How can I gain administrator access?

[ranger0001]

I have been trying for days to figure a way of gaining administrator access, to windows 2000 PRO without compromising the current administrators access. I have read about NTAccess and it sound s good but I dont really want to dish out $90 for a simple 2 minute fix.

I have a copy of NTFS Boot disk "read only" and a win98 boot disk, Is there a way I can give myself administrator access with windows 2000, or at least power user access. I dont want to screw up my system too bad. I think once I've given myself more privledges I would change the administrator account back to the original. Well can I ....can I ?
I would like to add privledges for myself without changing the current administrator password. This company went a little overboard with their NT/2000 locking people out. I or anyone else within the company can't do anything other than use the loaded programs on our local computers, no direct downloads, no software or hardware installs, :blackeye:
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks,
ranger0001

 

[Phantasm66]

The only means I have (or have to give, more likely!) are those which would only enable you to change the administrator account's password. Not to mess with who was in what group, etc, which is what you seem to want to do.

The security comprise would therefore be detectable - a sysadmin would know that the password has been changed, because no program you will get in a hurry will let you see what the admin password currently is, only give you the power to change it to something else.

A far better strategy would be to try to think up some plausible reason why you need admin rights to your local machine, then get a department head to TELL the techies to give you admin rights.

Social engineering is the best form of hacking that there will ever be.

You won't find even script kiddies, never mind the black hat hackers, will tell you how to get the kind of security access you want. Changing the admin password without knowing what it is, yes. Secretly creating some extra account with admin rights undetected - hmm... I don't think any hacker, including me, will be telling you that in a hurry. Sorry but that's the way it is.

 

[ranger0001]

Thanks Phantasm,

I appreciate your advice. I actually have tried that approach, asking for administrator rights. All it did was get into a pissing match. Here is their reply...

...Since 1998, we have configured over 800 systems using Windows NT, 2000, and XP in a locked down state. The software installed and all devices requested are fully functional, only the ability to install software has been removed. We do this for 2 reasons:

We do not have the staff to support all of the repairs caused by staff changing important system settings. Just last week we spent 12 hours repairing a laptop from engineering that was damaged by attempting to connect it to a home network. The entire laptop had to be reconfigured and the network card was burned out requiring a $150 replacement. A significant portion of our labor goes into repairing similar problems with audio CD players, AOL installs, etc.
It is impossible for us to insure that software being placed on systems by users is legal without us knowing about it. By looking in our inventory at your current laptop, I see a program called SolSuite installed on the system. My guess is this is a $20 Solitaire program and that it may not be legal. While this may seem insignificant, the amount of software that used to exist around the company prior to our locking down the systems put the company at a significant risk of an audit.

Unfortunately, it isn't possible to add certain printers when travelling because low end inkjets are mostly software driven and require an install. Any printers supported by 2000 as well as any of our network printers you can add without admin rights. If you have certain printers that you need added, we can add them for you as needed.:

I understand their side of the issue (to a point).

As you can probably read into their reply, I have a company laptop and do quite a bit of traveling to our other plants. I cant even access the internet while on the road, unless I'm on the company network. If I want to get on from the Hotel, I'm screwed.

Anyway, Thanks again for your assistance. Maybe someday I'll become bold enough to just go ahead and change the administrators password and deal with the conciquences.

Ranger0001

 

[Phantasm66]

I see their point too, although I find the "12 hours" bit a little far fetched. Basically, this rule is to make life easy for them. To be honest, we have staff admin rights at my work, and there's only a handful of them know enough to be dangerous. A lot of folks out there call system support to find out how to change their screensaver.

But they do have some very valid points. Your best bet would be to find some software which you cant' run without admin rights, and then insist on having it. Or just change admin password and live with it.

 

[acidosmosis]

Originally posted by ranger0001
A significant portion of our labor goes into repairing similar problems with audio CD players, AOL installs, etc.

Further proof that AOL software causes mass problems on PC's that they are installed on.