Comments for How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Comment from Hugh E Torrance on 2009-04-15

2009-04-15T17:47:14Z

System rescue CD from www.distrowatch.com has a utility to change windoz passwords...most live Linux distros will give you access to the windoz drive...

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

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Comment from Mark on 2009-04-13

2009-04-13T14:54:31Z

I've used the Magic Jelly Bean Key Finder method and then a clean install. That's the cleanest method. Using a computer that's been running for a few years is bound run slower than a freshly installed system.

On the other hand, it's possible that the computer you bought has other useful software that you might lose with a fresh install (the Jelly Bean also gives you the MS Office S/N).

One thing that works on 95% of older XP systems: At the log-in window his ctr-alt-del twice. A log in dialog will come up instead of log-in icons. Enter Administrator as the user name with no password. Ive gotten into dozens of computers that way. Vista and XP SP2 and above fixed this bug.

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from grace on 2009-04-11

2009-04-11T23:21:42Z

i agree with rahul, booting on safe mode will work.
but pls i would like to know how to access the CMOS setup in a laptop that is passworded and if you say i should reformat, i can't access the CMOS setup to boot from CD. so pls what do i do?

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

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Comment from clippership on 2009-04-08

2009-04-08T20:20:47Z

The "right way" is the safest way - I mean what would you do if the PC had a key logger or FBI-arrest-and-jail-you-forever porn still on it? During a "right way" reinstall you will probably need the Windows Product Key - if there's no Genuine Label on the PC (its on the case, right?) then run Produkey or Magical Jelly Bean to get the in-use key for the re-installation. Good Luck and buy your boyfriend a beer to do the installation!

Now that we've said that you can skip a lot of trouble by doing a "right way" disk wipe and then installing Knoppix on your laptop (which is free of legal encumbrances and has lots of the newest drivers) and is much faster on startup. Or use an Ubuntu Live CD if its a plain pc! Yay Free Software!

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Dominic Keily on 2009-04-08

2009-04-08T14:24:29Z

Hello. I found this article about administrator very interesting. When we bought our laptop some years ago, without knowing what was happening I filled in all details asked for and put in a password. All of our family members have their own details but none of us know what the first password was. (I am in my 70's and not a computer person). All of what you have written seems very difficult to do. Is it?

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Glenn P. on 2009-04-08

2009-04-08T12:02:12Z

Remember, that once the computer is yours, any information on it is yours now, too. Any information. Including all that child porn which the previous owner had downloaded. Something to think about when those nice friendly FBI agents come bashing in your door wearing bulletproof vests and carrying assault rifles in a no-knock raid at 5:00 in the morning...

Hey! Maybe reformatting that drive and reinstalling from scratch isn't such a bad idea after all!!!

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Terry Hollett on 2009-04-08

2009-04-08T10:51:43Z

A neighbour called me one time. She bought someones computer that was password protected. To bypass it I just booted up in safe mode, went into the user accounts, created a new account for her - as administrator, restarted the computer - to make sure she could sign in and then deleted the old account.

You don't need to be a hacker to get pass this.

http://www.geocities.com/terryhollett2003/

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from lovepirat on 2009-04-08

2009-04-08T07:46:14Z

intresting....they all do work...but not in all cases...so give this a try:
.1.google..and searche for ophcrack live cd..burn it...and log in to it..and just exit...while exiting...all admin passwords and names will pop out ;) very easy and no swette.
.2. that is a bit tricky...but nice..but also require some command knowleges..so what to do:...while ur in the user(not admin)...locate the screen saver path and copy there the cmd.exe (command promp) and set it up!!!! well its not that simple but u can make it...
after that reboot...and dnt loggin just wait for the screen saver(replaced by command prompt)..and start surfing with admin priv.....
gd luck..;)

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Eldred Coot on 2009-04-07

2009-04-08T02:38:31Z

A tech once told me to short out the speaker and you are in. He used this tech when repairing pcs.

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Brad on 2009-04-07

2009-04-07T22:06:49Z

Re: 'I shut down the PC, turned off all power and waited about 40 minutes for the capacitors to discharge then removed the battery.'

That process has no effect on the OS password for the admin account. The OS password is data written on the disk. It is not a CMOS/BIOS issue to be addressed by defeating the CMOS/BIOS password (what the process above is doing).

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Dennis Jackson on 2009-04-07

2009-04-07T16:35:27Z

There is one very good reason to be able to access the administrator account on a used computer, depending on the rights have been set for other user accounts on the machine. You may need to recover the install key for Windows and other installed software from that computer before doing a clean install by first installing and using a key-finder utility like "Magical Jelly Bean Finder." If the ability to install software on the computer has been restricted to the administrator account, then access to that account will be necessary to accomplish this task.

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Gary Hagy on 2009-04-07

2009-04-07T16:26:28Z

This worked for me. I shut down the PC, turned off all power and waited about 40 minutes for the capacitors to discharge then removed the battery.
After an hour, I replaced the battery, hooked up and restarted the PC and "VOILA!" no Administrator password!

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Rahul on 2009-04-04

2009-04-05T00:03:45Z

There is one more easy way to get in without using any special access software.

Microsoft in its infinite wisdom does not set the password for the administrator account when it is installed. It just hides this account from general access. But then provides an easy way to access it. In fact two ways. If the seller of that computer is naive enough to leave the data on the disk, it is likely that he/she has not set this most important password. Take a chance on this one, after fully understanding the risks involved in accessing the system.

1. Boot in safe mode. That shows the Administrator account along with the other user account. And you are in....

2. Another way to get to the Administrator account is: Log off from the regular account and get to the log-on screen that lists all users. Here enter the keys ctrl-alt-del twice. A logon dialog pops up. Enter Administrator as username, no password and you are in....

Of course if this password is set, then the utility Leo mentions does the trick.

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A comment on: How do I gain administrative access to a secondhand computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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