HELP i've done something stupid..

hi, i have just aquired a laptop, its an old one runnin win 2000pro,
its a tosh with a pent2, forgot what model, but anyway.... i accidentally deleted a spacific logon to access windows from the user group page, i was cleanin up, honest. anyhow, the guest has been disabled too and now i cant get into the lappy at all, there isnt anyother logons i can use that im aware, i have typed in administrator etc but to no avail.

is there anyother way i can get into my sys to remake a logon without formatting?

if so, i will need a step by step explanation as im not too clued up (noob) with lappies

You need a boot floppy to copy your C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SAM file containing users info and passwords. Then from a different computer, you crack the passwords with the tool LC4 by Atstake (formely known as L0phtCrack), you will have to find it because I think the company went kaput.

LC4 recovers Windows user account passwords to streamline migration of users to another authentication system or to access accounts whose passwords are lost.

If the password is simple, it will be done in a couple seconds or minutes. If you have a strong password, it will take forever.

Or you can use a tool that let you reset the admin password to blank, see the links below.

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
home.eunet.no...

NT Password Recovery Bootable CD
www.dmzs.com...

ERD Commander 2005
www.winternals.com...

NTAccess
www.sunbelt-software.com...

For Windows XP it's even easier, you boot with your setup CD and you do a repair to reset the admin password without losing your data.


To prevent people fooling with your laptop while you're away, you need to encrypt your data. See this earlier thread www.belowtopsecret.com...

You use a file integrity monitor to know if your data as been compromised. sourceforge.net...

If you wish to track your computer back in case it get stolen, you hide a radio transmitter inside similar to the LoJack system like the cops are using to trace stolen cars. Stay away from software that dial home when the computer got stolen, because if the burglar is smart enough to wipe the disk, that crap doesn't work anymore. You have to act quickly to trace your stolen laptop if you want to bust the real culprit, before it land in the hands of that poor chap who simply bought the computer used from a shady seller.

thx for the advice, i do believe i have a boot cd, i will try to work through this in the evening,, again thx