Breaking Windows 2000/XP/2003 administrator password

Attach your hard disk to another system, or if this system is multi boot than boot other OS, or boot with bootable cd or floppy which can understand NTFS. go to %systemroot%\repair of the OS which you have forgotten the password. You will get the file named (sam). Copy this sam file to %systemroot%\system32\config restart your pc & enjoy. there is no password.

Note: %systemroot% is an environment variable which correspond to installation location of your windows, typically c:\windows in Windows XP, 2003 and c:\winnt in 2000.

Forgot Windows XP Administrator Password?

I am assuming that this is your own PC (which means you have full physical assess to it). There are so many ways to break Windows XP password in this blog I am writing the easiest one which any geek can use.

Requirements:

1. Bootable Windows XP CD with CD key.
2. Working CD/DVD drive
3. Little bit mind

Here are the steps:

0. Take a printout of this article so you can follow the steps during whole process.
1. Place your Windows XP CD in CD ROM and start your computer. Wait until you are prompted “Press any key to boot from cd…” (I am assuming that CD is bootable is its boot priority is higher than Hard Disk if can’t understand this put your comment with email ID)
2. Press any key of your keyboard.
3. Now you can see information about setup is loading files….
4. When you get to the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to Setup Windows now
5. The Licensing Agreement comes next - Press F8 to accept it.
6. The next screen is the Setup screen which gives you the option to do a Repair.
It should read something like “If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it”
7. Use the up and down arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process.
8. Let the Repair run. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes.
9. Shortly after the Copying Files stage, you will be required to reboot. (this will happen automatically – you will see a progress bar stating “Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds”
10. During the reboot, do not make the mistake of “pressing any key” to boot from the CD again! Setup will resume automatically with the standard billboard screens and you will notice Installing Windows is highlighted.
11. Keep your eye on the lower left hand side of the screen and when you see the Installing Devices progress bar, press SHIFT + F10. This is the security hole! A command console will now open up giving you the potential for wide access to your system.
12. At the prompt, type NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. Voila! You have just gained graphical access to your User Accounts in the Control Panel.
13. Now simply pick the account you need to change and remove or change your password as you prefer. If you want to log on without having to enter your new password, you can type control userpasswords2 at the prompt and choose to log on without being asked for password. After you’ve made your changes close the windows, exit the command box and continue on with the Repair (have your Product key handy).
14. Once the Repair is done, you will be able to log on with your new password (or without a password if you chose not to use one or if you chose not to be asked for a password). Your programs and personalized settings should remain intact.

Taking (ASR) Backup without floppy disk

An ASR set consists of a system backup and a 3.5" disk that lists the system files that are installed on the PC. If you don't have a 3.5" disk drive on your machine, you won't be able to create the ASR disk. However, you can still create an ASR disk by performing the following steps:

1. Run the ASR wizard, which is part of Windows Backup.
2. After you run the ASR Wizard, start Windows Explorer.
3. Navigate to the \%windir%\repair folder (e.g., C:\windows\repair).
4. Copy the asr.sif and asrpnp.sif files to a network location.
5. On a different networked computer that has a 3.5" disk drive, copy these files to a 3.5" disk and label the disk as your ASR disk.

For more information on ASR backup read this article : http://tec-articles.blogspot.com/2007/10/taking-automated-system-recovery-asr.html

Taking Automated System Recovery (ASR) Backup

If you run a Windows XP Pro or Windows Server 2003 computer and you wish to backup the system you can use a new feature called Automated System Recovery (ASR).

The ASR process allows to restore the system disk (usually the C: drive) including the Windows files, all Registry settings and all user programs and data, allowing to recover a completely crashed system. To use this procedure you must be able to boot the Windows XP Pro Setup-program from the installation CD-ROM.

During the restore process all data previously found on the System partition (usually C:) will be erased, then XP/2003 will be reinstalled, and the data from the ASR backup will be restored.

Create the ASR backup

In order to use ASR you first need to create the ASR backup. Follow these steps:

1. Run NTBACKUP.EXE from the Run command or from the Program Files > Accessories > System Tools.

2. When the program starts click on the ASR button to invoke it's wizard.

3. The Wizard will start with a Welcome screen, advising that a Backup and the ASR disk will be created. Click Next.

4. Choose a destination and filename for the ASR backup. Make sure you do NOT select A: as the destination (duh...) nor C:, and that you have at least 2GB of free space on that partition.

