Archive for the ‘Pc software and Tricks’ Category

Windows Password Recovery|Crack Windows XP or Vista Password Using Ophcrack

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

What will you do if you forget your Windows XP or Vista Password? The very first thing you should try is to go to safe mode and check whether you have set your administrator password. But if the administrator password is also set then you may be thinking the only way is to format the computer and install fresh Windows XP or Vista. Well, here I am going to suggest a method here that will simply recover your lost passwords, both administrator and user in few seconds or at most some minutes without installing any software or without breaking your head. But if you are not interested in recovering the password or you simply want to reset or delete the password then there is much easier technique which requires only a 3 MB file instead of Ophcrack. Just see how to Reset windows Password Using a USB drive or a CD

Here, We will be using a software called Ophcrack which is an open source (GPL licensed) program that cracks Windows passwords by using LM hashes through rainbow tables. But you may be thinking whether it is a legal one. Yes it is completely legal according to Wikipedia. But you should not use this software for illegal purposes like unauthorized access to other’s system. I have tried this method in Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 Beta and it works perfectly fine for an alphanumeric password length up to 14.

The method is a very simple one. You just need to download the software which is 452MB for XP and 532MB for Vista or Windows 7. Ophcrack comes in bootable Live CD 2.1.0 ISO and installation files. Here we will be using the Live CD method where no installation is required. Follow the steps below:

Step 1: Download the ISO File For Ophcrack Live CD 2.1.0 From the links below: (Choose according to your operating system)

Windows XP:

Size: 452 MB

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ophcrack/ophcrack-xp-livecd-2.1.0.iso

Windows Vista or 7:

Size: 532 MB

http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ophcrack/ophcrack-vista-livecd-2.1.0.iso

Step 2: After the download is completed successfully burn the ISO file to a CD using a burning software. ISO files can be directly burnt (Just open with burners like Nero etc.). You should not use data mode or any other mode to burn. The CD is a bootable one. But if you do not want to use a CD, you can very well use a USB Flash Drive to run the program. Click here To see the USB Boot Technique.

Step 3: Insert the CD to your CD/DVD drive. Restart the System. You need to set the boot order to Boot from CD as the first option if you have not set CD drive as the first option. To do this you need to go to bios setup and change the order. For most of the systems the keys like DELETE, F10, F2, F12 etc are used for going to the Bios setup. But here I have used the Boot Menu Key which will show the available boot options during start up. For my System(HP) the boot menu key is Esc. For Compaq Systems it is usually F9. So if you know the Boot menu key then no need to change the order. Just Select CD/DVD ROM from the menu.

Click here to view the Boot Menu Image

Step 4: After booting from the Live CD, wait for it to load and select Ophcrack VESA mode(Recommended). If you have a graphics card you can try Graphics Mode.

Click here to View Ophcrack Menu Image

Step 5: If you have more than one partition containing the password hashes it will ask you to select one. But most of the computers will have only one hash partition, so you may not see this step. Select any partition and try if it asks you as shown below.

Click here to View Select hash Partition Image

Step 6: Wait for Ophcrack to run and find your password. After getting the password you need,you can simply click exit even if the progress is not 100%. No need to wait till end.

Click here to View Ophcrack Progress ImageHere I had set the password as techrena. It took around 1 min 20 sec to find this password.

Step 7: After the process it will ask you to press any key to exit Ophcrack. Then Type ‘y’ to shutdown the System.

Click here to View Ophcrack Shutdown ImageNow start your system. Enter the password you have found. And that’s it, see how simple it is!

Important:

1. You can use any USB Drive instead of the CD to run Ophcrack. To see this technique Visit: http://techrena.blogspot.com/2009/03/ophcrack-usb-booting-windows-password.html

2. If you are not interested in recovering the password or you simply want to reset the password then there is much easier technique which requires only a 3 MB file instead of Ophcrack. Just visit the link to see how it works:http://www.techrena.net/computers/reset-windows-xp-vista-7-password-usb-pen-drive-cd/

3. The windows vista live CD works for Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 also. There is no official release for Windows 7 yet.

