Profile Recovery

[Waidesworld]

I restarted my XP Pro this afternoon after changing a setting on the Network and it didn't allow me to log on. It kept telling me my password was incorrect even though I hadn't changed it. I suspect it may have been a domain issue or something. Maybe someone can enlighten me.
Anyway I downloaded a boot disk which I could crack the SAM file and reset my p/w on the Administrator. I noticed in the SAM file my profile wasn't listed. I thought nothing of it as I was more interested in getting the damned thing running again.
I got in as administrator and it listed just the Admin, the Guest and the previous profile owner. Nothing else!
I set up my profile again and I noticed some files were there but most were not. Was there a system restore or something? I did nothing except reset the password on the SAM file, but maybe I affected something else.
Before I recreated my three hundred favorites, shortcuts etc again is there somewhere on this 40GB hard drive I could find my original profile.

 

[bcastner]

I sure wish you had not approached the problem with a SAM direct edit, but honestly it has little to do with your problem in any case.

The basics of how profiles are enumerated:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;228445

If as Administrator in C:\Documents and Settings you can see the old profile, then you just copy the important parts to a new profile. (Do not try and resuse the old profile, do the copy). The instructions from this MS KB apply to Win2k and XP:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811151ml

 

[Waidesworld]

Was there an easier way to get in? I was at the logon prompt and nothing was working. What should have I done instead? TY

 

[bcastner]

I would have repaired the registry first.
What you did is a reasonable technical solution.

For future reference:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q307545

A plain english guide to the process:

http://www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot.htm

If the issue was that you could not get Recovery Console to accept the password, it becomes a toss-up as to how to proceed.

Your approach I feel is a technicly reasonable way to resolve the issue. There is from MS an official workaround if this is the issue. You download and use the floppy boot image to access Recovery Console:

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...efault.aspx?scid=kb;en-gb;307654&ln=en-gb

Again, my earlier comments were not a hard criticism of your approach. I do strongly recommend that you do the winnt32.exe /cmdcons on all of your machines to install the Recovery Console prior to any problems.

Linney frequently notes that some Group Policy changes are worth making to help in the Recovery Console:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310497

It seems good advice, and I follow it.

 

[Chackt]

Waidesworld, you comment that you managed to 'crack' the administrator password in order to get in with any other that you want. How's that posible? Which file concretly should i do in case to get the same problem and to be able to enter again as administrator? is it the "SAM" filename under windows\system32\config? Thx.

 

[bcastner]

I really do not like the delete SAM solution.

Alternatives:

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

There is also a very good FAQ in the Win2k Server Forum: faq96-2866

And a keyword search here on "password" would yield even other options.

 

[Waidesworld]

I didn't delete the SAM file, I booted to a floppy with a Linux program and accessed the SAM file. From there I changed the password of the Admin, removed the floppy, rebooted and logged on.
My old profile was corrupt and I had to set up a new one. How it got corrupted I don't know but I do know that beforehand I could not get anywhere beyond the Log on screen.
If anyone wants the disk, it's about 1.3MB, contact me.

 

[bcastner]

The links to the password recovery utility used by Waidesworld are already covered in the discussion above.

Lets keep the Forum a public one.

 

[linney]

Chackt,

It is good to see you are planning for any future problems.
Keep those backups up to date.

You can use XP's own password recovery option "Password Reset Disk" if you set it up before trouble occurs.

321305 - How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your Password Expires

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321305&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[Waidesworld]

Sorry, I had forgotten the link as I got it on another computer and made my boot disk there. Here is the direct link

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/