Win7 issue UAC locked out.

[squirrel1970]

Not my computer, a friends.

She's running Win7 premium edition, and for some reason, her password for her main user acct seems to have been blocked and she can't access it. She's having to use a 2nd user accout with no admin rights, so all the guff that's on her PC, she can't do anything about because of being locked out of the main account - she's got all her photographs, everything on the locked account. She hasn't changed the password, it's just something that happened and she needs some of the pictures because she's a volunteer in the community.
It first locked her out about a week ago. She can't do anything without it prompting her for the password for the main account which doesn't work.

I'm hoping there's a way out of this without having to reinstall windows.

[Uncle Peter]

Passwords don't just change themselves though so I would be having a good think about how it's happened.

There are a few ways you can deal with a lost admin account password but in the absence of having used the password recovery function in Windows 7 which most people don't even know about then maybe have a go at this:

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

I use a password changing app that runs from a live cd takes about 5 mins

think the above does the same I am sure. Reads the SAM and then you just blank the password

[Uncle Peter]

Does run from a live CD image mate yes.

Relatively straightforward

http://sourceforge.net/p/ophcrack/wi...crack%20Howto/

op - you can also do recovery boot trick to change the password (fiddly) but if anything's been encrypted on the disk with Windows native EFS encryption you'll lose access to it.

[craigj2k12]

As above, there are many windows password cracking tools out there, in my previous job we gave out standalone netbooks to managers who were on call, and for some reason 1 guy kept forgetting his password and getting his account suspended, he was shocked how insecure windows was and that I could reset his password within 10 minutes

[squirrel1970]

thanks, I've downloaded a couple of things to stick on a usb stick and try.

If I remember rightly, boot into safe mode, restart and then boot from usb... something like that.
I'm fairly sure there's something in BIOS that does similar... been a while since I last saw anything like this, so may be wrong.

I've downloaded ophcrack live cd iso (which is going onto usb stick shortly) and one called 'UAC'. Both of which I've seen on noteable forums.

I just can't get my brain around anything complex at the moment and I want whichever bit of software works to be on a usb drive she can do herself if it happens again, provided I'm able to remember myself how I did it (or didn't!)

Just hoping this does the job... I shall report back when it's either a) fixed or b) I'm tearing my hair out.

Thanks

[squirrel1970]

I also (because I forgot I had it) have ubuntu on a stick... thinking maybe go in that way, and do the necessary?
I've put everything onto one usb stick so I don't have to fiddle and faff around with too many usb sticks...
I would've gone yesterday but for feeling ill, so, I'm calling over today.
Much sweariness might ensue, but thankfully, my friend has two gorgeous little black & white kittens...

[squirrel1970]

*sigh* I tried everything possible that I could. seems the main UAC isn't just locking everything out, it's locking everything with a password that noone can remember or find.
I got as far as coming here to get the link to sourceforge and while the computer was ok about it, it wasn't ok about it running, throwing up the box that requires the password.
I'd do a system restore, but it seems it's set the default setting to high, so there's no chance of that happening it seems. For once, I've thrown my hands up in the air.
So she's going to contact the guy who gave her the computer (he's pretty much 'up there' as regards knowledge on computers) and hope that he can fix it for her.
There's no doing anything without the computer asking for a password and it getting its knickers in a knot when an incorrect password is entered at pretty much every other thing that's done.
I couldn't even boot up from USB either - there just wasn't that option visible when I went into bios.
It's not looking great. I fear I can do no more for the time being.

Originally Posted by squirrel1970

*sigh* I tried everything possible that I could. seems the main UAC isn't just locking everything out, it's locking everything with a password that noone can remember or find.
I got as far as coming here to get the link to sourceforge and while the computer was ok about it, it wasn't ok about it running, throwing up the box that requires the password.
I'd do a system restore, but it seems it's set the default setting to high, so there's no chance of that happening it seems. For once, I've thrown my hands up in the air.
So she's going to contact the guy who gave her the computer (he's pretty much 'up there' as regards knowledge on computers) and hope that he can fix it for her.
There's no doing anything without the computer asking for a password and it getting its knickers in a knot when an incorrect password is entered at pretty much every other thing that's done.
I couldn't even boot up from USB either - there just wasn't that option visible when I went into bios.
It's not looking great. I fear I can do no more for the time being.

you need to expand the hdds if the USB drive is not visible it most likely will be there. You could source an iso with password changer and burn to disc

[squirrel1970]

y'know, this is still ongoing and I've yet to find a solution (seriously, either been too ill to do anything or distracted by my friends kittens - little bundles of 'awwwwwwww!') so I think I'm going to have to go this via the 'break the startup'. Let it boot so far then kill the power supply at the plug, then wait a few minutes, start it up again and then take it into safe mode - not sure which safe mode option - with or without networking?
It's not seen any USB devices other than ones plugged into it after it's booted up and installing stuff is a 'no'.
In fact my friend has taken a turn for the worse - it's looking like she may have had a mild stroke after collapsing at home recently, and she's lost a fair amount of ability to talk, so if nothing, the computer is essential now more than ever and I just want to get it running so that she can access it as she always has done, minus the hassle of remembering passwords to access her computer.
I'm going round there this afternoon on four missions, windproof lighter, kitten sexing, seeing how she is and sorting that infernal computer!

I'll take the suggestion of burning an iso to cdr as a final solution. I'm not done yet.
Thanks everyone for help so far, I hadn't forgotten, just got waylaid by other things :-)

[Ken W]

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

Passwords don't just change themselves though so I would be having a good think about how it's happened.

There are a few ways you can deal with a lost admin account password but in the absence of having used the password recovery function in Windows 7 which most people don't even know about then maybe have a go at this:

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

Dose it work on Windows 8 ?

seriously this is easy to fix

[Dai]

Why not just pull the hard disk and 'slave' it to another machine. You could at least pull the files she needs that way and worry about the damaged user account later.

[Matth]

Ophcrack won't be much help for free, as the free "rainbow tables" are limited.

My favourite tool: http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/
Can't "crack" a password, so no chance of entering a system transparently, but can forcibly change/remove.

[qasdfdsaq]

Simply overwriting the password is always faster than trying to crack it.

Only problem is if you use NTFS encryption which hardly anyone ever does.