How to remove Syskey and Administrator password

How to remove Syskey and Administrator password

In this tutorial we will remove Syskey start up password and reset the administrator password. Syskey is the additional layer of security. An average user barely implement it. Scammers take advantage of this tool to scam. Scammers usually contact computer owner identifying himself as a member of Microsoft support team. They will informs you that your PC have number of critical problems, those need to be fix immediately or your system will fail to work properly. They will convince you to allow them to connect system remotely and fix the issues. If you do make the mistake of letting them connect, they will ask you to pay $$$ for fix. If you refuse to pay, they will enacted SysKey encryption on the SAM registry hive.

In Window XP, Security Accounts Management (SAM) database stores hashed copies of user passwords. To keep the SAM database secure, Window requires that the password hashes are encrypted. SAM database is encrypted with a locally stored system key. SysKey utility can additionally secure the SAM database by moving the SAM database encryption key off the Windows-based computer. The SysKey utility can configure a start-up password that must be entered to decrypt the system key so that Windows can access the SAM database.

In this tutorial

• How to set administrator password in Window XP
• How to set syskey in window XP
• How to remove Syskey startup password in window XP
• How to reset administrator password in Window XP

How to set administrator password in Window XP

Administrator is the built in super user account in Window XP. Whenever you install XP, it automatically created. By default administrator account is not password protected, unless you make it during the installation. This account have privilege to access everything in computer. With this account you can change any password on that system. If you have purchased any branded computer like Sony, HCL, Dell, with pre XP installed, you would be able to login to computer with administrator account using blank password.

This account usually doesn't show up on the logon screen and average user don't know it exists. Usually user won't need to use computer under this account very often. You need this account in safe mode or at recovery console.

To set administrator account password Click Start button and Right click on My Computer, from context menu click Manage

From left pane expend Local users and groups, Click Users.

In right pane, Right click Administrator, from context menu Click Set password

Click Proceed on alert message box

Set password and Click OK

Click OK on confirmation message box

We have protected administrator account with password to enhance the security of system.

How to set Syskey in window XP

To enable Syskey encryption, Click Start button and Click Run

In Run dialog box type Syskey and Click OK

From opened dialog box select Encryption Enabled option and Click Update. When this option is selected, Windows will always encrypt the SAM database.

We have two options here Password Startup and System Generated Password, if you do not want to require a startup password use second option.

1. Store Startup Key on Floppy Disk To store the system startup password on a floppy disk. This requires that someone insert the floppy disk to start the operating system. This provides the highest level of protection for the SAM database.
2. Store Startup Key Locally To store the encryption key on the hard disk of the local computer. This is the default option.

Click Password Startup and set password and Click OK

Click OK on success message We have successful setup the Syskey start up password.

Now we have set both password administrator and Syskey.

On next reboot you will get following message.

Startup Password

This computer is configured to require a password in order to start up. Please enter the Startup Password below.

Enter the Syskey password and try to access administrator account with blank password. This time you will get alert message

If you have done above procedure to enhance the security of system, congratulation you have now more secure computer than your colleagues.

But if a scammer has done this, you are in you are in lockout situation.

Very first thing user do in this situation is to call Microsoft or post thread on their support form for help. But it is useless as Microsoft Support Engineers do not help users to get forgotten or stolen password. You will ended up with following policy page

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/189126

Furthermore Microsoft ended support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. Now you have limited choice to deal with this situation.

• Pay scammer to unlock the pc
• Reinstall window from scratch
• Use third party tool to crack the password
• There are few another methods (reset registry, restore system, use backup etc ) to deal this situation, but they depend upon the availability of backup. We will take them on other tutorials.

In this tutorial we will use a Linux script to crack the password. Before you start make sure

• Microsoft does not recommend to use of any third party tools for cracking the password. At the same time they also do not provide any support to handle this situation. So it's your choice to use this script or not.
• Use this script only if you are the owner of computer or have proper permission. Doing this with someone else's system without permission is illegal.
• In some circumstances window may ask for reauthorization or reactivation.
• This script is only for Window XP, do not use this on Vista, Win7, Win8 or any higher version than Window XP.

How to disable Syskey startup password.

Download this open source Linux script

Script to reset password

Extract the zip file

It contains an ISO file

You need to burn this ISO image. You can use any standard ISO burner software for this purpose.

Or you can download from following URL

Portable disk burning software

Official URL http://infrarecorder.org/?page_id=5

Disk burning software

Official URL http://www.freeisoburner.com/

Burn image to CD, and boot system from this CD ( You need to set boot priority in bios, to boot system from CD/DVD).

