[SOLVED] Windows User Password Forgotten - Linux Recovery?
Linux - GeneralThis Linux forum is for general Linux questions and discussion.
If it is Linux Related and doesn't seem to fit in any other forum then this is the place.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Hi!
I have a friend that tried to change her user password on Windows, and now can't log in to her account. Of course it's the only user account on the computer... are there system recovery tools on any Linux liveCDs that could change the passwords of Windows user accounts? Thanks for any help!
(And, sadly, the Linux alternative seems unlikely at best, but I'll evangelise nonetheless... )
You are right - the best practice for this situation is to mount the drive from linux, backup the files, install <insert distro here> to the whole drive, move the files to the distro user directory. Quiz the user on intended uses and install the needed software ... a short familiarity course and they are away.
Sadly u cannot recover the password.
But if you want to recover important data you can do so by using any livecd of linux and mount the harddisk.
open a terminal
#mount -t ntfs /dev/sdaX /mnt
where X is the number of the partion on which windows is installed.
Usually that is 1.
So it should be
#mount -t ntfs /dev/sda1 /mnt
cd /mnt
you can copy all your important files on a safer location.
No worries - actually I was a bit surprised by the registry hack, when I started looking I figured it would have to be a brute-force or dictionary attack on the encrypted passwords. Turns out you can just delete them.
The moral here is, if the bad guys have physical access to your machine it is pretty much game over. Go for whole-disk encryption to be secure - then you cannot recover the passwords or the data.
Pick an 8+ random character password and keep it on a bit of paper in your wallet.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
)