5. The "Completing the ASR Preparation Wizard" will appear.When you click Finish, the Wizard creates a backup of your system files. You will then be asked to insert a floppy disk. You will later use this disk and the backup to restore your System in an event of a major failure.

6. To close this wizard and to begin the backup, click Finish".

7. The system will create a list of all files and then start the backup processes, creating a disk-backup-file. Once the disk-backup is done, you will be prompted for a floppy disk (blank, formatted) to store some ASR-data. If you do not have a floppy disk read this article for taking ASR backup without floppy disk: http://tec-articles.blogspot.com/2007/10/taking-asr-backup-without-floppy-disk.html
   

Use ASR to recover your system

In case all other methods to start the XP/2003 system fail, you can use the ASR backup and floppy disk to restore the system to the status as during the creation of the ASR backup.

1. Insert your Windows XP Professional Installation CD-ROM and boot from CD-ROM. If you get the message to "press any key to boot from CD...", press any key.

2. As soon as you see "Press F2 to run Automated System Recovery (ASR) ..." on the bottom line - press F2. You only have about 2 seconds to do so, so be prepared.

3. You will then be prompted to insert the ASR floppy disk. Do so.
   You have for a few seconds still the time to abort the ASR process by pressing ESC.

4. Warning! The system will now start to format your C: drive. When it's done it will start with a process very similar to the XP installation.

5. After the file copying is done, the system will reboot and continue with the installation process, but it will not continue a complete installation. It starts the Automated System Recovery Wizard. This screen will wait for 90 sec, then it will continue automatically.

6. A screen will appear, asking you to confirm the location of the disk backup-file.

7. At the end of the ASR process, NTBACKUP.EXE is automatically used to restore the information on the C: drive.

8. After the process is over check to see if all data and settings have been restored properly.

QuickBooks User Access Rights Problem

User Access Rights Problem: Windows XP and Windows 2000 users must have Power Users or Administrator group rights in order to run QuickBooks.
Please contact your system administrator about being granted these rights.

Answer:
IMPORTANT: The following procedures are intended ONLY for the system administrator, preferably a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). If you are not that person, please contact your system administrator for assistance.
These steps are intended to allow users with restricted or limited users access to basic QuickBooks functions without granting them Power User or Administrator privileges. If users who already have Power User or Administration privileges are receiving this error message, please refer to this QuickBooks Knowledge Base article.

Intuit strongly recommends that you create a current System Restore Point or System State Backup prior to making any of the changes listed below. The listed adjustments to the permissions are specifically targeted to QuickBooks. Always exercise extreme caution when editing the registry.


· Use System Restore to Undo Changes if Problems Occur
· Back up System State data

System administrators can now grant restricted or limited users access to QuickBooks without granting them Power User or Administrator privileges. The following configuration will allow restricted users to use all basic QuickBooks functions; however, advanced functions such as QuickBooks Update or Payroll Updates still require Power User or Administrator access.
· 1. Create a local group account called QuickBooksUser (or other preferred name).
· 2. Add the desired Group or User accounts to the newly created group members.
· 3. Edit permissions to Allow: Full Control for QuickBooksUser in the Access Control List for the following files and registry keys:
File System:
· C:\Program Files\Intuit (This is the default folder; adjust the folder name as appropriate for custom installations.)
· C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intuit
Registry:
· HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intuit
· HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\QuickBooks.CoLocator
· HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\QuickBooks.CoLocator.1
· HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{E53C85D6-E6D9-4BCF-A623-72062A99AA7F}
Note: In most cases, the instructions above suffice to allow full QuickBooks functionality based on the permissions of the QuickBooks user. In certain instances, an administrator may want to grant permissions to each of the keys individually for security reasons. A list of each of the individual keys can be found here.
Note: Domain administrators may wish to create a group policy or security template for propagation in the domain instead of creating a local group.