Press Enter to boot system from CD

Script will make a quick scan of hard disk and return with all available window installation. Usually there will be only one, unless you have dual operating system installed. Type the disk number (Most probably one, or see the returned result for appropriate number) and press Enter

We need to provide registry files path. Usually script will automatically find the path, all you need to do is just press Enter and go with default selected path

Our primary goal is to reset the password, Type 1 and press Enter

We will first disable the Syskey, Type 2 and press Enter

Type y and press Enter to confirm the Syskey disable.

When you disable Syskey, this script will also invalidate (set to blank) all users passwords from system. You need to reset them as well. From this point you can save change to disk and return to window. Type q and press Enter to return previous menu

Type y and press Enter so script can write the change to disk

If you want, you can run the script again. Type n and press enter.

Remove the disk and reboot the system.

We have successfully disabled the syskey and set administrator password to blank. Now you can login to system with administrator account using blank password. From administrator account you can set password to all other user accounts.

How to reset administrator password in Window XP

If you have disabled the syskey following the above method then no need to run this script again, all users password including administrator will automatically set to blank while you disable the syskey. If you have disabled the syskey protection and only need to reset the administrator password follow these steps.

Boot system from our script disk

Select disk and Press Enter

Press Enter

Type 1 and press Enter

Type 1 to select Edit user data and passwords on chntpw main interactive Menu

Script will list all available user accounts, type the username of account which password you want to change. Administrator account is by default selected, press Enter

Script will fetch the details associated with user account, make sure you have selected right user account. You can set new password directly from the script, but I will not recommend this. Instead of setting new password, we will use option 1 to clear (Set to blank) the password. Type 1 and press Enter

Type ! and press Enter to return to menu

Type q and press Enter

Type q and press Enter

Type y and press Enter to save the change

Type n to exit from script

We have successfully cleared the administrator password. Remove disk and reboot the system and login from administrator account. Once logged in, you can set up the password by following the steps given above.

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How to make windows XP bootable disk

How to make windows XP bootable disk

In this article we would create a window XP bootable disk from copied files. This is very useful when you have copied files of XP. To keep backup we generally copy the entire disk on hard disk. But you could not create a bootable disk from these files. To make a bootable XP disk from copied files we need to add boot files with image on CD.

The following items are required:

• A copy of the original Windows CD/DVD.
• A copy of the Boot Files Download from here.
• A minimum of 1GB available hard disk space for CD's.
• A minimum of 5GB available hard disk space for DVD's.

Extract the zip file 

This zip file contain all required boot files

Create a folder named xpcd on c:\ drive and copy all the files and folder of windows XP cd in it 

Now start your CD burning software I have used NERO for it

Select new options from files menu then choose CD-ROM(BOOT)
In right pane do following settings

• Select boot tab
• Select Image file from Source of boot image data
• Click on Browse and choose boot.ima ( where you have extract image files)
• Check Enable expert settings (for advanced users only!).
• Set Kind of emulation: to No Emulation.
• Set Load segment of sectors (hex!): to 0000.
• Set Number of loaded sectors: to 4.

Click on the ISO tab.

• Set File name length to Max. of 31 chars (ISO Level 2).
• Set Format to Mode 1.
• Set Character Set to ISO 9660 (standard ISO CD-ROM).
• Check the Joliet check box.
• Check all Relax ISO Restrictions.
• Check Allow more than 64 characters for Joliet names.

Click on the Label tab.

• IN ISO 9660 text field Enter volume lable
• IN Joliet text boxes. Enter system identifier label

Click the Burn tab.

• Check Write.
• Check Finalize CD (No further writing possible!).
• Set Write Method to Disc-at-once. (We have had Track-At-Once work as well.)

Click the New button

Locate the folder C:\xpcd ( OR where you have copied xp cd) 
Select everything from the folder and drag it to the ISO compilation panel.
and Click the burn CD Dialog button

Verify the settings. Correct if needed. 
Click the Burn button.
This will launch CD burning wizard

Click the OK button

Congratulations you have successfully created windows xp bootable cd.
Now you can use this window XP bootable cd for installation.

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How to create partition in Window 7

How to create partition in Window 7

Sometime you may create single partition during the installation of Window 7 leaving the remaining space of hard disk for further use. Or sometime you may need to resize the existing partition. In this article we will

• Create new partition in Window 7 after installation
• Resize the partition in Window 7
• Format the partition in Window 7
• Change drive letter of partition in Window 7
• Remove partition in Window 7

For this tutorial we will use built in functionality of window 7. It is always worthy to use in built functionality whenever possible despite of using any third party utilities.

• To create new partition you must be logged in as an administrator.
• There must be either unallocated or free disk space with an extended partition on the hard disk.
• If there is no unallocated disk space, you can create some by shrinking an existing partition, deleting a partition.

Create new partition in Window 7 after installation

To create the new partition we need to access the Disk Management console.

