Posted on 02/18/2011 8:05:01 AM PST by RetiredArmy
Need help from a computer guru. This is NOT for a criminal event. My nephew is going to be getting a divorce. He and his wife have a computer in their home. However, the wife has now put a password on the computer so that it cannot be accessed except by her. ALL their financial dealings is on this computer and he has no idea what is now been done. IS there a way to easily bypass a password to get into the computer and see what is on HIS computer? Do I need to take it to a computer guru who can easily do that for him? Please send me Freep Mail with your responses. Your assistance is very appreciated. My nephew does have a right to know what is going on with his bills and what might have been charged. Thank you!
Youe nephew needs a lawyer to get good advice.
There are a variety of things one can do. There are password cracker programs; there is the ability to boot from another media (floppy, CD, or USB) and access the drive from the command line or the booted operating system. Those are two options. If you need more help, freepmail.
If it’s a BIOS password you can pull the motherboard backup battery out for a few minutes or so. If the files are encrypted with a shareware type encryption you might be out of luck. If it’s an Admin password the posts here tell you how to get around that. OTT get that computer out of your house.
That might be a good idea.
That's what I would recommend. Before proceeding further, I would get a snapshot of the drive as it is now. That's what cops would if conducting a raid. You want to copy the data before there's any chance of accidentally modifying something (e.g., a file access date or web history or similar).
Then you can install the drive, or a copy of it, into another machine as a secondary disk. Then, as administrator on the other computer, you can browse and modify the secondary volume as you wish.
Another option is to burn a Linux boot disk or USB key. You can put that into the computer as it is now and boot into a fully functional Unix system. It will not modify the hard drive (unless you do it deliberately), but you will be able browse the hard drive, copy off files, run cracking tools, etc. One possibility is Knoppix.
However, you didn't say what OS was on the computer. I assume that it's Windows XP. But, here's a tool that you can use to simply reset the password for modern Windows systems (NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7):
http://www.pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/
It requires that you download it onto a floppy or CD, and boot from it. That may require changes to the BIOS to make sure that device is selected before the hard disk.
But, there are countermeasures against all of these methods: a BIOS password or a hard disk password (typically only on laptops). The above tool will only change the password used to login to Windows.
He needs to immediately take the computer to someone who can make a forensic image of the drive that he can keep.
One has an installer and the other doesn’t.
The version with the installer would only be of use to folks who already have access to at least one administrative account on their computer.
Since the original poster can’t get into any Windows user accounts he is stuck having to burn the software to a CD and then boot from it.
Either way works, it’s just that CD method takes longer.
I just installed lucid-puppy on a 2 gig usb key. Helpful for copying files off a windows machine (not to mention handy for being able to boot up linux on any laptop with a usb port regardless of what it’s running).
Thank you, I was just curious. I think I will save this page for reading later, seems like a lot of great ideas are coming from here.
No.....I just did a quick search to seee if I could find a way to crack passwords....lol
I wanted to point these two little babies out to you I swear by them.
http://trinityhome.org
http://www.clonezilla.org/
Best thing is they are free I have saved a few Windows boxes with them. the trinityhome disk can be used to reset a lost windows password all documentation is on the home page.
The backup copy would be made onto another hard drive attached via the USB connector. There are devices readily available for this purpose. When the backup copy is done like this, there will be no trace or evidence of copying left behind and the computer would not have to be opened to physically remove the hard drive.
This assumes of course that the computer is set up to allow it to boot from a Cd.
Once the backup copy is made, it can be mounted on any system which uses Acronis to be read there. I regularly use Acronis to make back up images of my own system for recovery purposes and I have mounted the backup images to retrieve data from them.
Another possibility is that once the backup image has been made, it can be restored to another system as the boot disk and using the windows repair feature from the Windows install CD be made to correctly function on the new system.
I have also done this in the past when migrating from an old computer to a newer one. You will need the drivers for the new system in order for the system to function correctly.
Once you have done this, all your installed programs will run correctly on the new system and you can delete any of your own personal data off the old system since you now have it elsewhere.
Your wife has a legal right to any of her own personal data on the old system and you could get in trouble if you delete it. However, I doubt that you can get in trouble for deleting any of YOUR own personal data.
AND of Course, open new bank accounts in your name only and delete your name off any joint accounts. Under joint account regulations, all members have the same full legal rights to the contents of the account and the first to withdraw it has legal rights to it.
Very Important, when you open new accounts, make them in a different bank than your current bank. Under most bank rules, when one account is overdrawn they have the right to take the money from another of your accounts with the same bank. Keeping your accounts in another bank prevents your wife from overdrawing the account and the bank taking the money from your other accounts.
Keep your own money separate from hers and if the bank won't let you take your name off the old account you may have to close it and if her name is on the account that may be a problem.
As another poster said, he needs a lawyer. Now. There be aligators here.
For example, a guy in Michigan during a divorce accessed his wife’s email using a password she had on a post-it on the desk. He’s looking at felony time.
In Texas, unauthorized access to communications (possibly including files and email) can get you 20 years.
These are dangerous waters...
Thirty-five posts and no one has asked if you back the data up.
Piece of cake. As someone said, take out his hard drive and install it into her computer. She should be able to read everything on it.
“Do I need to take it to a computer guru who can easily do that for him?”
If he’s an adult, then that would be HIS responsibility, wouldn’t it?
Not your responsibility or your business. My $ .02
SIW aka system information windows may show the password she used.....its a free download as well.
That doesn’t work the the linux live is best route.
Suggestion.....don’t let her know you broke her password on your an her computer. No special reason just keep it to yourself.
Hope that helped...
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