Enabling support of Indian languages

1.	What do I do if instead of Indian language text, I see boxes (as given below) or question marks?
2.	Indian language text is displayed but some words are not formed properly?
	Following are the solutions for displaying Indian languages correctly
	a.	You should first enable/install the Indic (Windows Files for Indian Language Display).
	b.	Site will be best viewed using the browsers:
	-	Internet Explorer 6.0 & above
	-	Firefox 1.5 & above
		Note: In case you have an older version of Internet Explorer or Firefox update it to version mentioned above.
	c.	Below are the supported Operating Systems that allows you to display Indian Language Text:
		Languages Operating System Gujarati Windows XP and above Hindi Windows 2000 and above Kannada Windows XP and above Malayalam Should be Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Essential) Punjabi Windows XP and above Telugu Windows XP and above Tamil Windows 2000 and above
	Enable Indic for Windows XP & above
	1.	Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Date, Time, Language & Regional Options ->Regional & Language Options->Languages Tab-> (Tick the Install files for complex scripts...) and click OK.
	2.	Click OK (Figure Below).
	3.	You will require the Windows XP CD to enable Indic.
	Enable Indic for Windows 2000
	1.	Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Regional Options ->Languages->Indic (tick the Indic) and click OK.
	2.	Click OK (Figure Below).
	3.	You will require the Windows 2000 CD to enable Indic.

Database Maintenance Plans in SQL Server 2005

Problem
Database maintenance is vital to the health of an organization's data delivery infrastructure. In SQL Server 2005 Microsoft redesigned the method through which Database Maintenance Plans are created and managed. These plans can be created through a wizard in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). They are handled mainly through the Business Intelligence Studio (BIDS), and custom plans can be created in BIDS using SSIS. Although the process is comprehensive, the management of physical backup files is not automatically handled in the Database Maintenance Plan Wizard, but history cleanup is completed. In this tip we will outline a number of methods that are available to manage these files.

Solution
Let's first talk about the process involved in creating a Database Maintenance Plan. You create maintenance plans in BIDS, just as you would create any other SSIS package. Here are the maintenance tasks available in SSIS:


Of particular interest are the two tasks highlighted above-the History Cleanup Task and Maintenance Cleanup Task. The History Cleanup Task deletes maintenance information generated prior to a specified date in the msdb database. One new and much appreciated feature in the tasks themselves is that you can view the T-SQL statement to be issued when the task is executed. Here is the History Cleanup Task and associated T-SQL statement:


The Maintenance Cleanup Task is a way of deleting physical backup files, although this task can be used to clean up other files as well. Here is what the Maintenance Cleanup Task looks like, along with its T-SQL statement:


You can customize each of these tasks by using an Expression or use the T-SQL statement as a scheduled job per se'. One thing to note about the Maintenance Cleanup Task is that it is not added to a maintenance plan when using the Database Maintenance Plan Wizard in SSMS. To add this task to an existing maintenance plan, right-click the plan in SSMS and choose Modify:


A screen opens in SSMS giving a view similar to the SSIS Designer and listing the steps involved in the plan:


You can add additional steps to the plan by dragging and dropping a task over to the screen. In this case we'll add a Maintenance Cleanup Task to it:


Once you add the task to the plan you have to add more information: the server connection, the folder where the backup files are housed, the file extension you want it to delete, and time span. In addition you must add a Precedence Constraint to the task so that the order of task execution is maintained:


There are other alternatives to deleting the physical backup files, but perhaps the safest is to run a vbscript on a daily basis. Here is a sample script that deletes files whose date last modified is over 30 days:

Troubleshooting NTLDR is Missing Error

Issue:

NTLDR is Missing.

Related errors:

Below are the full error messages that may be seen when the computer is booting.

NTLDR is Missing
Press any key to restart

Boot: Couldn't find NTLDR
Please insert another disk

NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl Alt Del to Restart

Cause:

1. Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.

2. Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.

3. Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file.

4. Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.

5. Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.

6. New hard disk drive being added.

7. Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.

8. Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

9. Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.

Solutions:

Computer is booting from a non-bootable source

Many times this error is caused when the computer is attempting to boot from a non-bootable floppy disk or CD-ROM. First verify that no floppy diskette is in the computer, unless you are attempting to boot from a diskette.

