Re: locked out of XP, need file access

[Brian Dunbar <brian.dunbar () plexus com>]

On Dec 29, 2003, at 11:05 AM, JGrimshaw () ASAP com wrote:

> To preface, I apologize if I am wrong.  I also expect to be bashed for
> being harsh, but sometimes reality stings.

I'll try not to bash.  Your points are valid, Sir.

> A question that I have, is that if the box is his, and those files are 
> his
> (and are important), how did he suddenly just "forget" the admin 
> password?

I've had users (at a client site) who built their own box, used the 
machine for months with their domain account, then forgot what they set 
the local admin password to.  Since they never allowed the domain 
admins to be local admins they were sorta stuck.  Oops.

<snip>

> Responding in the positive to his request akin to offering a burglar a 
> set
> of lockpicks and detailed picking instructions because he "lost" his 
> keys
> to his car. 

You have a valid point yet ... the lockpicks are easily available to 
anyone with enough brains to launch a google search and download the 
Nordahl utility.  You can't keep that stuff secret; our original poster 
was more than able to find this stuff out on his own.

This reminds me (no offense) of the Security Officer at a client site.  
Knowing they were sensitive to this type of hack, yet wanting to save 
the end user the pain of having to jack around with mounting disk 
drives, or (worse) reinstalling his box (and loosing his data) I 
brought this to his attention.  He okayed the use, but swore me to 
secrecy as to the method.  Which was futile; the end user had found the 
tool on his own while I spent hours getting the operation approved.

Brian


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