Click the Start menu button and type diskmgmt.msc into the search box and then right-click the diskmgmt.msc entry and click Run as Administrator item from context menu

You can also open disk management console from computer management

Click the Start menu button and right click on Computer from sub menu and click Manage

From computer management console Click Storage in right pane to launch Disk management tool

To create new partition select free space and Right click, from sub menu options click new simple volume

Click Next on the Welcome screen

Wizard will show all available space, you can take the empty space and divide it into several drives or you can use the remaining space for single simple volume

wizard will ask you to assign a drive letter or path for this volume

On next screen, You can format or skip this partition.

• You should format this volume under NTFS to take advantage of NTFS file system.
• You should not change allocation unit size setting, unless you have a specific reason to change the allocation size.
• You should assign a label to help you distinguish the new partition from other partition on your system.
• You could choose quick format that will take less time, but it will not find and mark bad sectors on partition. So if have time uncheck this option for complete format.
• NTFS file system have built-in compression that is good choice if storage space is top priority.

On Last screen of wizard you have a summary of your choices. If you need to change any option, you have last opportunity to step back and make changes. When you are satisfied with your choices, click the Finished button.

Depending on size of partition wizard will take few minutes to create and format it.

Congratulations you have successfully created new partition, you can also check it in my computer.

Resize partition in Window 7

Sometime you may have large space unused in partition. Or may have small disk space available in partition. In both condition you need to resize the partition. In above practice we have created new partition. Now let's extend this partition.

Extend a Partition

In the Disk Management console, right-click on the partition that you want to extend, and click Extend Volume from the menu

Click Next on Welcome screen

For demonstration purpose we will extended 500 MB, You could extended as per your requirement from available space.

Click finish

We have successfully extended the partition size

Shrink a Partition

In above practice we extended the size of partition, now we will revert the process.

In the Disk Management console, right-click on the partition that you want to shrink, and click "Shrink Volume" from the menu

In opened Shrink dialog enter the amount you want to shrink and click Shrink. For demonstration purpose we will reduce size by 1000MB.

You can verify the new partition size

Format the partition in Window 7

You can format a partition during the creation of it, as we did in above practice. If you have skipped it during the creation process, you need to do it before use.

If you try to use it before format, Window explorer will give you the following alert

"You need to format the disk in drive before you can use it. Do you want to format it?"

While you format a partition, it will delete any information on the partition and setup a file system so Windows 7 can read from it and write data to it.

To format a partition Select the partition from disk management console and Right click, from open context menu click format option

In opened popup box you can set format options. All options are same which you have seen in above practice.

• Volume label :- Specify a name to this drive, default will be New Volume
• File system:- Choose NTFS for better performance, Fat32 only available as options on drives 2GB and smaller
• Allocation unit size :- This is the basic unit in which disk space is allocated. The default allocation unit size is based on the size of the volume and, by default, is set dynamically prior to formatting. Keep default.
• Perform A Quick Format:- If checked window will format without checking the partition for errors. With large partitions, this option can save you a few minutes. However, it is recommended to uncheck this option and perform full format which will check for errors, mark bad sectors on the disk and lock them out.
• Enable File And Folder Compression :- Built-in compression , only for NTFS file system. Usually not necessary in today's world of incredibly large hard drives.

Click OK at the bottom of the window

Click OK to alert message

The hard drive format will begin. Status filed display the progress of formatting in %.

Depending on size and format type (quick or standard) it may take long time. The format is complete when the Status changes to Healthy.

Congratulation you have just formatted a partition in Window 7.

Change drive letter of partition in Window 7

Windows typically assigns a letter of the alphabet to most drives. If you want to organize your drives in your preferred way, you can change the drive letter. To change drive letter

In Disk management console select the partition and Right click, from context menu click Change drive letter or path

In open box we have three options

• Add :- To assign a drive letter if one has not already been assigned
• Change :- To change already assigned drive latter
• Remove :- To remove a drive latter

Before you make any change be aware that

• Some applications make references to specific drive letters, if you change a drive letter these program might not work properly.
• Make sure drive is not in use while changing drive latter. Close any program or window that is using the drive to avoid error.
• You cannot change drive letter of system or boot partition.

To change drive letter select the partition and Click change

 

Click on drop down menu, it will list all available letters

Select the drive letter you want and click OK

Click Yes to alert message

We have successfully changed drive latter.

Remove partition in Window 7

In the end of this article we will delete a partition. Before you delete please note that

• If you have single partition, then you can't delete it.
• All data on a partition will be lost when you delete it.
• You cannot delete the system partition, boot partition, or any partition that contains the virtual memory paging file, because Windows needs this information to start correctly.

To delete a partition

In Disk management console select the partition Right click, from context menu Click Delete

Click Yes to warning message

If you delete a primary partition, the resulting empty space is called unallocated disk space.

If you delete a logical drive within an extended partition, the resulting empty space is called free space.

You can now use the empty space to create additional volumes.

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