[blackened]

Forgot your admin pass? here's a step by step tut on overwriting ur old pass to get access again.
i know most of you will know this method, but for those who don't this might be quite useful.

IMPORTANT: backup ur data and registry

All u need is a linux tool called chntpw which u can find on many linux live cds. for example knoppix std

First boot from the cd and open a shell. now mount ur system drive (in my case C: ->hda1) and change directory ("windows" for winxp "winnt" for win2k):

mount /mnt/hda1/
cd /mnt/hda1/windows/system32/config

now u have to copy 3 registry files. sam (security account manager), security and system. win2k/xp uses the sam file to manage user accounts. both security and system include data for syskey which locks the accounts additionally. using a ramdisk is more secure than overwriting directly as the ntfs driver isn't fully developed.

cp sam security system /ramdisk
cd /
cd ramdisk

after u navigated to /ramdsik start chntpw:

chntpw -i sam security system

Disable syskey only if it is secured by an additional password. normally just leave it enabled. change admin pass and quit chntpw.

enable write access (only ntfs):

mount -o remount,rw /mnt/hda1

overwrite the original files:

cp sam security system /mnt/hda1/windows/system32/config

unmount the drive:

cd /
umount /mnt/hda1

use ntfsfix to correct eventuel problems:

ntfsfix /dev/hda1

Reboot and login as admin B)

[belgther]

does knoppix ever have ntfs writing support? As far as I know, no...

[White Scorpion]

knoppix 3.8 does have write support, but it is easier to use the tools that are listed in the tutorial i have written on my site. Especially CIA commander is a nice tool for NTFS drives.