can't log on - forgot password (oops)

[NoOp]

On 08/18/2007 02:45 PM, David Vincent wrote:
> NoOp wrote:

>> 
>> :-) Yesterday I was given a machine that the local high school was
>> throwing in the trash; pretty nice machine (by my standards) -
>> 1.6Ghz/512Mb/30Gb+8Gb. (My standard working desktop is
>> 450Mhz/324Mb/30Gb+15Gb) It has WindowsXPPro installed on it ++, so I
>> figured that I'd like to keep the MS install as a backup for
>> troubleshooting windoze & OpenOffice problems. The only problem was that
>> it didn't come with a password.
>> 
>> So, I booted into Knoppix, set a root password, downloaded chntpw from
>> the Deb repository (which ntpasswd/bootdisk.html uses), cd'd to
>> hda1/WINDOWS/System32/config and ran 'sudo chntpw -u SAM' & set the
>> password to a blank (*=blank). Worked like a champ! Booted into windoze
>> & now updating & deleting unnecessary bits to trim the disk down, and
>> then will use the Ubunut Alternate CD to install Ubuntu. Now if I can
>> only figure out how to get the ZenDesktop & other Novell crap out of it
>> I'll be fine... :-)
> 
> nice score!  free hardware + free software = happy NoOp.  that *is* a 
> pretty nice machine to be going into the trash.  don't you have some 
> recycling biz around there who would take it and clean it up etc.?
> 
> more proof that security means nothing if you have physical access to a 
> machine.  :)
> 

Actually it was in the recycling bin, and had been so for several
months, so they were trying to do the right thing in that respect. Still
haven't figured out why they'd toss a perfectly good PC *and* leave the
OS & apps on it. I figure that they are moving to Vista & Office 2007
and determined that the system couldn't handle those. Maybe it's time I
wander over to the school district IT office and find out where all our
local tax dollars are going...

Update: I determined that the WinXPPro, MS Office, et al on the system
was installed via an adcademic network license, so I fully reformated
both hard drives, and installed Ubunu on the 30Gb.