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Need help cracking an old password

T

The Cobra

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 19, 2003
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So I have an older Windows Server 2008 R2 ESXi image that runs an old webserver. We inherited this machine when we took over another school. It runs on ESXi v6.0. The passwords that were given to me are not working. On a physical machine, I would create a linux cd and boot form that, crack the password and reset it. On an ESXi server, I have no idea how this could be done. Is there a way to do it?
 
Yes, it's literally the same method you've always used. Go into ESXi, and browse the datastore. Make a folder on there called ISO or whatever you want, and upload the iso of the CD into that folder. Then on the VM go into the properties, and click on the CD/DVD drive. Change the dropdown to Datastore ISO file and browse for the ISO you uploaded. Make sure the CD rom is set to be connected and connect at power on. The only other thing you'll want to do is go into the VM options and find the boot options (It's on another tab). You'll definitely want to set a boot delay to like 5000ms or more (5 seconds). Then open up a console and power on the VM, hit ESC when you can, that will bring up the boot menu. Choose the CD drive and that will boot your ISO file. Once you're done make sure you change the CD drive back to like VM host and uncheck connect at power on so that disc isn't just sitting there ready to boot at each power on.

FYI, you can do the same thing as danswartz showed simply by using a Windows iso. It doesn't matter if it's Windows 7, 8, 10, server 2012 or higher, any of those will allow you to accomplish that. The biggest advantage of using dan's method is that it's bitlocker compatible. You'll be able to type in a bitlocker recovery password into the installation disc allowing you to mount an encrypted volume. If you do use it for bitlocker you just need to make sure the boot environment stays the same. IE, you'll probably need to unmount the Windows disc before Windows will boot correctly as that changed the boot environment.
 
Thanks for the into everyone. Appreciate the tips, will do tomorrow morning.
 
I used the USB image boot method as you guys described above. Piece of cake, worked like a charm. Never had to do that before. Thx for the tips everyone!!!!
 
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