Editing win2000 registry from boot disk?

[Gantry]

I am trying to edit the registry on a Windows 2000 computer (with NTFS) and need to do so off of a boot disk (lost Administrative password). Tried briefly to reset the Administrator account, but my efforts were fruitless (syskey was causing a prolbem).

All I need to do is edit one registry entry (disabling password encryption for Samba) and reboot. Can this be done easily?

 

[Gantry]

bump

 

[obenton]

I've seen password cracker utilities but can't, at the moment, find a link. Try searching on Google. Short of this, you'd have to do a fresh install.

 

[Gantry]

At this point I'm not trying to crack any passwords, simply edit the registry. I'm just not sure if this is possible under Windows2000. In Win9x, you could edit the reg files from a text file, as they are plain text.

Under win2k, I'm not sure 1) how to access the NTFS partition with full access from a boot disk and 2) If the registry file in Windows2000 is still where it used to be and plain-text...

 

[Gantry]

Make that "edit the registry files with a text editor" in my previous post, sorry...

 

[obenton]

You'll find five w2k registry files in the winnt/repair directory - they're the ones with no file extensions. As for editing them ...?

 

[MessiahRC]

there are a couple places you might want to start, first
http://www.sysinternals.com/
they make software to allow access to ntfs partitions from dos.

second is http://www.l0pht.com/ they provide utils. like mentioned before for cracking nt passwords(SAM file), i seem to recall something in reference to registry editing but you'll have to check.

all this i mute if the partition you wish to access in a volume on a dynamic disk, i don't believe there's anyway to access them with other(non MS - if MS even makes any) utils.

 

[TomBilliodeaux]

Good lesson to learn on keeping backup (NGhost) with simple p/w.
I have my backup W2k set to auto log in without asking for p/w.
Can always clone Winnt files over and reset pw if needed.