This article shows three effective ways to recover or reset password on Windows server 2008 r2 raid.

1. How to reset administrator password on Windows
server 2008 r2 Raid
This article shows three effective ways to recover or reset password on Windows server 2008 r2
raid.
“I forgot my administrator password on my Windows server 2008 r2, and my server is the raid 5
server. I try to use offline nt password & registry editor to remove the lost password for
administrator account, however that program say no windows found. I think offline nt password
& registry editor doesn’t support raid server. Does some body tell me how to make offline nt
password & registry editor support my raid server? Or is there a program work find on my 2008
raid server? Thank for any help.” – From msdn forums.
If you have the same problem as above, the following methods may be able to help you solve the
problem. As a computer administrator, I once had the same problem too, and I also try many
ways to solve the problem. Here I want to shows you the ways I think it can work for you.
Offline nt password & registry editor run on DOS system, and almost on raid drive support DOS
system. So it is very hard to make Offline NT password & registry editor work on a raid server.
1. WinPE + Raid driver + bat file
2. Linux + Ophcrack + Raid Controller driver
3. Use third party software to reset password for Windows server 2008 raid server
Solution 1: Use WinPE + Raid driver + Bat file to reset administrator for server 2008
Step 1: Download a Windows xp PE or Windows 7 PE from Microsoft office site:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=5753
Step 2: Make a PE live CD. You can refer to this article to see how to make a PE boot CD. See How
to create a windows 7 pe boot disk
Step 3: Boot Your server 2008 raid computer from the PE live CD. Note: You need to add raid
driver to PE system, or the PE system cannot recognize the 2008 system on raid drive. You have to
way to add raid driver to the PE system. For more information, see How to add driver to Win7 pe
disk
Step 4: When PE system boot successfully and you can use it explore files and data on raid drives,
create a bat file named pwd-reset.bat and add the following text to it: net user administrator
Aa123456.
Step 5: Edit registry and make the Bat file be run when the computer restarts. So add the
following key to the registry. To edit windows registry offline, see How to edit windows registry
offline.
Step 6: Restart raid computer and login with the password Aa123456.
Step 7: Delete the file pwd-reset.exe and the information we add to registry before.

2. Solution 2: Use Linux + Ophcrack + Raid Controller driver to recover the lost password for 2008
raid server.
As we known, Ophcrack is an open source and free program, and it run on Linux system. For
common laptop and desktop computer, Ophcrack works fine without raid driver. However, on
2008 raid server, we have to add driver to Linux system to make Ophcrack can read data from raid
hard drivers.
So if the Ophcrack says no windows found, you have to download Raid Controller driver for the
office site of Raid vendor and install it to the Linux system. You can refer to the document of raid
controller to see how to install a Raid Controller driver to Linux system.
See www.isunshare.com
When you add driver to the Linux system and Ophcrack and find your 2008 system, you still may
come across the following problems: (1) Ophcrack cannot recover the password for the reason of
the password is too long. (2) If you Windows 2008 system is a domain server, Ophcrack doesn’t
work too. If you encounter these problems, you can try solution 3.
Reference: ophcrack.sourceforge.net
Solution 3: Use Windows Password Genius Raid to reset the lost password for Windows server
2008.
This option shows how to use premium software to reset administrator password for Windows
server 2008 raid server when you forgot it. With the software, you just need a few clicks to reset
the lost password, and you don’t need to be concerned with the raid driver.

3. Step 1: Download and install iSunshare Windows Password Genius Raid on an accessible
computer.
Step 2: Insert USB or CD/DVD disk, and then start password software to create a password boot
disk.
Step 3: Boot the locked server computer from the password boot disk. Set the locked server boot
from USB or CD/DVD drive, insert password boot disk, and then reboot the locked server. If have
trouble in setting your 2008 server computer to boot from USB or CD/DVD drive, please see How
to set computer to boot from USB drive, and how to set computer to boot from CD/DVD drive.
Step 4: When the password software starts, select administrator account or other account, and
then click “Reset” button to set a new password for it.
Step 5: “Reboot” the locked server, and you can login with the new password.
Reference: Windows Password Genius Raid Guide
Source: isunshare