NAME

       chntpw - utility to overwrite Windows NT/2000 SAM passwords

SYNOPSIS

       chntpw [options] <samfile> [systemfile] [securityfile] [otherreghive] [...]

DESCRIPTION

       This  manual  page documents briefly the chntpw command.  This manual page was written for
       the Debian distribution because the original program does not have a manual page.

       chntpw is a utility to view some information  and  change  user  passwords  in  a  Windows
       NT/2000  SAM  userdatabase  file,  usually  located at \WINDOWS\system32\config\SAM on the
       Windows file system. It is not necessary to know the old  passwords  to  reset  them.   In
       addition  it contains a simple registry editor (same size data writes) and hex-editor with
       which the information contained in a registry file can be browsed and modified.

OPTIONS

       -h     Show summary of options.

       -u username
              Username to change. Default is Administrator

       -l     List all users in the SAM database.

       -i     Interactive: list all users (as per -l) and then ask for the user to change.

       -e     Registry editor with limited capabilities.

       -d     Use buffer debugger.

       -t     Show hexdumps of structs/segments (deprecated debug function).

EXAMPLES

       ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /media/win ; cd /media/win/WINDOWS/system32/config/
              Mount the Windows file system and  enters  the  directory  \WINDOWS\system32\config
              where Windows stores the SAM database.

       chntpw SAM system
              Opens  registry  hives  SAM  and system and change administrator account. This will
              work even if the name has been changed or it has been  localized  (since  different
              language versions of NT use different administrator names).

       chntpw -l SAM
              Lists the users defined in the SAM registry file.

       chntpw -u jabbathehutt SAM
              Prompts  for  password for jabbathehutt and changes it in the SAM registry file, if
              found (otherwise do nothing).

SEE ALSO

       If you are looking for an automated procedure for password recovery, you might look at the
       bootdisks provided by the upstream author at http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/
       There  is  more  information  on how this program works available at /usr/share/doc/chntpw
       registry works.

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by  Javier  Fernandez-Sanguino  <jfs@computer.org>,  for  the
       Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).

                                         13th March 2010                                CHNTPW(8)