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I just removed my vista laptop from domain, but now I cannot login in with local administrator as local admin account is disabled. I have only local user account that works.

What can I do to get admin rights back?

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3 Answers 3

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You might be able to boot from a Rescue is Possible (RIP) Linux disc, mount the hard drive, change into /mnt/mountpoint/WINDOWS/system32/config (or wherever your particular version of Windows is holding the SAM file), then run "chntpw ./SAM"

That application I believe has the ability to enable the account as well as wipe the password. I don't change the password, I just wipe it and reboot to Windows to re-set the password.

You should be able to find the SAM file from your in-Windows user account before trying it so you can get the proper path.

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I use NT Offline Password Recovery to reset passwords and enable accounts on NT-based systems. If you just read the prompts it's pretty straight-forward.

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

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If either of those bother you, or fill you with fear, then add the computer back to the domain, and then enable and reset the local admin account that way.

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    Don't you need to be a local administrator to make changes (such as join it to the domain)...?
    – Dan
    Oct 26, 2010 at 12:04
  • Oh ... shoot! (Feels stupid) Ignore my comment! My mind most def was somewhere else. Thanks Dan for correcting me :)
    – Mister IT Guru
    Oct 27, 2010 at 9:31

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