HDD Troubles

[Hex]

Alright, so I talked this over with Kayden, and he's less optimistic about my problem than I am. Now, I have the HDD from my old computer. I've tried many ways to get the old files onto this one, but none worked (tried a hub, didn't connect, and My Computer crashed Explorer.exe when I tried to use the portable HDD). Now, I can access the old HDD on this machine, but the stuff I need is on the desktop, but the old admin password won't let me access the 'Admin' folder to get to the desktop folder.

Now, you might be saying, 'Tiph, just boot from the old HDD and strip the Admin password'. Well, i tried, but it says windows was sucky when it last shutdown, and to try safe mode or the last settings. Whatever option I choose, it sends me to a quick (.5 second long) BSOD and restarts the computer. It could be a head crash (dear god I hope not, this is an important drive), or something else.

Now, what I want is either: Something to strip the Admin password from inside Windows on this HDD, or a way to get around going into "Admin' to get the desktop. Suggestions?

 

[P0ldy]

Burn a Linux live CD (like Knoppix), boot your comp to CD with the hdd attached to the comp, Knoppix will mount your hdd, you can navigate the drive (probably /dev/hda1/Documents and Settings/*username*/Desktop) and pull your files off.

 

[Hex]

[quote name='P0ldy']Burn a Linux live CD (like Knoppix), boot your comp to CD with the hdd attached to the comp, Knoppix will mount your hdd, you can navigate the drive (probably /dev/hda1/Documents and Settings/*username*/Desktop) and pull your files off.[/QUOTE]

No CD burner. And I left my old Knoppix disc at school. The best route is to find some way to get around the old Admin password. I've been going into permissions to give me full control of the drive, but I haven't had much luck.

 

[Hex]

Right. So I tried my SUSE 9.2 Live CD, but all of the hda's were locked. I suspect that's because i had to log in as the default Linux user. Hopefully a friend of mine will brink Knoppix tomorrow.

Okay. So I did a little poking around with my XP disc. It's definitely a windows problem, not a mechanical one with the HDD. I entered the recovery console, but it wouldn't accept the admin password. I suspect that it is because I never specified one when I made the account. In that case, is there a default windows password that I can use? Or, I re-iterate, is there a way to remove the password? I mean, I don't see why Macro$oft wouldn't put in the ability to recover a password or account.

 

[Hex]

Okay. Lock this thread, problem solved!

Guess how I circumvented the Admin password? By searching the drive for the folders I wanted! Now all I do is copy them to my new HDD.

SUH-WEET.