From time to time, the open source/freeware community comes along with a product so simple and so frightening that it makes me smile. This is one that’s been around since 1997, but somehow I never stumbled across it.
A fine Norseman, Petter Nordahl-Hagen, wrote the first version of his Windows registry and password hacker back in 1997. He’s updated it continually over the years, and today the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is available as a free download. (It works with Windows 2000 and Windows XP as well as Windows NT, so don’t let the name fool you.) The Web site includes an excellent FAQ and the source code, should you choose to confound yourself further.
Why is this frightening? Because after all the years of Microsoft touting security, there’s still a freelance programmer that can beat the billion dollar behemoth.
jhone says:
I have downloaded Windows Password Recovery Tool 3.0 from http://sn.im/resetwindowspassword it not only supports XP, 2000, and NT, I have personally tested it with Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. It works perfectly to reset any local user account to a blank password. I Wrote it to an old 128mb USB flash drive do this. GUI interface with mouse clicking instead of command prompt