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Apples & Pears 16 Oct 2003

My work StinkPad (term copyright Volker Weber) is dying, and can't do anything with our domain controller. The upshot of this is that I can no longer log in to the machine. Domains are a thing of the past. Poof, no more administration rights, nothing.

Great. So, things have gone pear-shaped in the PC department.

The Mac, on the other hand, has just upgraded itself with iTunes 4.1 and the latest version of QuickTime. Splendid. I knew they were coming, so I had Software Update look out for them. The PC won't miss out completely though. Just as soon as I've resurrected it, I guess I'll be dumping iTunes for Windows on it!

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Comments

  1. Can you login locally (as Administrator)? If not, can you boot from Floppy/CD? There are tools which let you reset the Administrator password. However I fear the firm has installed some stupid disk encryption which only will keep YOU from accessing the disk. Volker Weber#
  2. The default admin password is scrambled upon initial imaging of the machine. I've tried booting from floppy & also re-joining the domain… no joy. At least the encryption software hasn't locked me out too! I'll see if I can reset the admin account somehow.

    Thank God I have most stuff backed up!Ben Poole#
  3. Hey Ben

    That iTunes for Windows - she is beautiful, mate…

    For the first time I don't hate my compaq laptop so much

    Cheers
    JustinJustin Knol#
  4. The gts people should have a disk that lets them boot the machine into admin mode. Go ask them. And then ask them again.

    Once they have access they can download the data, re-image and restore.Volker Weber#
  5. Yes, I have my contacts ;-) Usually do my own imaging. Otherwise one tends to be waiting a couple of days. Not good when partners are screaming for buttons (^&$@% Notes buttons: bane of my life…)

    Looking forward to checking out Windoze iTunes (has to be nicer to use than MusicMatch or - gasp - WinAmp (urgh))Ben Poole#
  6. Sounds like the admins in your organisation are more clever than the admins where I work. Here they reset the local admin password using Group Policies on every system startup (ie. before login) using a command line password change tool. Conveniently this password is *in plain text in the machine startup script*, the machine startup script is easily accessible to anyone on the Active Directory servers since obviously the PC needs access to it when it boots.

    So assuming you know where to look, whenever they change the local admin password in the script it takes all of 5 seconds to get the new one.m#
  7. Well, you can catch all but the smartest of admins. Make his machine open a share on your machine and deny access. His machine will send you credentials in all sorts of backwards compatible fashion. Then use those credentials to open a share on HIS machine. There are some clever hacks out there … :-)Volker Weber#
  8. if you have the rescue disk, you can reset the admin password…Ashok#
  9. Alas, 'twas not to be. We tried all the tricks in the book, sanctioned and unsanctioned. The machine was locked, and that's that. A testimony to "Trustworthy Computing": lock out low-risk legitimate use at all costs, but one you're logged in, screw the machine royally. The scrambled admin password wouldn't work, the hacks wouldn't work. I just couldn't be bothered to spend another minute trying to get in, I just wanted to get the StinkPad up and running again.

    So, I have re-imaged, and lost some data. Not much - I've been scarred by Windoze before - but enough to cause minor inconvenience.

    Bah >:-|Ben Poole#
  10. Ashok, you can't when the disk is encrypted by third party software. You first need a bootdisk WITH this encryption and take it from there. Well, case closed anyway.

    Ben, the good news: The machine is as fast as on the first day.Volker Weber#
  11. Very true: I tend to re-image every 3-4 months for precisely that reason: the machine becomes reasonably quick once more - for a few weeks at least!Ben Poole#

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I’m a developer / general IT wrangler, specialising in web apps, the mobile web, enterprise Java and the odd Domino system.

Best described as a simpleton, but kindly. Read more…