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Failed NT4 Logon

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by bkadrie

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Since there is no Safe Mode in NT 4.0, how can one sign on to local computer when authentication fails (even though user account & password are the correct ones)? While attempting to sign on to Domain, immediately an error message comes up that thetrust relationship has been broken between domains for this computer account. But, the system really never even tries to authenticate user/workstation. I suspect maybe a bad NIC??? But need to access the local machine to check. Note: Local Administrator account doesn't work either (unknown password).

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by timthetoolman

Hi,

It looks like your machine isn't actually part of the domain... rather it is (or was) in a trusted relationship with the PDC.

The trust is likely to have been broken at the PDC end. You could re-establish the trust from that end and you may find that you could log in again.

If you dont know the Local Admin password, and you want to log in to the machine locally, then try the following.

1. Pull the machine's hardrive and put it into another NT machine.

2. Locate the logon.scr file on the disk. Copy it somewhere to make a backup of the original...

3. Copy usrmgr.exe over the top of logon.scr

4. Replace the disk and boot. Dont try to log in but wait for the screen saver to kick in (maybe 20 mins?) and instead of the screen saver you'll get the user manager.

Reset the passwords etc and log in! Put the logon.scr back the way it was...

I'm not 100% on the names of the exe and screen saver files. It may be login.scr and usermgr.exe... but I'm sure you get the idea.

Cheers,
Tim.

by shanghai sam

This a repost of answer I have given many times. This utility will give you access to the local admin account on the computer. It will help you reset the local admin password.

As for Tims answer, I have got to try that. It sounds great. A littlelabor intesive but a great hard drive hack. I will try booting with a NTFS Dos disk though.

----NT password changing utility----
The utility at the below site is a life saver. You have to make the bootdisk by following the instructions, but it is worth it. This tool should be in every admin / helpdesk persons tool kit.

It boots the system under Linux and gives you access to the registry to change the passwords. It is well documented. Read and follow the instructions. Test it on a sparebox first if you are concerned.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

The commercial option is go to the Winternals web site and check out their recovery software. On a workstation I would go for the linux utility first.

Aaron

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