Hi all, This is going to sound a little strange, so I had best explain the background first. I had a linux server with a RAID array of two mirrored disks. We then decided to move to Windows Server 2008 R2, so I disabled the RAID and installed 2008 R2 over the first disk. It then ran fine for about a month until we had a power outage. The outage must have caused some kind of data corruption as the boot partition had to be completely rebuilt before the system would boot. However, when it finally booted ok, I could not log in with the admin password. I then tried the domain admin account, with the same result. So now I have no access to my server. The local admin password and the domain admin password no longer work. I tried the 'linux boot and edit SAM' trick using the System Rescue disk (this used to work on my older NT boxes a few years ago), but this did not work on 2008 R2. So I am now stumped. I really don't want to re-install the OS as this would take me days to get it re-configured. Does anyone know how this could have happened? Does anyone have any suggestions before I wipe (and maybe lose months of work) and re-install?

You can try using tools like ntpasswd or Trinity Rescue Kit. Alternatively you can try using Windows 2008 R2 installtion CD and reboot the server. Than startup Windows Recovery Environment and from there you can replace sethc.exe with cmd.exe copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\ copy /y c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe Reboot your computer and start the Windows installation where you forgot the administrator password. On the logon screen, press the SHIFT several times. This will open cmd and you can reset the password with net user username newpassword after you logged in succesfully replace sethc.exe with original one from c:\With kind regards Krystian Zieja http://www.projectnenvision.com Follow me on twitter My Blog

Hello, zedhex1. Take it easy! There is still an efficient and safe way for your problem. Though Windows Server 2008 R2 is actually not familiar for many of us. Step1. Google Windows Password Recovery Corporation , download and install in any available computer. Step2. Create a bootable CD/DVD or USB flash drive. (A blank CD/DVD/USB Flash Drive is needed) Step3. BIOS set. Boot computer from the created CD/DVD/USB Flash Drive and set BIOS setup. Step4. Reset Windows server 2008 or 2008R2 password to Re123456 .I am appreciated the tool which helped me a lot! That is the easiest and safest Windows Password Reset!

Hello, zedhex1. Take it easy! There is still an efficient and safe way for your problem. Though Windows Server 2008 R2 is actually not familiar for many of us. Step1. Google Windows Password Recovery Corporation , download and install in any available computer. Step2. Create a bootable CD/DVD or USB flash drive. (A blank CD/DVD/USB Flash Drive is needed) Step3. BIOS set. Boot computer from the created CD/DVD/USB Flash Drive and set BIOS setup. Step4. Reset Windows server 2008 or 2008R2 password to Re123456 . I am appreciated the tool which helped me a lot! That is the easiest and safest Windows Password Reset! I wish it worked! I spent over 40$ on Enterprise version and it did not work out to me. I chose "domain administrator password reset" because this is my server config, I tried either USB flash or CD boot media and of course - you may boot but this utility does not recognize windows installation... zonk :( Win 2008 server R2 is installed on RAID SATA2 disk in mirror mode Any help appreciated Piotr

You may have faced situations on losing Windows Server 2008 R2 administrator password. Then don't miss this tutorial, it explains very sample steps to reset Windows 2008 R2 domain password within 2 minutes. http://www.lostwindowspassword.com/reset-windows-2008-r2-domain-password.html