How to break syskey password for windows xp

This tutorial will recap parts of the original, but also give a far simpler, faster and more concise way to crack hashes in the SAM file that are protected by SysKey. SysKey is an extra level of encryption put on the hashes in the SAM file [1].

The problem is PWdump only works if you can run it from an administrator level account, and if the reason an attacker is cracking the hashes in the first place is to get an administrator level account then PWdump is of little use. Some folks will ask why would you want to crack the passwords in the SAM at all since it's far easier to just change the Administrator password using a Linux boot disk or Sala's Password Renew for PE Builder.

The reason an attacker may want to crack the local passwords instead of changing them is two fold:. An attacker doesn't want to tip off the system administrators.

If they notice that the old local admin password no longer works they will get a little bit suspicious don't you think? Just enter the user name as Administrator and hit enter. Now enter net user and then hit enter. It will show all users on this machine.

It will ask for a new password, and then you can enter a new one as your wish. From the next login, you will have to enter this password for the respective account. Restart the system press the F8 key to boot in safe mode from there log in Administrator Account without a password. This is an easy way and mostly works if the default hidden administrator is not changed. Follow the Setup procedures and accept the license agreement by hitting F8.

Use arrow keys to select XP installation if you only have one, it should already be selected and press R to begin the Repair process.

After successful completion of repair windows will restart and again will display "Press any key to boot from CD". Just don't do anything, and it will boot automatically now when you see Installing Device Bar in the lower left bottom corner. Write command nusrmgr. Run the following command to restore your registry with the backup files in the RegBack folder. Windows will run a automatic startup repair and reboot to the login screen.

No SysKey, all good to go. All Rights Reserved. The problem is PWdump only works if you can run it from an administrator level account, and if the reason an attacker is cracking the hashes in the first place is to get an administrator account then PWdump is of little use.

The reason an attacker may want to crack the local password instead of changing it is two fold: 1. An attacker doesn't want to tip off the system administrators. If they notice that the old admin password no longer works they will get a bit suspicious don't you think? The same account passwords may be used on other systems on the network. If the attacker can crack one machines admin password that same password may allow the attacker to gain access to other boxes on that LAN that they only have remote access to.