If you are attempting to boot from a floppy diskette and are receiving this error message it is likely that the diskette does not have all the necessary files and/or is corrupt.

If you are attempting to install Windows XP or Windows 2000 and are receiving this error message as the computer is booting verify that your computer BIOS has the proper boot settings. For example, if you are attempting to run the install from the CD-ROM make sure the CD-ROM is the first boot device, and not the hard disk drive.

Second, when the computer is booting you should receive the below prompt.

Press any key to boot from the CD

Important: When you see this message press any key such as the Enter key immediately, otherwise it will try booting from the hard drive and likely get the NTLDR error again.

Note: If you are not receiving the above message and your BIOS boot options are set properly it's also possible that your CD-ROM drive may not be booting from the CD-ROM properly. Verify the jumpers are set properly on the CD-ROM drive.

Additional information: This error has also been known to occur when a memory stick is in a card reader and the computer is attempting to boot from it. If you have any type of card reader or flash reader make sure that no memory stick is inside the computer.

Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS

Verify that your computer hard disk drive is properly setup in the BIOS / CMOS setup. Improper settings can cause this error.

Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file

Windows 2000 users

If your computer is using Microsoft Windows 2000 and you are encountering the NTLDR error. Create the below boot.ini file on the floppy diskette drive.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect

Copy the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files from another computer using the same Operating System. Both of these files are located in the root directory of the primary hard disk drive. For example, C:\NTLDR and C:\NTDETECT.COM should be the locations of these files on many computers.

• Please keep in mind that these files are hidden system files. Once these files have been copied to a floppy diskette reboot the computer and copy the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files to the root directory of the primary hard disk drive. Below is an example of what commonly should be performed from the A:\> drive.

copy ntldr c:
copy ntdetect.com c:

After the above two files have been copied, remove the floppy diskette and reboot the computer.

Windows XP users

1. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.

2. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.

3. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.

4. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.

5. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.

6. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter "E". This letter may be different on your computer.

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

7. Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file

Edit the boot.ini on the root directory of the hard disk drive and verify that it is pointing to the correct location of your Windows Operating System and that the partitions are properly defined.

Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32

If you are getting this error message while you are attempting to upgrade to Windows 2000 or Windows XP from Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME running FAT32 please try the below recommendations.

1. Boot the computer with a Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows ME bootable diskette.

2. At the A:\> prompt type:

sys c:

3. After pressing enter you should receive the "System Transferred" message. Once this has been completed remove the floppy diskette and reboot the computer.

New hard disk drive being added

If you are attempting to add a new hard disk drive to the computer make sure that drive is a blank drive. Adding a new hard disk drive to a computer that already has Windows installed on it may cause the NTLDR error to occur.

If you are unsure if the new drive is blank or not try booting from a bootable diskette and format the new hard disk drive.

Corrupt boot sector / master boot record

It's possible your computer's hard disk drive may have a corrupt boot sector and/or master boot record. These can be repaired through the Microsoft Windows Recovery console by running the fixboot and fixmbr commands.

Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP

If you have tried each of the above recommendations that apply to your situation and you continue to experience this issue it is possible you may have a seriously corrupted version of Microsoft Windows. Therefore we would recommend you reinstall Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

If you are encountering this issue during your setup you may wish to completely erase your computer hard disk drive and all of its existing data and then install Microsoft Windows 2000 / Windows XP.

Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable

This issue has been known to be caused by a loose or fault IDE/EIDE cable. If the above recommendation does not resolve your issue and your computer hard disk drive is using an IDE or EIDE interface. Verify the computer hard disk drive cable is firmly connected by disconnected and reconnecting the cable.

If the issue continues it is also a possibility that the computer has a faulty cable, try replacing the hard disk drive cable with another cable and/or a new cable.

OM SHRI GANESHAYA NAMA

ॐ भूर्भुव: स्व: तत्सवितुर्वरेन्यं । भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि, धीयो यो न: प्रचोदयात् ।।

AUM BHOOR BHUWAH SWAHA,
TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM
BHARGO DEVASAYA DHEEMAHI
DHIYO YO NAHA PRACHODAYAT.