I am coming to you guys in an act of desperation. I haven't used my computer for a while but it has some important work files on it that I need badly. So I heard about this "ophcrack" password crack and tried it out. The problem is when I put it into the disk tray and restart my computer, it won't boot up. I've tried changing the boot order, but it'll detect the CD's operating system, and ends up failing to boot it up, and will endlessly restart my computer until I change back the boot order.

I realize this isn't much of a descriptive problem, but I'm not all that good with computers, and ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

On 2008-06-29, Needs Help <purpledrank69@live.com> wrote:
> I am coming to you guys in an act of desperation. I haven't used my
> computer for a while but it has some important work files on it that I
> need badly. So I heard about this "ophcrack" password crack and tried
> it out. The problem is when I put it into the disk tray and restart my
> computer, it won't boot up. I've tried changing the boot order, but
> it'll detect the CD's operating system, and ends up failing to boot it
> up, and will endlessly restart my computer until I change back the boot
> order.
>
> I realize this isn't much of a descriptive problem, but I'm not all
> that good with computers, and ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

Which boot loader are you using? Lilo or Grub?

Try to append "init=/bin/sh" option to kernel before booting. That will
drop you into shell. Then type this:

mount -o remount,rw /
mount -a
passwd
sync
mount -o remount,ro /
reboot

The passwd will prompt you for new root password twice (checks for
mistyped password). While you're at it, you can change your users'
password (if you have also forgotten your username just do "ls /home"
to see which usernames are present; this lists the users' home
directories) by typing "passwd your_username".

The only tricky thing for first timer is figuring where to add the
init=/bin/sh option :)

--
Due to a shortage of devoted followers, the production of great leaders
has been discontinued.

Needs Help wrote:

>
> I am coming to you guys in an act of desperation. I haven't used my
> computer for a while but it has some important work files on it that I
> need badly. So I heard about this "ophcrack" password crack and tried
> it out. The problem is when I put it into the disk tray and restart my
> computer, it won't boot up. I've tried changing the boot order, but
> it'll detect the CD's operating system, and ends up failing to boot it
> up, and will endlessly restart my computer until I change back the boot
> order.
>
First: what OS do you have installed on that computer?
If you are talking about the ophcrack livecd - it is designed to crack
windows passwords, not linux.
I didn't notice a boot failure with that one until now, but it doesn't "boot
_it_" ... which means it does not try to boot the OS on your harddisk, it
just accesses the filesystem there.

> I realize this isn't much of a descriptive problem, but I'm not all
> that good with computers, and ANY help would be greatly appreciated.
>
First, what do you want to achieve here:
- have you simply forgotten the password for your box?
- Does it boot to a login prompt of any sorts, without the ophcrack?
- or do you want to reanimate a brick? ;-)

--
vista policy violation: Microsoft optical mouse found penguin patterns
on mousepad. Partition scan in progress to remove offending
incompatible products. Reactivate MS software.
Linux 2.6.24. [LinuxCounter#295241,ICQ#4918962]

I guess I should have posted this under the Windows XP section, but ophcrack is a Linux OS (right?).

There are two accounts on this computer - One is the administrator account - Other is a guest account with limited access. Since this particular computer has been of no use to me since.... 2007, I mostly feel like an idiot for forgetting it, but now I realize there were a few powerpoints/documents/family photos that I need to use.

It will easily boot Windows, but ophcrack is supposed to automatically start after a restart. The default boot order is Hard disk, then CDROM. I changed CDROM to #1, but it'll say "boot from CD..... ISOLINUX...." which leads me to believe it is detecting the ophcrack CD but not booting it.

I even tried using ophcrack on my work computer and my laptop, where it worked like a charm.

Needs Help wrote:

>
> I guess I should have posted this under the Windows XP section, but
> ophcrack is a Linux OS (right?).
>
Yes.

> There are two accounts on this computer - One is the administrator
> account - Other is a guest account with limited access. Since this

Great. You were one of the few people who gave the administrator a password?
Btw. ... is this XP Pro?
....
> It will easily boot Windows, but ophcrack is supposed to automatically
> start after a restart. The default boot order is Hard disk, then CDROM.
> I changed CDROM to #1, but it'll say "boot from CD..... ISOLINUX...."
> which leads me to believe it is detecting the ophcrack CD but not
> booting it.
>
Looks like that. Either the cdrom is flakey or your computer has some exotic
hardware. I would first try to unplug all usb devices, maybe even open the
side and unplug the internally connected frontplate cardreader.

> I even tried using ophcrack on my work computer and my laptop, where it
> worked like a charm.
>
What you can do is temporarily swap the harddrive (you don't need to boot
from it) with the other computer where ophcrack works.
Btw., there are other means of resetting a admin password. Google for "NT
offline password reset". And, ophcrack cannot crack long passwords adhering
to higher security rules (symbols, numbers, upper/lowercase).

--
vista policy violation: Microsoft optical mouse found penguin patterns
on mousepad. Partition scan in progress to remove offending
incompatible products. Reactivate MS software.
Linux 2.6.24. [LinuxCounter#295241,ICQ#4918962]