recover domain user password without the domain.

Hello, I have a client that has a company laptop, and he has forgotten
his password. Now the laptop was part of an old business with a domain
that no longer exists. What can I do to recover the password. I have
access to the local admin account, but not the domain admin account on
the laptop.

Domain was with a sbs 2003 machine.

You cannot recover domain password without a domain controller.

If you have access to the local admin account, you can unjoin computer from
the domain. Then create a local user account and let the owner use this new
local account.


"Don" <> wrote in message
news:eu9s$...
> Hello, I have a client that has a company laptop, and he has forgotten his
> password. Now the laptop was part of an old business with a domain that no
> longer exists. What can I do to recover the password. I have access to the
> local admin account, but not the domain admin account on the laptop.
>
> Domain was with a sbs 2003 machine.

Don wrote:
> Hello, I have a client that has a company laptop, and he has forgotten
> his password. Now the laptop was part of an old business with a domain
> that no longer exists. What can I do to recover the password. I have
> access to the local admin account, but not the domain admin account on
> the laptop.
>
> Domain was with a sbs 2003 machine.

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor:
http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/main.html

Dusko Savatovic wrote:
> You cannot recover domain password without a domain controller.
>
> If you have access to the local admin account, you can unjoin computer
> from the domain. Then create a local user account and let the owner
> use this new local account.
>
>
> "Don" <> wrote in message
> news:eu9s$...
>> Hello, I have a client that has a company laptop, and he has
>> forgotten his password. Now the laptop was part of an old business
>> with a domain that no longer exists. What can I do to recover the
>> password. I have access to the local admin account, but not the
>> domain admin account on the laptop.
>>
>> Domain was with a sbs 2003 machine.
>
Or the duh answer I didn't even think of until this morning. Go to the
DC, reset the password for his account. Problem solved.

On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:05:18 -0800, Susan Bradley
<> wrote:

>Dusko Savatovic wrote:
>> You cannot recover domain password without a domain controller.
>>
>> If you have access to the local admin account, you can unjoin computer
>> from the domain. Then create a local user account and let the owner
>> use this new local account.
>>
>>
>> "Don" <> wrote in message
>> news:eu9s$...
>>> Hello, I have a client that has a company laptop, and he has
>>> forgotten his password. Now the laptop was part of an old business
>>> with a domain that no longer exists. What can I do to recover the
>>> password. I have access to the local admin account, but not the
>>> domain admin account on the laptop.
>>>
>>> Domain was with a sbs 2003 machine.
>>
>Or the duh answer I didn't even think of until this morning. Go to the
>DC, reset the password for his account. Problem solved.


Not really a duh answer Susan. The OP says it's a domain that no
longer exists, so he's using cached credentials for an old domain.

I'm not sure there's a solution, since all the standard password
recovery tools work on a local account.

On 2/25/2010 11:56 PM, Don wrote:
> Hello, I have a client that has a company laptop, and he has forgotten
> his password. Now the laptop was part of an old business with a domain
> that no longer exists. What can I do to recover the password. I have
> access to the local admin account, but not the domain admin account on
> the laptop.
>
> Domain was with a sbs 2003 machine.
Is there any data on that account that is domain-specific?

I am thinking perhaps the Exchange profile is a dealbreaker?

If not, just create a new local profile and copy his old profile data
into the new local profile.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you

On 2/26/2010 8:48 AM, Leonid S. Knyshov // SBS Expert wrote:
> On 2/25/2010 11:56 PM, Don wrote:
>> Hello, I have a client that has a company laptop, and he has forgotten
>> his password. Now the laptop was part of an old business with a domain
>> that no longer exists. What can I do to recover the password. I have
>> access to the local admin account, but not the domain admin account on
>> the laptop.
>>
>> Domain was with a sbs 2003 machine.
> Is there any data on that account that is domain-specific?
>
> I am thinking perhaps the Exchange profile is a dealbreaker?
>
> If not, just create a new local profile and copy his old profile data
> into the new local profile.

There is the exchange profile it is really important. If it has to be
lost oh well. But I can move his data, however there are programs tied
to the profile. I created a local profile and most of the programs will
not work.

On 2/26/2010 8:24 AM, Don wrote:
>
> There is the exchange profile it is really important. If it has to be
> lost oh well. But I can move his data, however there are programs tied
> to the profile. I created a local profile and most of the programs will
> not work.

Yep, that's what I figured.

There are some workarounds we can try, such as change the registry
location for the local profile to match the domain profile, for example.
Please make a disk image of this laptop before you do anything as many
changes will be hard to reverse if things go wrong.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
Please vote "helpful" if I helped you

Jim wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:05:18 -0800, Susan Bradley
> <> wrote:
>
>> Dusko Savatovic wrote:
>>> You cannot recover domain password without a domain controller.
>>>
>>> If you have access to the local admin account, you can unjoin computer
>>> from the domain. Then create a local user account and let the owner
>>> use this new local account.
>>>
>>>
>>> "Don" <> wrote in message
>>> news:eu9s$...
>>>> Hello, I have a client that has a company laptop, and he has
>>>> forgotten his password. Now the laptop was part of an old business
>>>> with a domain that no longer exists. What can I do to recover the
>>>> password. I have access to the local admin account, but not the
>>>> domain admin account on the laptop.
>>>>
>>>> Domain was with a sbs 2003 machine.
>> Or the duh answer I didn't even think of until this morning. Go to the
>> DC, reset the password for his account. Problem solved.
>
>
> Not really a duh answer Susan. The OP says it's a domain that no
> longer exists, so he's using cached credentials for an old domain.
>
> I'm not sure there's a solution, since all the standard password
> recovery tools work on a local account.
Double duh. Geek = didn't fully read.

The domain profile can be copied to the local one. If he has access to
the local one, copy the profile.

There is an exchange profile on a domain account for a domain that doesn't
exist anymore, but the exchange profile is still important??

....curious...

Without the domain, I'm with Susan. I think you'll have to copy the profile
to a new account and deal with some itmes that don't move.

-Cliff


"Don" <> wrote in message
news:#...
> On 2/26/2010 8:48 AM, Leonid S. Knyshov // SBS Expert wrote:
>> On 2/25/2010 11:56 PM, Don wrote:
>>> Hello, I have a client that has a company laptop, and he has forgotten
>>> his password. Now the laptop was part of an old business with a domain
>>> that no longer exists. What can I do to recover the password. I have
>>> access to the local admin account, but not the domain admin account on
>>> the laptop.
>>>
>>> Domain was with a sbs 2003 machine.
>> Is there any data on that account that is domain-specific?
>>
>> I am thinking perhaps the Exchange profile is a dealbreaker?
>>
>> If not, just create a new local profile and copy his old profile data
>> into the new local profile.
>
> There is the exchange profile it is really important. If it has to be lost
> oh well. But I can move his data, however there are programs tied to the
> profile. I created a local profile and most of the programs will not work.