Hi David, You can definitely access an NTFS system very easily with the proper software. You can use ERD Commander 2003 (by far the easiest - see my last couple posts), CIA Commander (floppy disk - file explorer) or Paragon Mount Everything (Bootable CD for DOS - by far the cheapest - $40). All these give you total access (for read or write) to NTFS under NT, 2000 and XP. Or you can use Partition Magic 7 or 8 to easily convert the file system to FAT32 and then back again, and yeh it takes a while - just walk away and come back. In Windows 2000 and XP you can simply type: CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS in RUN to convert (FAT32 to NTFS - no command for NTFS to FAT32). -- Best regards, Bil Green PC 1000 Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546 760-924-1000 mailto:tv.vcrrepair@xxxxxxxxxxx Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 9:39:55 AM, you wrote: DL> Bil, DL> I would like to know how to do this. My experience is that if the drive DL> has been formatted NTFS then you can't even access the NTFS drive from a DL> FAT32 boot. I suppose you could convert the system from NTFS to FAT32 DL> using a DOS utility, change the password (as you describe below) and if DL> desired convert the FAT32 back to NTFS. DL> David Lessard DL> Alexandria Electronics DL> Alexandria, Ontario DL> Mr_fixit@xxxxxxxxxxxx DL> -----Original Message----- DL> From: techassist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx DL> [mailto:techassist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bil Green DL> Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 9:27 PM DL> To: John @ Myers TV DL> Subject: [TechAssist] Re: Windows XP password question DL> Hi John, DL> Don't format just to change the password. All you need to do is access DL> the C: drive from DOS and delete the SAM file. Here how: DL> Boot a Windows 98 boot floppy (or any DOS boot disk) and at the A: DL> prompt type: DELETE C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SAM DL> This will remove all account information and allow total access. DL> If you can't access C: drive using a boot disk then the system is DL> NTFS. E-mail me privately for instructions on how to change it to DL> FAT32 (and then back again). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lost Password: http://www.tech-assist.org and select "Login Problems?". Email Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/techassist/