I use a Windows2000 network with 6 PCs on it. I’m not a techie computer nerd, I’m just the guy who tries to keep it ticking over. I have the only PC with Administrator privileges. Normally, we don’t bother putting a password on the Adminstrator account as no one messes with the system anyway. Last week, I had to install some new software, so I logged out of my normal account and looged back in as Administrator for the first time since I arrived on site. There was a password. We don’t have an IT guy to call. Uh oh…
It took me less than 20 minutes to search the web for a solution (no, I’m not telling what it was ), and reset the password back to normal.
So my question is this. If a doofus like me, with no knowledge of hacking or Windows security, can reset Windows passwords at will, what were Microsoft thinking?
Resetting a Windows administrator password is trivial. What is non-trivial is accessing any data that was encrypted with that password hash before the password was reset.
Essentially, you will lose any encrypted files associated with that account when you reset the password.
It is fairly easy to reset passwords with XP since anyone with adminstrative privs can reset another admin password. Same goes with 2000 Pro. However, i do not think that a local computer administrator can reset a domain adminstrator password, it has been a while since i’ve done work on a domain though.
Xash is exactly right. If the admin account had any encrypted files, you won’t be able to access them. In your case it probably won’t matter since you probably never bothered to protect any files.
Most people don’t encrypt files (in my personal experience) so it’s rather funny that it’s easy to reset the password of any computer and access it’s (non-protected) files.
I wouldn’t even know how to encrypt files using the windows password, so I think we’re all clear here. It was a very strange experience breaking into a PC so easily though. I don’t think I’ll do it again.
As others have said, yes, Windows passwords are trivial to crack. I won’t tell you how to crack them, but if you have access to the computer, you can quite often find out the actual password, rather than just resetting it.
If someone uses a bad password like “mypassword” or “abc123” a cracker will find that in a couple seconds. Something good like “Ib2#oc@S” will take closer to 6-8 hours or so to be found, depending on the processor speed.
If the passwords live on a domain, life is instantly harder, though. Not impossible, just a bit harder. Of course, on a managed network, the computers all probably share the same admin password, and all users have their own IDs. In this case, it’s probably easier to sharpen your social engineering skills and get chummy with a network administrator.
If you have physical access to the PC, then it’s no problem at all. Trying to break the password over a network is much harder.
Also, think about putting a password on your admininistator account. A blank administrator password, even if you’re the only person accessing that PC, leaves the front door wide open for viruses/worms/trojans. It will also prevent some joker from changing the password on you in the future.
Oh, and to encrypt a file? Just right-click it and select Properties. Down near the bottom, hit Advanced, then click “Encrypt contents…” Apply and OK your way out.
It’s insanely easy to crack a PC’s password, if you have physical access to the machine. There’s software out there that can fit on a floppy disk, which will allow you to crack/reset a password in a couple of seconds. The only way to have a secure PC is to have it physically isolated and not connected to a network.
), and reset the password back to normal.