PCSTATS     
[X]   Directory of
Guides & Reviews

Beginners Guides
Motherboards by Brand
Weekly Newsletter
Archived Newsletters

+70 MORE Beginner GUIDES....
Beginners Guides: Forgotten Passwords & Recovery Methods
Beginners Guides: Forgotten Passwords & Recovery Methods - PCSTATS
Ever wondered how to recover or reset a forgotten password in WindowsXP? This guide will help you get back into your computer, all without reinstalling the operating system.
Filed under: Beginners Guides Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: PCSTATS Aug 31 2007   M. Dowler  
Home > Reviews > Beginners Guides > PCSTATS

Retrieving the Windows XP SAM and SYSTEM files

- With a DOS boot disk -

1. Copy the NTFSDOS file onto your DOS boot disk.

2. Copy the RAR utility files onto one of your empty floppy disks.

3. Boot your system with the boot disk.

If your system drive uses the FAT32 file system:

5. From the a: prompt, insert the disk with the RAR utility.

6. Type: Rar32 a -v a:\systemandsam c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\system32\config\sam

This will copy both the System and SAM files into a compressed file on your floppy called 'systemandsam.' They should all fit onto the one disk, but if not, you will be prompted to insert another blank floppy.

7. Now skip down to the section on extracting passwords.

If your system drive uses the NTFS file system:

8. Type: ntfsdos to detect NTFS formatted drives. The system will inform you which drive letters are allocated to which drives. Make a note of the drive letter of your main drive (the one with windows installed on it).

9. Insert the disk with the RAR utility and type:

10. Rar32 a -v a:\systemandsam (drive letter of your main drive as above):\windows\system32\config\system (drive letter of your main drive as above):\windows\system32\config\sam

11. This will copy both the System and SAM files into a compressed file on your floppy called 'systemandsam.' They should all fit onto the one disk, but if not, you will be prompted to insert another blank floppy.

12. Now skip down to the section on extracting passwords.

- Using a portable Linux CD -

1. These tend to be pretty user friendly, at least compared to most Linux versions… Just boot from the CD.

2. As most current versions of Linux read NTFS drives as well as FAT32, simply navigate to the HDA1\windows\system32\config directory from the desktop and copy the SAM and SYSTEM files to the desktop, then email them to yourself.

From a hard disk you transferred to a new computer

1. Easiest of all. Simply navigate to the (drive letter)\windows\system32\config directory and copy the SAM and SYSTEM files to the location you desire.

< Previous Page © 2023 PCSTATS.com
Please respect the time and effort that went into creating each PCSTATS Beginners Guide, do not illegally copy. Thank you.
Next Page >

 

Contents of Article: PCSTATS
 Pg 1.  Beginners Guides: Forgotten Passwords & Recovery Methods
 Pg 2.  Resetting BIOS Passwords
 Pg 3.  Using Asterisk-Password Revealing Programs
 Pg 4.  Windows Login Passwords
 Pg 5.  NT/2000/XP password reset boot utility
 Pg 6.  — Retrieving the Windows XP SAM and SYSTEM files
 Pg 7.  Extracting passwords from the SAM file
 Pg 8.  Brute Force Password Cracking

 
Hardware Sections 


 
PCSTATS Network Features Information About Us Contact
FrostyTech
PCSTATS Newsletter
Tech Glossary
Technology WebSite Listings
News Archives
(Review RSS Feed)
Site Map
PCstats Wallpaper
About Us
Privacy Policy
Advertise on PCSTATS

How's Our Driving?
© Copyright 1999-2023 www.pcstats.com All rights reserved. Privacy policy and Terms of Use.