account that has local administrator rights, you won't be able to do anything remotely either.

If the server was a member of the domain, you should be able to log onto it with a domain administrator's account and have local admin rights (where you can reset the local admin pasword). The easy way to tell is at the logon screen, you can expand the options and choose the domain to log into. If you don't get that option, this is a stand alone server on a workgroup (you did state above but check anyway).

If you can't get the password to change, you're going to have problems. As this is on a workgroup, you can still salvage the data but you'll most likely have to reload the operating system. You can get at the data by two possible methods. If you have an account that has backup operator rights, you can backup the data with windows backup and restore it to another computer where you do have admin rights and can take ownership of the data... or you can remove the hard drive and plug it into another PC as a secondary drive and attempt to read the data from it.

Start, Help. You'll be surprised what's there. A+/MCP/MCSE/MCDBA

 

[nortelfan]

It is a stand alone server - my bad luck. Is there any way to get around the total reload. Any repair? Other ideas to access of manipulate the local administrator account.

The programs used on the server were originally installed by small specialty companies and they would have to be scheduled to come in and reinstall their specific software. This would be a nightmare.

I am willing to try any suggestions before reinstallation. Any further ideas to try??? Desperate for another solution.

 

[nhbilly]

maybe this site might help?

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

 

[nortelfan]

Thanks nhbilly - That happens to be the utility I used to change the password to blank then to "temp" then back to blank twice. It looked like it worked fine as I have used it a couple times before with success on other machines, but it would not change it for me on the 2000 server.

Thanks

 

[nortelfan]

Does anyone have any other suggestions before we spend the next few days reconstructing this network? Any ides?

Thanks

 

[nortelfan]

Has anyone ever had success deleting the SAM file?

Thanks

 

[netwalker1]

deleting the SAM file solves the problem on FAT but not on NTFS !

Mohamed Farid
[green]Know Me No Pain , No Me Know Pain !!![/green]

 

[Seaspray0]

I don't think you have any more options other than a forced dictionary attack. The administrator account will lock after so many tries, but will unlock again (built in, the administrator acct must unlock). Even with this method, it could take months.

Start, Help. You'll be surprised what's there. A+/MCP/MCSE/MCDBA

 

[jmconsulting]

After you reset the password, did you reboot the server before attempting to log in? The reboot will force the reset of the lockout mechanism for the admin account.

Not sure it will help, but just a thought.

 

[nortelfan]

Yes after resetting the password using Petter Nordahl-Hagen's password reset program I had to reboot.

One interesting item I cannot figure out - The program reports the password to be blank after I change it or not if I set a password. It looks as if it works and understands the change - showing a different password state, but it never seems to actually change the password as I still cannot login.