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by msgt4chip4

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I have a client's pc which does not show user accounts at the welcome screen.Windows Xp pro SP3.I tried to do a repair,logon in safe mode,to no avail.I cannot access the administrator account,any password I enter does not work.I cannot even get to a prompt in recovery console because it asks for an administrator password.Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to save the clients data.

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by thumbsup2

We, the members of TechRepublic - A Resource for IT Professionals, will not assist anyone in the recovery/removal of lost passwords. You may have a legitimate reason to recover/remove a password. However, we cannot verify your motives and will therefore not assist anyone in what may be an attempt at gaining unauthorized access to a computer system. Due to the open nature of this forum, any assistance given to help circumvent security measures, even for legitimate purposes, would be available for unscrupulous individuals to use for illegitimate purposes. This is a risk that we, the members of TechRepublic, [b]will not take[/b]. Please do not ask questions of this nature on TechRepublic.

If you have a legitimate need to circumvent a password scheme, please contact the vendor for the software / hardware and request their assistance. E.g. Windows XP password recovery/removal issues should be taken up with Microsoft's technical support, Phoenix BIOS password recovery/removal issues should be taken up with Phoenix Technologies, hard drive password recovery/removal should be taken up with the manufacturer of the hard drive, etc...

[b][u]To those viewing this post: Please DO NOT respond any further to this thread.[/u][/b]

[i]This template has been released under the GNU public license and you are encouraged to use it as a standard reply for questions of similar nature, provided that you make any modifications available to other users.[/i]

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[b]Ask the CLIENT what the Administrator password is. If they can not tell you, require proof of ownership before you attempt any form of recovery.[/b]

by msgt4chip4

I built this machine,so I can confirm proof of ownership.It is not a question of lost password,it is a matter of an engineered blockage of user accounts.I tried to remove passwords with PC doctor utilities,but the clients account did not even show up as an account.I think this is a devious trojan which hijacked access to all user accounts including the administrator account.I'm sorry if this post looks suspicious,but I am encountering a wall which seems to be able to block every attempt at a workaround.If I cannot recover the clients data I will have to format and start over ,which I am reluctant to do.

by thumbsup2

... sounds like you need to slave it to another computer and rescue the data prior to a rebuild. :-&

If what you suspect is true (trojan) and you can't even get to a login when booting to safe mode or a recovery console or anything else you've tried, you're going to want to wipe it clean anyway. There's no telling what kind of critter has invaded it.

It's not that your post sounds suspicious. It's that IF we were to post any kind of information at all, that information could be used by anybody who reads this post, including people with less than honorable intentions. Quite simply put, we as a group have agreed to refuse to help anybody with password problems, period, since the information is easily obtainable through other channels. Less than honorable people usually don't want to go to all that work to find the information and we're not going to make it easy for them.

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