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Accepted
Peter M
Asked: 2010-08-28 12:50:42 +0800 CST

Break into Windows 7?

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I'm not sure if this a serverfault or superuser question.

A client of mine shipped me a Windows 7 box that I am supposed to work on. Unfortunately the machine is joined to his domain (which I cannot access - legally or physically) and the local administrator account appears to be disabled.

Is there anyway that I can get into the system and enable/create a local account with administrator level rights given that I have physical access? Or is my only choice to ship it back and get my client to enable a usable account and ship it back to me again?

For what its worth this is Windows 7 professional.

Edit

As prompted by Chunkyb2002's answer about caching of domain credentials I forgot to mention that there is a domain user as being the last login. Presumably this person also set this computer up and potentially has admin rights. So given this new info is it likely that if I get the password that Windows 7 will let me log in?

Edit 2

I'm in with cached credentials!

security windows-7

3 Answers

  1. You should ship it back and ask the client to set up a local admin user for you to work with.

    Toward your edit:
    If you can get the proper credentials then there's no reason that Windows shouldn't let you log in. There is no guarantee, though, that it is an admin account. Your chances might be good, though, if that account was used to set the machine up.

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  2. Best Answer

    PassWare can enable Administrator accounts but it's not free. Also domain computers will cache previous logins when it was attached to the domain so you could call the client and ask them for the last users login credentials (along with advising them to reset the password in question immediately).

    The second option only helps you if the user in question has administrative rights.

    Even with these options, I'd still not recommend doing so as the computer and OS doesn't belong to you. Call the client and ask them for guidance, chances are the IT department (or whoever runs their IT) forgot (or wasn't informed) that you'd be off the domain.

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  3. This boot disk will allow you to change the administrative password on a Windows 7 machine. Make sure you call the guy and ask if this is okay! I have used it on older versions of windows and it works like a charm.

    Also note that some viruses disabled the admin account on purpose to make it difficult to remove the infection. If this is the case you must reinstall.

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