I'm just a simple Mac Geek. Your crazy world of Batch Files and Safe Modes confuses and bewilders me.
I am reanimating an aging winbox for use in a home automation application. I've got all the parts back together, but unfortunately the last time I started this machine up was probably in late 2000, and I can't for the life of me remember what cryptic-ass password I was using back then. Is there a way for me to start up Win2K without this, and or reset it or something. There are some saved games on there that I'd prefer to keep so formatting the HD would be a last resort. Teach me wise and brave masters of pee-seeing. Much obliged.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Press Escape when the login dialog box pops up. And then, think about Windows security. And laugh.
(At least, that's how it works on 98, 98SE and ME. But I think W2k has the same 'feature'.)
Posted by E. Cartman (Member # 256) on :
It doesn't. Bwahaha! ph34r M$ s3cur1ty pr0t0c0ls!!
Anyway. If you've forgotten your password, you've essentially locked yourself out. Forever.
Well, almost. Do a Google search for
L0phtCrack
and see where the dark underground tides take you.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
That's pretty funny. Thanks for turning me onto the (ahem) heavy industries product, Cartman. I'll give this a go.
If anyone else has any other suggestions, I'd love to hear 'em.
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
If required you can safely reinstall 2k over itself.. it should prompt you for a new Administrator password during the installation. You shouldn't loose any of your data or installed programs.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
shouldn't being the operative word
Posted by Daryus Aden (Member # 12) on :
That'll work fine.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
At the end of the day, saved gamnes are usually files placed in a specific directory. Can't you use a basic boot disk to retrieve them?
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
You'll have to talk slower. I'm a Mac user, remember. I'm am not tEh sMaxX0r, I do not get the powerup. I'm having a tough time hacking it, so I'll have to take a crack at the reinstall method. I've got the Win2K Pro install CD. How do I convince the system to reinstall itself? Is this something I'd do from DOS mode? Do I need to write a Batch file or something?
VP: I've also made some rather large and indulgent Total Annihilation maps that I'd like to get back, and I doubt those would fit on a floppy.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Well, I've never installed Win2k over Win2k, but I suspect you would only need to boot from the CD to get into the installation program. Get into the BIOS settings (hit Del or F1 or whatever you need to hit during startup) and change the boot order so the CD drive comes before the hard drive. Then leave the CD in and reboot.
Posted by E. Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"Then leave the CD in and reboot."
This will only work if the CD itself is bootable.
If it isn't, back to square one. Get yourself a 2K bootdisk here, then manually run the installation (x:\i386\winnt.exe, where x is the letter assigned to your cdrom drive) from DOS.
BTW: Total Annihilation fan, eh? Impressive... most impressive. Up for a multiplayer battle sometime? Posted by Daryus Aden (Member # 12) on :
Balaam Xumucane: Use the boot disk to get into dos, and make sure you've enabled the cd support (you should get an option for that). Then change drives to your cd drive (whichever letter that is) and run the setup file. However if its being a pain in the arse you may get the message: "this program does not run in ms-dos mode" or somesuch.
Before any of us blather on more, do you know the basic dos commands?
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