Thinkpads Forum

hello all

bit of a problem (to say the least!) with my partner's T60. she updated some of the IBM software (especially the wireless stuff) with the software installer and proceeded to reboot after only to effectively get locked out of windows.

none of the passwords she's ever had work and she *really* needs to get in to retreive her files so a total reinstall is not an option at this point. any ideas?

alfio

If you can't regain access to XP, one possibility could be:

- boot with a linux live CD distribution with support for usb and ntfs filesystem (all versions have it I guess);
- attach an additional USB hd, with an ntfs file system on it;
- copy all needed files from internal hd to usb hd;
- restore to factory the thinkpad;
- within the newly installed XP copy back all the files from the usb disk.

Hoping this may help you
Neb

little a wrote:hello all

bit of a problem (to say the least!) with my partner's T60. she updated some of the IBM software (especially the wireless stuff) with the software installer and proceeded to reboot after only to effectively get locked out of windows.

none of the passwords she's ever had work and she *really* needs to get in to retreive her files so a total reinstall is not an option at this point. any ideas?

alfio

Hi!

Sorry, if I misunderstood her problem, but I'm guessing that after the update her T60 wants her to sign into her admin account. My T60 has done the same at least twice to me after updating.

She should sign into that account and then reboot. Everything should be as before. I ended up uninstalling my Think Access proggie, and after that I've had a much faster system. I'm guessing some kind of a conflict with the Intel card or Windows wireless system. Anyhow, nowadays the Intel card works happy as a clam.

little a wrote:none of the passwords she's ever had work and she *really* needs to get in to retreive her files so a total reinstall is not an option at this point. any ideas?

You can use the repair option in the Windows XP install and then reset the passwords. Detailed instructions here:

http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0 ... asp?ID=305

tomh009 wrote:

little a wrote:none of the passwords she's ever had work and she *really* needs to get in to retreive her files so a total reinstall is not an option at this point. any ideas?

You can use the repair option in the Windows XP install and then reset the passwords. Detailed instructions here:

http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0 ... asp?ID=305

this seems to be the best idea but the windows cd/promt will not recognize the existing HD. any way around this?

Nebzar wrote:If you can't regain access to XP, one possibility could be:

- boot with a linux live CD distribution with support for usb and ntfs filesystem (all versions have it I guess);
- attach an additional USB hd, with an ntfs file system on it;
- copy all needed files from internal hd to usb hd;
- restore to factory the thinkpad;
- within the newly installed XP copy back all the files from the usb disk.

Hoping this may help you
Neb

can you break down the first step a bit more? for instance, where does one get such a CD (does this work? http://www.linux-live.org/)

this solution would also work.. actually, anything that doesn't erase all her files before we can copy onto another HD would be great

little a wrote:this seems to be the best idea but the windows cd/promt will not recognize the existing HD. any way around this?

What Windows version of the install CD are you booting with?

tomh009 wrote:

little a wrote:this seems to be the best idea but the windows cd/promt will not recognize the existing HD. any way around this?

What Windows version of the install CD are you booting with?

i have a copy of XP pro SP2 (same thing that is installed with the computer)

i also have the recovery CDs (from IBM) but i'm not sure which has the windows repair option

little a wrote:i have a copy of XP pro SP2 (same thing that is installed with the computer)

i also have the recovery CDs (from IBM) but i'm not sure which has the windows repair option

Hmm, XP SP2 includes the SATA driver. I didn't think you would need a T60-specific SATA driver, but it's sounding like you do. I don't see one on the Lenovo web site, though.

tomh009 wrote:r. I didn't think you would need a T60-specific SATA driver, but it's sounding like you do. I don't see one on the Lenovo web site, though.

i know, it's weird that it's not finding the HD. you think the IBM specific recovery disks would be better?

little a wrote:

tomh009 wrote:r. I didn't think you would need a T60-specific SATA driver, but it's sounding like you do. I don't see one on the Lenovo web site, though.

i know, it's weird that it's not finding the HD. you think the IBM specific recovery disks would be better?

If they give you the repair option, yes. Just be careful that you don't blow away your install if there is no repair option ...

little a wrote:

Nebzar wrote:If you can't regain access to XP, one possibility could be:

- boot with a linux live CD distribution with support for usb and ntfs filesystem (all versions have it I guess);
- attach an additional USB hd, with an ntfs file system on it;
- copy all needed files from internal hd to usb hd;
- restore to factory the thinkpad;
- within the newly installed XP copy back all the files from the usb disk.

