The first step is to boot the machine using a bootable floppy or CD that contains NTFS (NT File System) drivers. This will allow you to proceed to the next step, which is to reset or recover your password.
Boot the System with NTFS Drivers
Petter Nordahl-Hagen has created a good set of Linux-based bootdisks with NTFS support. Download this package from
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/.
You may also use your own bootable floppies or CD's, as long as they have support for the NTFS file system and can run the utility you intend to use to recover the administrator password.
Note that this step is only required if your system uses NTFS as a filesystem. If your system uses a different filesystem, you must boot with drivers for that filesystem.
Recover Your Password
To reset your password, use a tool like `chntpw`, which is included with Petter Nordahl-Hagen's bootdisk package mentioned above.
Resetting your password is
signifcantly easier than recovering your
password.
If you want to recover your password, use a tool like OpenWall's John the Ripper with Olle Segerdahl's NTLM patch or L0phtCrack by Mudge and Weld Pond. John the Ripper runs on Unix, DOS, or Windows. L0phtCrack runs on Unix or Windows.
Linear Mode
