XP Password Crack?

[momocore]

I'm working with the IT guys here at work, and I'm the only one with any Linux experience. Just for kicks, we want to try and change or wipe out the administrator password on a Samsung Q1 (maybe one day they'll let me install Sabayon on it...) Does anyone know of a package in portage that would allow this? I found a small linux distro called austrumi that has nt_pass on it, which is based on this:

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

We haven't tried it yet, but it'd be cool if there was a package in portage that could accomplish the same goal.

Thanks!

[WarraWarra]

Not sure what package but gentoo based security distro "pentoo" or "mpentoo" from switzerland does this and might be worth checkking what they have installed to do this with.
Mpentoo 250mb about works nice + enlightenment.

You can alternatively use UBCD for windows and make a live cd from it to unlock the password with some of it's password programs + custom drivers you added.
http://www.ubcd4win.com/contents.htm

[DontPanic]

I was looking at this problem just this weekend, and I didn't see an easy way to get Sabayon to do it.

I ended up downloading and burning the small CD image from the link you posted, and it worked fine on XP Home.

There are probably some good reasons for getting something that is dedicated to this task. It's easy to clodge the finer points of modifying the SAM file on an NTFS file system.

[Snowman]

Try looking at ophcrack 2. Google it. it was designed to crack Windows passwords.

[momocore]

Thanks for your help everyone!!

[Fitzcarraldo]

I gave Ophcrack a try on a PC with five users with straightforward passwords (only letters, no accents, no numbers) and it only found one of the five passwords. Also, it only comes with two of the so-called "rainbow tables": you have to purchase the other tables. So if there are better password crackers for Windows XP I would be interested to know about them too.

[GI_James]

Try to get your hands on a copy of ERD Commander, that's what I use to reset passwords on all NT based machines including Vista.

It's a bootable CD.

-James

[DontPanic]

Ah! I finally found the Gentoo package that does this:
app-crypt/chntpw

It is based on the same code as in the OP's reference to http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/.

I have found it is in my SabayonLinux 3.4f DVD based installation, but it is not on my 3.4 miniCD based installation. But I don't strictly remember if I installed it on one, or deleted it from the other.

I haven't used this package under Gentoo or Sabayon, but I have used other bootable CD's based on this package, and it has worked pretty well for resetting the password of Windows boxes where the owner or administrator lost or forgot the password.

It won't crack or guess the password. It will simply reset or blank out the password. Actually, I've only been successful at blanking out the password. I've had mixed results trying to set a different password.

Word of warning: This package is not intended to be stealthy. You should only use it with the express permission of the owner or administrator of the box you are applying this tool, because the chances are the owner or administrator will eventually figure out that someone has been mucking around with their passwords.