Hoping this may help you
Neb

can you break down the first step a bit more? for instance, where does one get such a CD (does this work? http://www.linux-live.org/)

this solution would also work.. actually, anything that doesn't erase all her files before we can copy onto another HD would be great

I used Knoppix some time ago, it works well:

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Download the iso image and burn it, then reboot with the cd inserted. It will not erase any existing file, so you can try without worries. At worst you will not be able to see the hd, but i am confident you will

regards

Backtrack a little bit here to the original post, and then the post that says "cannot find the HD".

It seems that the HD itself may be protected. So, the first thing I would do is hit the blue key immediately upon startup to get into the BIOS and turn off the BIOS password and HD password, if one or both are set, and turn off the computer, turn it on again and keep tapping the F8 key until Windows boot loader shows a menu of options. If the administrator password was never set (it happens) then logging in in safe mode as Administrator with the password empty might do the trick.

I would try this before trying to break in with some other utility, because if passwords are stored in the security chip those utilities will do no good, and can in fact cause irreparable damage. Hopefully she did go at least once through the security setup where you set up 3 questions with secret responses for when this situation happens.

If that fails, I would contact Lenovo tech support and insist to escalate to another level of support is the only answer provided is "reformat".

little a,
I confirm that Knoppix indeed works: I downloaded and burned the iso image (a .iso file of approx 700 mb from the link above), and booted my T60 from the cd.

Knoppix sees perfectly the sata internal disk with all its partitions and all the files stored on them, and also sees the external usb disk.

So you can transfer the files. But... all the volumes are initially read-only, so I guess you must mount them read/write in order to transfer files. I am not sure of the commands you must use for that, so I advise you (if you decide to go this way) to have at hand a linux-competent friend

Regards

thanks all for your advice/comments

i was able to circumvent windows by using ibm's recovery platform (F11) and using the copy files option. i still have two chances to get back in using that same interface, one would be to repair windows only and the other to use the 'recover passphrase' option. i'll try both tomorrow and post the results. at least for now we know that we've not lost her files. thanks again

alfio

Just a suggestion but it should resolve any sata access issues. In the bios switching to sata compatability mode eliminates the need for the intel sata driver and should make the sata drive visible.

Hi,
Unless you are using EFS (Encrypting File System) this will let you overwrite existing Admin password. It's a bootable CD image which you have to burn on a CD and boot your notebook with it. Please note that it will overwrite your XP's GUID value, turning your system into a mess (many startup errors) but you can access all your data and OS. You could get it back to an operational environment if you have technical background but takes some work:
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

If the CD doen't recognize your HDD (SATA Driver), change your SATA to COMPATIBILITY mode in setup.

HTH,
Hamid

Nebzar wrote:If you can't regain access to XP, one possibility could be:

- boot with a linux live CD distribution with support for usb and ntfs filesystem (all versions have it I guess);
- attach an additional USB hd, with an ntfs file system on it;
- copy all needed files from internal hd to usb hd;
- restore to factory the thinkpad;
- within the newly installed XP copy back all the files from the usb disk.

Hoping this may help you
Neb

Just a little side note: if you go this way to recover your stuff, make sure the external USB hd isn't NTFS. NTFS write support still isn't working in linux, but NTFS read support is ok. So use FAT32 on the external hd for best compability.

ok so i backed up all her data using lenovo rescue and recovery option and made sure that we could, in fact, see everything in the external HD. although the docs were read only, it did back everything up.

i returned the HD to the factory specs but now the files on the external drive are GONE!!! i'm hoping that the files are in fact still there but somehow hidden from view. i've tried looking for them on another PC, made sure 'show hidden folders option' was checked.


is there anyting i am missing? i'm fairly sure the files are still there but somehow hidden (the space on the HD doesn't make sense otherwise) but i cannot see them.

any ideas would be greatly appreciated

phew.

files are still on the secondary HD. i used Knoppix and i can see them but they are write-protected. how can i get them into a format that i can see on my windows platform?

ok so using Knoppix i was able to burn a DVD with all her files (as full files, not just read only) and then transfered them back to her refreshed HD.

thanks all for your help, problem solved. probably not the most practical way but everything was recovered. so much for windows vaunted security and password.

alfio


PS: the external HD i used was formatted as NTFS

I'm glad you succeeded in retrieving all the files

Regards
Neb