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Hack Windows Limited User Account
August 19th, 2008 · by David Bradley >> 7 Comments
If you’re using a Windows XP machine at school or work, chances are the IT department have locked down your login account as a “Limited User” rather than giving you computer administrator status. Obvious really. They don’t want you messing around with settings or installing applications and stuff. But, what if you really need to gain access to some settings?
Well, Raymond.cc recently highlighted a nifty little tool called PCLoginNow that allows you to “reset local administrator and other accounts passwords on Windows system”. PCLoginNow bypasses admin passwords and works without all that boring rebooting you usually need when changing access settings on an XP machine.
It does have some legitimate uses allowing sysadmins and users to “maintain, change accounts policy setting and properties…easily upgrade a general account to administrator level, lock or unlock accounts”. Very useful if you run your XP machine in Limited User mode to protect you from root-kits, rogue dialler, and malware. More on Limited User security and Firefox here.
But, legitimate uses aside, PCLoginNow will become the student tool of choice for gaining control of their XP machine at school or college and may ultimately allow you to get around firewalls and filtering and so access banned websites. It’s free open source software on Sourceforge. You will need to burn the iso to a bootable CD-ROM to make use of it.
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7 responses so far ↓
Faith // Aug 26, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Sometimes, students will get caught for this. And also, wouldn’t it be easier to gain access to banned sites by proxies? If the school also bans proxies, FirefoxPortable can be used too.
But nice program, anw.
Wayne Smallman // Aug 27, 2008 at 10:59 am
So is this a legitimate Microsoft-sanctioned utility, or is it yet another cracker tool?
David Bradley // Aug 27, 2008 at 11:06 am
Oh, I doubt very much it’s legitimate…
David Bradley // Aug 27, 2008 at 11:07 am
…but the more awareness there is of the lack of security in such systems the better, surely?
Wayne Smallman // Aug 27, 2008 at 11:13 am
You’d think so, wouldn’t you?
But with the avalanche of security problems with Windows over the years, that’s not quite worked out.
David Bradley // Aug 27, 2008 at 11:23 am
Indeed! It’s never-ending the updates cycle for Windows users. Like tax law they spend millions closing loopholes.
TechSupport // May 18, 2009 at 8:26 am
or if you have “run” in the start menu (or can start cmd.exe somewhere) try the at hack
(does this qualify as a hack?)
syntax of the command is
at XX:XX /interactive “cmd.exe”
where XX:XX is the time in 24 hour format, I suggest more than 2 minutes in the future. This will bring up a command prompt that is run at the kernel level neatly bypassing all security. feel free to then kill “explorer” using ctrl-alt-del or the administrative tools and then launch explorer from the command line for the full windows interface. As a suggestion do NOT surf the net in this mode unless you are looking to riddle your computer with viruses.
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