How to Hack Password of any Operating System
One thing any hacker should know is how to hack into login account of any operating system. Major Operating Systems that are used these days are Windows, Linux and Mac. So today I will show you how to hack into these Operating Systems. Are you curious how easy it is for someone to gain access to your computer? If so, read on to see the technique one might use to figure out your computer password.
Windows
Windows being very popular has a lot of programs available which can be used to hack the login password. One of the most successful program is Ophcrack, and it is free. Ophcrack is based on Slackware, and uses rainbow tables to solve passwords up to 14 characters in length. The time required to solve a password? Generally 10 seconds. The expertise needed? None.
Simply download the Ophcrack ISO and burn it to a CD (or load it onto a USB drive via UNetbootin). Insert the CD into a machine you would like to gain access to, then press and hold the power button until the computer shuts down. Turn the computer back on and enter BIOS at startup. Change the boot sequence to CD before HDD, then save and exit.
The computer will restart and Ophcrack will be loaded. Sit back and watch as it does all the work for your. Write down the password it gives you, remove the disc, restart the computer, and log in as if it were you own machine.
You can download OphCrack from the following link:
http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
Linux
Linux is an operating system which is quickly gaining popularity in mainstream, but not so common that you’re likely to come across it. Though Mac and Linux are both based on Unix, it is easier to change the password in Linux than it is OS X.
To change the password, turn on the computer and press the ESC key when GRUB appears. Scroll down and highlight ‘Recovery Mode’ and press the ‘B’ key; this will cause you to enter ‘Single User Mode’.
You’re now at the prompt, and logged in as ‘root’ by default. Type ‘passwd’ and then choose a new password. This will change the root password to whatever you enter. If you’re interested in only gaining access to a single account on the system, however, then type ‘passwd username’ replacing ‘username’ with the login name for the account you would like to alter the password for.
Mac
Finally we take on Mac’s OS X which as we said earlier is based on Unix and is difficult to change password compared to Linux but nothing is impossible to be hacked.
The easiest method would be to use Ophcrack on this also as it works with Mac and Linux in addition to Windows. However, there are other methods that can be used, as demonstrated below.
If the Mac runs OS X 10.4, then you only need the installation CD. Insert it into the computer, reboot. When it starts up, select UTILITIES > RESET PASSWORD. Choose a new password and then use that to log in.
If the Mac runs OS X 10.5, restart the computer and press COMMAND + S. When at the prompt, type:
fsck -fy
mount -uw /
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist
dscl . -passwd /Users/UserName newpassword
That’s it. Now that the password is reset, you can login.
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Konboot can be used to bypass everything. also I thought i should point out the method for mac and linux are identical… bot are booting into single user mode that any good admin has disabled. boot from a live cd instead
I have already explained about hacking using konboot in my previous article http://www.hungry-hackers.com/2009/10/hungry-hackers-toolkit.html .
Moreover I also mentioned that Mac and Linux are both Unix based and hence hacking passwords for both of them will be similar.
In case of Linux, your method will work only if root password hasn’t already been set. You said that ophcrack can be used in Linux as well. Can you point out, where to get the corresponding rainbow tables for Linux, for MD5, DES and (optionally) blowfish? Blowfish is used in opensuse.
nice post……nw i’ll hack my brothers computer.
So, this is really a pointless computer. You would have to be in front the computer you are trying to “hack” into to do this?
Who the hell is ever sitting in front of the physical computer they are actually trying to hack into?
Anyways, not practical in my eyes!
does it works on windows 7?
This will work for all the versions of Windows.
They Linux and Ma instructions are not hacks, but using system utilities. If you access either of these systems this way, then the owner will know something has been changed. Not many will think, oooppps the elves have changed my root password again
1. It’s CRACK not HACK! Hacking is good, it improves software.
2. windows: hashdump and john the ripper
3. linux/bsd: get root using grub or whatever, then john the ripper to combine and crack.
4. Linux one and Mac one aren’t crackers, they are resetters, which are bad for hiding.
These methods only work assuming no encrypted filesystem is in use.
Which Linux distribution are you talking about ?
What you describe matches none of the Linux machines I have available
Firstly, as has already been implied, if you have physical access to a machine you can do more or less what you want.
HOWEVER, it is possible in many BIOSs to password protect the BIOS itself, so your windows method will fail at that point.
More to the point, every linux distro I’ve used either
a) when you come up in single user mode, makes you supply the root password or
b) (e.g. ubuntu) doesn’t have a root password at all, uses sudo, but insists that you enter a sudo-allowed user password to get into single user mode.
And, once again, you require physical access to the machine.
There is nothing clever about this.
I agree with Dan, this is more of a crack or even a reset, than ‘hacking’; hacking refers to technical workarounds for good purposes, regardless of how the news uses these words.
