Password & local SAM

[Guest_imported]

Is it possible to reset the local Administrator password by deleting the local SAM file on a W2K Pro workstation with FAT32 file system?

 

[jeremybarker]

Yes, you need to delete both the sam.exe and sam.log files.

http://windows.about.com/library/tips/bltip115.htm

The link above gives warning at the end, I personally don't know if there is any risk in doing so.

Hope this helps!

 

[rlthornt]

I have something similar.... I work remotely and log in to my company network through a cable modem, VPN, and router set up in my home. I need to install another printer and some PDA software but I don't have admin rights on the local machine or the domain. My company techs are in another state several hours away. They adamantly refuse to provide the local admin password. They insist I send the PC to them which is out of the question.

Following this thread I removed the local SAM file from \ System32\Config and was able to log on locally as Administrator. I set up my user with admin rights on the local machine. However, when I tried to log in to the domain I get "Local policy does not allow you to log in interactively".

What must I do to have local admin rights and still be able to log in as a user on the domain?

Thanks for any help.

 

[MattWray]

Did you set up the same user acct as the Domain with local admin rights? That should do it... Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP
mwray77518@yahoo.com

 

[rlthornt]

Yes. I set up the same user ID and password. Fortunately I saved the old SAM file and was able to restore access to the domain. There has to be a way to make this work.

 

[P0rkCh0p]

Check out my reply to the lost admin password problem, should work with your PC too

P.rkCh.p

 

[rlthornt]

Thanks P0rkCh0p for the post. I tried your suggestion and it got me in but when I tried the user manager LUSRMGR.MCL on my machine it still denied access to change the admin password. Is there another user manager applet I should look for?