4. This is for information purposes only. We are not responsible for any damages or illegal acts resulting from this information.

5. The information provided here should be used for legal purposes only.

6. Ophcrack is a legal open source program. Visit http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/ for more details. Click Here to Read the Terms of Use.

CREDIT GOES TO TECHRENA.BLOGSPOT.COM

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Reset Windows XP, Vista, 7 Password Using USB Drive or CD

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

A lot of methods are available to recover or reset the Windows password. The famous Ophcrack is used for recovering the password. Even i have posted about using Ophcrack. But the problem is that its bulky in size. We need to download a file of size 500MB to recover the password. So I thought why to recover a lost password, instead why cant we simply reset or delete the password using a 3 MB file open source program.  That is what this post is about. I have not found any other method simpler than this one, it resets your password in the blink of an eye.

The method uses an open source program called Offline NT Password & Registry Editor. We can use a USB Disk Drive (Pen Drive) or burn a bootable CD for this method.

Follow the Steps below:

Step 1: Download the cd080802.zip file from the link below and extract it. It contains an ISO file.

Size: 3.15 MB

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/cd080802.zip (Updated Working Link 13-01-10)

Step 2: Burn the ISO file to a CD. If you are using a USB drive, then mount the cd080802.iso file to a virtual drive. Open the Virtual Drive and Copy all the contents to your USB disk. If any error comes while copying just skip the file. Now to make the USB Drive Bootable open a Command Prompt(Press Start + R, Type cmd and enter) and type the following commands:

Sl. No.

Command:

Action:

1

j:

Enter

2

syslinux.exe –ma j:

Enter

Here j is my drive letter, you should enter your own drive letter.

View Commands Image

Step 3: Now start the System which you want to reset the password by putting the CD or the USB in the Computer. While start up you have to make sure that it boots up from the correct device i.e. from the CD or the USB. In order to do this go to your BIOS settings and change the boot order as CD or the USB drive as the first option. Or if you know the Boot menu key then press it and Boot from the correct device.

Note: Step 4 to Step 8 takes a very less amount of time. No need to worry!

Step 4: After booting from the CD or the USB, press enter to continue the boot process. In the first step it will automatically select the disk where your windows is installed. Simply press enter to continue. In the Second Step it Will select the path and registry files. Select 1 for password reset (It will select 1 by default, just enter).

View Select Path Image

Step 5: Now after selecting the paths, It will ask “What to do?” Simply press enter as it will automatically select 1 for Edit User Password.

View Select Edit Password Menu Image

Step 6: It will show a list your system usernames and their password status. Now enter the username whose password you want to reset. It is case sensitive so, be careful and type what you see in the users list. (If the user is Administrator just press enter as it has already selected Administrator by default otherwise enter the correct username)

View Select User Menu Image

Step 7: It will show you User Edit Menu. Select 1 to clear the user password.

View User Edit Menu Image

Step 8: It will clear the password. Now Enter “!” to quit from the User select menu. It will again ask “What to do?”. enter “q” to quit. Now in step four it will ask you to write the files or not. Enter “y” to write the files. It will write the files back. Now Simply press enter when it asks for “New run?” as it has selected no by default. The password reset has been successfully completed. Press the power button.

View the Final Step Imge

Now start the computer and you will find that it is not asking for password for the user you had selected. That’s it, you are done.

Important:

1. This method will remove your password not recover. If you do not want to reset the password, you can recover it. Visit: http://techrena.blogspot.com/2009/03/windows-password-recoverycrack-windows.html for password recovery.

2. The method has been tested for windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 and all resulted in success.

3. This is for information purposes only. We are not responsible for any damages or illegal acts resulting from this information.

4. The information provided here should be used for legal purposes only.

5. USB Disk method will not work if your motherboard or BIOS does not support USB booting.

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