Windows 2000 Professional

[Guest_imported]

I am locked out of my PC laptop entirely, having forgotten my username and password for Windows 2000 Professional. Stupid, but there you have it!
What options do I have short of reformatting the hard drive?
I'd rather not lose my important documents, etc..
Any help will be gratefully received...

Mark Ireland

 

[patyb]

You can try to access with the Guest user that way you can access to your info and get the chance to back up all your important documents.

Another way to do it (It's a little ugly but It worked to me some time ago) It's to get rid of the SAM (Security Accounts Manager) archive on your PC.

1.- Make a DOS boot disk and access to your C drive.

2.- Look for your SAM.* file and rename it. (It should be in your WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG folder)

I feel with the obligation to tell you that this is a very drastic solution. Do it only if you can't find any other solution, because the SAM file store all users accounts and group information. So you can try it at your own risk ok? Remember, all your passwords, users and groups are stored in that file.

Good Luck!

 

[TheLad]

A DOS disk will only work if the C drive is FAT and not NTFS. If it is NTFS, it makes it much harder!

You could always try reinstalling W2K into a different system folder? -----------------------------------------------------
"It's true, its damn true!"
-----------------------------------------------------

 

[johncurtis]

There are a few commercial utilites (eg NTFSDOS, ERD Pro) that will let you edit files on an NTFS partition after booting from a floppy.
John