I've got a Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard machine. Against my advice, the company making use of this server made it do everything. Zero redundancy outside of some flat file backups.
After months of hair-tearing one hour reboots on this machine, I finally convinced them to purchase brand new Server 2012 blades and began the arduous process of migrating everything.
With the end in sight, the 2003 machine promptly blew up and corrupted its Active Directory data.
Normally, rebooting into the DSRM would allow me to at least get the machine to limping and pull what needs to be pulled. Unfortunately, no one knows the DSRM password nor can we actually log in to the machine when it boots to DSRM.
So, in short, with a machine that cannot get past login, how do I reset the DSRM password OR tinker with local accounts on a Windows Server 2003 R2 machine?