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File for Passwords ?

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12 replies

by guru kumar

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Hi !

Can anyone tell me that which is the file that stores the passwords In Win NT for the profiles of the Administrator and for Domains also.

If there are more than one user then which is the file that keeps the record for the Password ?

For Windows 95/98 also , which is the file that keeps the track of the passwords for all the users?

Waiting for the answer,

Guru

12 replies

by kenalmoore

Guru; For NT 4.0 the passwords are stored in the SAM data on the PDC and Security file on local pc.
For windows 95/98 it is 'pwl'.
(Password List).
Your Welcome!

by guru kumar

Hi !

Tell me exactly which SAM file and where i will get the file i mean where is the file located on the Hard Drive.

Guru

by coolflip

Guru,
In win95/98 systems usually it is housed in your system.ini settings. You can also find the passwords in the registry as well. In NT i've always been successful finding it in the registry also. There are some books out the that tell you what specific hive the passwords are housed in your registry.
Good luck

by guru kumar

Please give me the details where exactly i will get the passwords in the Registry.
If there are some books, what are they and if some of the thing is available on the Internet.

Guru.

by mcclenbw

Are you seriously under the impression, that somewhere on the HD is a unencyrpted file that you can just open in notepad and see all usernames and passwords?

The best a hacker can do is get a copy of the SAM database and run a password cracker onit.

by guru kumar

Hi ,

No i also know that there is no such file that i can see using Notepad all the User Names and Passwords.

I just want to know the name of the SAM file and the Location on the Hard Disk.

I know that it is in the Encrypted format everywhere but since the Hackers Crack the password from this file, so if i can do somthing so that the Passwords can be made much secured.

Thanks for Your Nice Advice.

Guru

by kenalmoore

What you are looking for is the SAM and Security Hive in the registry. At the "run"
command type in Regedt32. There are two Hives, one is SAM and the other Security.
More information can be located at Micosoft's Technet. Search in Nt 4.0 Server orWorkstation and Ask a question such as
Security Accounts Database or Security Accounts Manager.

by nsa13

The SAM on an NT 4.0/5.0 box is kept in %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\CONFIG as the filename SAM. %SYSTEMROOT% is a default of C:\WINNT.

By default, only Administrators have access to this folder.

An easier target is %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\REPAIR as this is the backup copy of the SAM and other crucial /etc type files. By default that directory is open to everyone.

You can protect both by using a program called, SYSKEY. It'll enable 128bit encryption on the file making brute force take forever.

Profiles are kept in the %SYSTEMROOT%\Profiles directories but don't contain any NT password information, atleast by default.

Windows 95/98 boxes keep there passwords in .PWL files in the Windows directory. The name of the file is the name of the user. John is thus JOHN.PWL. They're are brute force crackers to attack those files, but if you have physical access you already 0wn the box.

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