Windows Security

[StevieC]

So work has locked down some of our PC laptops in windows so we aren't Admins anymore and we need Admin access to install software we use in the field.

Any way to break the Admin password in Windows XP so we can login as Admin and reassign the users as Admin instead of users?

Or any other way to reassign a user account at an Admin without having Admin access?

TIA!!!

 

[saberz]

Brute Force... But chances are slim you would have the time to get it work.

There are several ways but many of them have since been patched as of 2003+

 

[StevieC]

I found this... I think this is what I used last time I had this issue.

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

 

[uc50ic4more]

My wife has the same trouble at school, where the IT department has locked all of her staff as "users". We get around most things by installing portable apps (those that need not be "installed" in the conventional sense, but can rather just be run from any location) as the IT people still allow executable files in user's home directories. She runs a boatload of programs from portableapps.com (OpenOffice, Firefox, Pidgin, you name it!) as well as a portable Skype; none of which required admin rights to "install" as these program simply sit in a folder in her "My Documents" folder or are run directly from a USB stick.

You may be outta luck though performing other admin tasks!

 

[StevieC]

Ours is so bad you can't setup printers even and we work from home and on the road where we need to connect to printers... It's awful... Gonna fix that with the software above. I just tried it on a dummy account on an XP box and it works flawlessly. I can just choose to change the account type from USER to Administrator which is all I need.

Thanks to this hacker!

 

[Deltona_Dave]

EBCD password reset tool works well, as long as you are not on the network (AD policies will override). Try it (free download).

Dave

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

If your disks aren't encrpyted...Use the Gparted ISO to reduce the boot partition, create another partition install something else - even another version of Windows on the second partition, enjoy!

 

[StevieC]

This utility works flawlessly and lets me wipe out passwords for users and admins and it lets me promote any user to an admin.

I just promote my self to admin, remove the stupid policies or add another user.

Stupid productivity non-sense... I'll show them!

 

[PandaBear]

This happens to me in school and in the end, we call the professor about 30 times an hour and he finally gave in and grant us all admin access.

The only way to solve this problem is to yell, yell, and yell till they get tired of all the tech support call, if they don't pick up, yell to their boss, their boss' boss, till they gave in.

Works every time.

 

[StevieC]

Problem is our IT is in Denver, CO and my boss who would give me admin access is up here and there is too many levels of bureaucracy in our company.

I just broke it tonight on my co-workers laptop and it worked perfectly.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

So let me get this straight. Everyone knows you work for that sub sandwich fat food company. Then, on a widely read discussion forum you announce your intention to violate company policy and hack the admin account on your company owned computer.

To top it off you do the same for a fellow employee's computer.

Brilliant.

 

[StevieC]

We are a different breed in Canada and I'm secure in my job and with all the people I work with. It's our American counterpart that decided that it would be a good idea to lock down the computers so people couldn't install anything that could create a security risk or lead to a virus infection. Not that this has ever happened but just in case.

Also the food we serve although it contains real calories and some products have high sodium it's one of the best things you can have in the industry in terms of "Fat Food" as you put it.

Because 90% of it is real non-processed.

 

[StevieC]

So this is the laptop I ended up getting. (Dell Latitude D630) They have them packed with 4gb of ram and a Centrino 2Ghz processor.

The units are pretty sweet compared to the old Inspiron 8500 I had with only 1gb of ram which I upgraded to 2gb.

Anyways... It's not new but our I.T. department replaced the battery, hard drive and put a fresh copy of windows xp on with office 2007

Now that I have all the security [censored] disabled I'm good to go with it.

They are pretty fast units and I was pleasantly surprised and it looks much sturdier than my 8500 which had broken hinges and broken plastic casing from regular use.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

The problem is XP. Install Windows 7, it runs much better on the D630's than WinXP ever did...

 

[StevieC]

I can't because I don't own a copy of Office that we are using or else I would because 7 runs sweet on my MAC.