Bypass Forgotten Password in Win2K

Have you ever forgot your password to log into Windows 2000? Hopefully you have another account that is a member of the Administrator's group. If so, just log on with that account and change the Administrator password. If that doesn't do the trick and you can afford to lose any other accounts contained on the system, delete the SAM hive. On a FAT system, boot the computer with an old DOS or Windows 9x boot disk and delete the %systemroot%\System32\Config\SAM file (or rename it). On an NTFS system, you can use the Recovery Console to access and delete the file. Click here for a detailed explanation.

You will see the following screens after Recovery Console has been started:


Microsoft Windows 2000(TM) Recovery Console
The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality.
Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and reboot the computer.

1: C:\W1X2Y3Z4
2: C:\WINNT

Which Windows 2000 installation would you like to log onto
(To cancel, press ENTER)?

You will press the appropriate number to log onto the correct Windows 2000 installation. Then he or she performs the following commands in Recovery Console:

CD \WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG
REN SAM SAM.BAK
EXIT

Recovery Console reboots the target computer.

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