Active@ Password Changer

User Guide

Active@ Password Changer Guide

Copyright 2008, LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be
reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation, transformation,
or adaptation) without written permission from LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC.
LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC. reserves the right to revise this documentation and to make changes in content from
time to time without obligation on the part of LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC. to provide notification of such revision or
change.
LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC. provides this documentation without warranty of any kind, either implied or expressed,
including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. LSOFT
may make improvements or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this documentation at
any time.
All technical data and computer software is commercial in nature and developed solely at private expense. As the
User, or Installer/Administrator of this software, you agree not to remove or deface any portion of any legend
provided on any licensed program or documentation contained in, or delivered to you in conjunction with, this User
Guide.
Active@ Password Changer, the Active@ Password Changer logo, Password Changer Software are trademarks of
LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC.
Active Data Recovery Software is a business name of LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC.
Other brand and product names may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders.

Active@ Password Changer Guide

Contents
Overview .............................................................................................................................. 4
Program Start and Search Options .......................................................................................... 5
SAM Selection ....................................................................................................................... 6
Local User Account Selection .................................................................................................. 7
Change Account's Password and Attributes ............................................................................. 7
Technical Questions ............................................................................................................... 9
Glossary of Terms................................................................................................................ 11

Active@ Password Changer Guide

Overview
Active@ Password Changer Professional is a solution designed for resetting local user password and account
attributes on Windows NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 / 2008 and Windows Vista systems in case of Administrators password
is forgotten, lost or user account has been blocked, disabled or locked out. You do not need to re-install and reconfigure operating system in this case. With Active@ Password Changer you can log in as a particular user with an
empty password.
Active@ Password Changer Professional also provides the ability to manage with days and times of the week
that the user account is permitted to log on to the computer, which is useful for preventing the logging on for
account you choose (or remove that kind of prohibition). For example, you can define in what hours your child can
logon to the computer. This software has simple wizard-like user interface, supports multiple hard disk drives, is able
to detect several SAM databases (in case if multiple OS were installed on one volume) and pick up the right one
before starting recovery process. List of local users is displayed; you should choose the one to reset password or
parameters. It can reset User is Disabled flag, Account is locked out flag, User must change password flag and sets
Password never expires to avoid possible user blocking after password has been reset.
Demo version allows you to detect proper SAM database, view the user list and particular user attributes.
Commercial version actually resets passwords and changes attributes. FAT16 / FAT32 / NTFS / NTFS5 file systems
are supported. Windows NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 / 2008 and Windows VISTA operating systems are supported for
password recovery, new 64-bit MS Windows operational systems are supported as well.

Active@ Password Changer Guide

Program Start and Search Options

Start Active@ Password Changer:

from the menu

from the command line: go to the directory where software is located and type:
PasswordChanger.exe

Program starts and you will see the following options:

You can either choose a particular logical drive to search SAM database on, or choose to search on all hard disks and
logical drives.
Click Next to go to the next step.
If you choose the first option, you need to specify the drive to search SAM database on:

Choose a drive and click Next to go to the next step.

Active@ Password Changer Guide

SAM Selection
SAM (Security Access Manager) - a database where information about local users, their rights and passwords is
stored.
If several SAM databases found - you need to choose a proper SAM database to reset proper account password and
attributes. Normally SAM is located on a drive where operating system is installed in the folder
:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG.

Choose a proper SAM database and click Next to go to the next step.
Note
Please do NOT try to change account attributes for the operating system currently running (which SAM is located on
the same drive from where the Windows is started). It is not possible, see the note below. To change account
attributes and reset the password you either need to boot from bootable CD containing Windows PE, or attach
another HDD having Windows installed and boot from there.
Important
As long as you need to change system account attributes, drive where SAM is found must be locked exclusively
before changing. Exclusive lock means that no one (including Windows) except Active@ Password Changer has full
access to the account. This also means that if you try to change local account attributes for the system currently
running, you will NOT be granted exclusive access to the drive and will not be able to reset account attributes. The
following message might appear:

Active@ Password Changer Guide

Local User Account Selection

After you've chosen SAM database you will see the list of local user accounts with descriptions:

Choose a Local User Account to reset password and attributes for and click Next to go to the next step.

Note
Primary Administrator's account (even if renamed) is always placed on the first place.
Other Administrator accounts are marked with a blue icon.
Non-Administrator accounts (Users, Power Users, Guests, etc...) are marked with a white icon.
Disabled/Locked accounts are marked with a red cross.

Change Account's Password and Attributes

After you've chosen the Local User Account you will see account description and attributes:

At the left column you can see the account's current existing attributes.

Active@ Password Changer Guide

At the right column you can set new values for these attributes. Default values are acceptable for most cases and
guarantee the logon to the system without password.
To reset Account's password - make sure that Clear this User's Password option is selected.
Click Save to store changes back to the SAM database. You'll see the successful completion:

Click OK to close confirmation message and to go back to change account attributes for another user.
Click Cancel to finish the Wizard and exit the program.

Note
If for the particular account there is a Logon Hours limitation exists - you'll see the Logon Hours button and would
be able to change it:

Specify logon hours, click OK to close the dialog and Save account's attributes.

