PC password recovery

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Tom

Tom

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A friend called and said he didn't know the password for his PC and was locked out. This happens to be a recycled PC from another friend for whom I'd bought a replacement. I went through various password variations, but we couldn't come up with the right PW. The original owner of the PC does not remember what the PW is.

Any ideas on how to recover or get by the PW?

FWIW this is a Dell running (we think) XP.

TIA.
 
Thanks for the link Frank, I'll pass it along.
 
Ophcrack.  Works great on XP, but not Vista.

Its a bootable Linux live disc that automatically cracks 2000/XP passwords on bootup.

Works like a charm.

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
 
If he remembers the administrator password, he can log on as administrator and reset the user password from the control panel.
 
If he can't remember any of the passwords (and I assume he's talking about the operating system passwords), and if he doesn't need any of the data from the hard drive, why not just re-install the operating system?  Make a fresh start!  If it's the BIOS password that he cannot remember, there should be a jumper on the motherboard that when removed disables the password.  This won't do a thing for the operating system password though.

-Dave
 
Thanks all.

I'm not sure which password he's talking about but, because it's early in boot system, I asked him if it was a BIOS password, but he didn't seem to know. I didn't even know there was such a thing when I asked him the question.  I'll pass these suggestions on to him.

The prior owner of the PC is an elderly mutual friend, and the only password she thinks she remembers isn't accepted. I suspect the system was originally set up by her now deceased husband.
 
Until you know which password is needed, this is like shooting in the dark.

Here's another source on various techniques and tools to get around the problem.

http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2007/01/02/windows-xp-forgot-your-password-or-your-password-expires/
 
Agreed Gary. Unfortunately, the friend knows even less about PCs than I do. Thanks for the link.
 
Received a follow up call from this guy. He pulled the CMOS battery from the motherboard, waited a short while, then re-installed it. He turned on the PC and was presented with the BIOS options. He scrolled down and select  'Restore defaults', and the PC booted up cleanly with no password required.
 
Then it was the BIOS password he forgot.  It really doesn't make any sense to set that password as if one has physical access to the computer, it's so easy to reset.
 
As I said, the PC had been discarded by an elderly neighbor, and we're guessing the password was set by her deceased husband, so we'll never know why.
 
"Then it was the BIOS password he forgot.  It really doesn't make any sense to set that password as if one has physical access to the computer, it's so easy to reset."

I guess it keeps honest people honest....
 
Agreed Pierat.

Most folks wouldn't know they could get past the password by removing the BIOS battery. It sure wasn't mentioned in any research that I did, including resources dedicated to recovering BIOS passwords. If the battery is soldered to the motherboard rather than using a socket, it would require a determined individual to get it out and reinstall it.

I'm beginning to think that, since this is an old PC, the CMOS battery may be running low and one or more BIOS settings got corrupted. I'll suggest that the guy replace the battery with a new one.

Interestingly, when he pulled the jumper on the motherboard, it still asked for a password.

Personally, I've never had a need to have a BIOS password or a Windows password. When I turn my PC on I don't want to be messing with passwords, especially since I'm the only one who uses the machine. Important/sensitive data is stored off the machine anyway, so what would I be password protecting?
 
Tom said:
Personally, I've never had a need to have a BIOS password or a Windows password <snip> so what would I be password protecting?
Click to expand...

For most people who password protect their BIOS, I'm guessing it's just general paranoia.  In our labs, however, we don't want students bypassing our security measures by booting from a live CD, so we don't include the CDROM as a boot option.  If they could get to the BIOS, they could change that.  Our machines are also physically locked closed, so they cannot access the jumper or battery.  It isn't necessarily that we're worried about what they could get to, but if they boot with an unsecure O/S, a lucky hacker could find a backdoor into our network which could be very bad. 

We've also had people steal hardware such as RAM from our machines.  It must have been a really little guy because they were able to pop out one of those face plates that covers an unused CDROM bay and stick their arm in to get it.  I tried to do it and short of lacerating my arm couldn't get past the end of the CDROM bay.  The BIOS alerted us that there was a RAM mismatch so we knew right away when it happened.  If the thief had access to the BIOS, we might not have noticed for a while since they only stole one stick out of each computer and the computers just ran a lot slower.

-Dave
 
Interesting Dave. Thanks for the story.

I believe I finally figured out what happened in the case I mentioned, or at least I have a theory....

The elderly lady had asked me to buy her a new computer and, after installing it, I moved the old one to her garage. Another guy (the who was trying to find the password) was supposed to take the PC to the recycle facility, but decided to combine parts from his ailing PC with this one to come up with a working one. The lady keeps the heat on in her house (I'm usually sweating when I visit), but the garage is not heated. I suspect the battery was running on fumes, as many almost-dead batteries do when heated. When I moved the PC to the garage, the battery voltage fell sufficiently to put the BIOS settings in some random pattern.

The lady hadn't forgotten the password - she'd never had to use it.
 
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