Active@ Password Changer Guide

Technical Questions
I've reset local Administrator's password, but after re-boot on Welcome Screen I do not see user
Administrator, just list of regular users. I have Windows XP. How can I log in as Administrator?
Operating System Windows XP (Home and Professional Editions) when booting suggests only names of regular users
on Welcome Screen by default. Administrator's account is hidden. Press key combination Ctrl+Alt+Del two times to
display Login Dialog Window and you will be able to type both user name and password. Type Administrator and
use empty password.

I'm unable to find user Administrator in the list of the users after selection of proper SAM database in Active@
Password Changer. Where it is?
Most likely local account Administrator has been renamed due to security reasons. Active@ Password Changer
always displays built-in Administrator's account on top (even it was renamed). Write down this account name to be
able to type it in later on, after its password has been reset.

Will the User Profile be saved, after user's password has been reset?
User Profile depends on User Name and Security ID (SID) so it can not be spoiled by changing the user's password.

Will the file restrictions be saved, after user's password has been reset?
File and folder security settings are based on User Security ID (SID) that is produced during user account creation
and does not depend on user password. You can change your password as often as you wish without files/folders
security settings changes.

Do you have a Windows 98 version of Password Changer? Can Password Changer reset password in Windows
9x operating systems?
You do not need any software to remove local user passwords in Windows 95(98) operating system(s). Just find and
delete the USERNAME.PWL file (where USERNAME is the name of a user account) and the user will have an empty
password.

Can Password Changer help me in meeting the complexity requirements (such as digits, small and capital
letters, and length of password) set by the PC's Local Security policy?
Local Security Account Policy affects the new passwords setting process in Windows environment, but not existing
passwords, even absolutely empty ones. So you can reset the password for this account with Active@ Password
Changer then logon with this user account name with the empty password.

I have erased the password using Active@ Password Changer on a system where the administrator is no
longer with the company. The system is a NON ENGLISH (localized) version of Windows 2000. The Password
Changer gave a message saying that the password was changed, but system is still asking me to type the password
("Wrong username or password").
It is possible that the Administrator account in your localized version is renamed (for example Administrateur in

Active@ Password Changer Guide

French version), or has national (non English) symbols. Try to start Active@ Password Changer and find out the real
username for Administrator account. It has to be first in the users list with RID = 000001f4. Write down this
username and use it for login.

Active@ Password Changer Guide

10

Glossary of Terms
boot record

See boot sector.

boot sector

The boot sector continues the process of loading the operating system into computer memory. It can be
either the MBR (see MBR, below) or the partition boot sector (see partition boot sector, below).

cluster

A group of disk sectors that contain file data. It is the smallest allocation unit for storing a file. For example,
if the file size is 100 bytes and the cluster size is 4096 bytes, the file system reserves one cluster, or 4096
bytes for file data.

File Allocation Table. An area that contains the records of every other file data and directory in a FATformatted hard disk drive. The operating system needs this information to access the files and define the
data cluster's chain. There are FAT32, FAT16 and FAT versions.

FAT

HDD

Hard disk drive.

logical drive

A partition is a logical drive because it does not affect the physical hard disk other than the defined space
that it occupies, yet it behaves like a separate disk drive.

MBR

The Master Boot Record (MBR) is a small program that is executed when the computer is first turned on.
Typically, the MBR can be found on the first sector of a disk. The MBR first reads the disk's partition table to
determine which partition is used to load the operating system. The MBR then transfers control to this
partition's "boot sector" to continue the process. Loading the operating system is called "booting" the
computer.

MFT

Master File Table. A file that contains the records of every other file and directory in an NTFS-formatted hard
disk drive. The operating system needs this information to access the files.

NTFS

NT File System. NTFS was created to provide a more reliable operating system, compared to the FAT file
system.

partition

11

Active@ Password Changer Guide

A section of memory or hard disk isolated for a specific purpose. Each partition can behave like a separate
disk drive.

partition boot sector

On NTFS or FAT file systems, the partition boot sector is a small program that is executed when the
operating system tries to access a particular partition. On personal computers, the Master Boot Record uses
the partition boot sector on the system partition to determine file system type, cluster size, etc. and to load
the operating system kernel files. Partition boot sector is the first sector of the partition.

partition status

SuperScan gives each partition a rating depending on how likely it is to recover data on the partition. A
status rating of 1 is very bad. A status rating of 8 is excellent.

physical device

A piece of hardware that is attached to your computer by screws or wires. A hard disk drive is a physical
device. It is also referred to as a physical drive.

root area (and root folder)

An object that can contain a group of files in a FAT file system. In other words, a directory or folder. The
root folder is the top-level folder that has no parent and can have children. A logical drive can have only one
root folder. Its name is usually . (dot).

sector

The smallest unit that can be accessed on a disk. Tracks are concentric circles around the disk and the
sectors are segments within each circle.

volume

A fixed amount of storage on a hard disk. A physical device may contain a number of volumes. It is also
possible for a single volume to span a number of physical devices.

Active@ Password Changer Guide

12