Resetting a password on any OS is pretty simple with physical access to the machine itself and the correct LiveCD. Do note that on Linux, booting from Grub into single-user mode doesn’t always leave you as root without a password. Many still require the root password to get into that single user mode.
For those that were unaware of the ease of cracking or resetting passwords, this is only the beginning. If you’re running Windows, you’ve got a whole lot more security concerns than just this one!
Ophcrack is based on Slitaz, and independently developed mini-distribution, not on Slackware.
None of these methods will work if the computer has bios password protection, something any good admin would have installed.
Your linux method will only work if the root password hasn’t already been set. An easier way to do this (provided there is no BIOS protection) is to boot off a live CD and change the password in /etc/passwd to the encrypted value of whatever you wish to set the password to be
Regarding Linux,
Most Distro’s use the standard SysV-Init package which provides ’sulogin(8)’, from the man page:
“sulogin is invoked by init(8) when the system goes into single user mode (this is done through an entry in inittab(5)). Init also tries to execute sulogin when it is passed the -b flag from the bootmonitor (eg, LILO).
The user is prompted
Give root password for system login
(or type Control-D for normal startup):
sulogin will be connected to the current terminal, or to the optional device that can be specified on the command line (typically /dev/console).”
Therefore selecting single user mode from LiLo or GrUB will not just give you Root access.
However you can by-pass this like so:
when grub loads, press ESC, then press E twice (edit mode) first for the boot entry, second for the ‘Kernel Command Line’ entry.
Append: ‘init=/bin/sh’
Press Enter (to save it), and B (for boot).
When the kernel is done loading, instead of ‘exec /sbin/init’ it will ‘exec /bin/sh’
Now do the following;
#> mount -o rw /dev/{sd|hd}[n] /
(which ever it happens to be)
#> vi /etc/passwd
Change the second colon delimited field (should have an ‘x’) to either null or ‘your-passwd’
:wq
#> mount -o remount,ro /
Ctrl-Alt-Del
boot normally
Ctrl-Alt-F2 and login as root.
(The ‘x’ in the second column of /etc/passwd tells login(1) to use /etc/shadow for password lookups).
Apart from things already said, unless files/partitions are encrypted, using a live CD suffices to gain access to data. No password needed.
And if you really want to log (crack) in, making a backup copy of the (hashed) password-containing file before changing the password may help obscuring traces … the latter suggestion is concerning Linux, with Macs it should work similar, Windows I don’t know.
@Dan
I was going to say the same exact thing you said in #1!
This is not hacking. Hacking implies “without physical access to the machine.” Most security people know that once you have physical access there is no more security.
This is the reason that all my important stuff on the computer is on an encrypted drive with a 50 character password.
@dgrb: BIOS cannot save your computer from being Hacked (or Cracked as some of the commentators mentioned).
@Dan @Eric @lefty.crupps: I guess you are more concerned about the words that have been used instead of understanding the actual point of writing this article. I just wanted to draw your attention to how any OS can be Hacked (or Cracked Whatever) by even a layman.
I think it would be beneficial to all of us to discuss how to save your computer.
No Ashik. What you post in your reply may be true, that you merely wanted to illustrate a point that it’s damned simple to get around admin passwds if you can sit at the box – but when you try to detract from the fact that your original article is pretty much useless aside from that greater point, you learn nothing about communication. You failed in your responsibility.
Your article in its scope may be correct but it’s hogwash as written.
Unless you put in a grub password…
Huh! You people scare me!
First secure the case. Use a steal case with a good lock. Second remove extra boot devices. Disable booting from everything but the hard drive. No boot from CD-ROM, USB, etc. Enable password in BIOS required to access computer. Third password protect GRUB. Don’t display GRUB menu set hiddenmenu and set timeout 0 in grubs config file. Fourth set good password for root. Fifth encrypt important data.
Now a nice article about hacking the password on a reasonably secure system would be nice.
When I open the installer file of the windows ophcrack, which tables should i use in breaking through windows 7? Vista?
use cain and able for hack remotly,,
or THC hydra for remote password breaking
I think hacking is all about gaining access into any computer or domain without physical access or right to such computer. So we should talk more on hacking without physical access. Dude!
Once you have physical access to the machine then any computer (linux, windows, mac) can be cracked/hacked. as for bios password… that can be reset easily. if you fail to reset the bios password(through cmos) then you can flash the ROM using easily available software or remove harddrive and put in your own machine and poof! no more bios.. hahahaha.
as for online (non physical) hacking it is quite difficult to any OS that has been properly secured. even a windows box properly secured is impossible to hack unless you have worked on the OS project and you are aware of any ‘Backdoor’ eh?
not so great article. If some of the windows FS was encrypted you risk busting it forever. The respective tools warn about this danger.
The part about Linux is pretty week. What you describe can be achieved much easier, more comfortably and with less risk of damage with any bootable live-usb stick. Boot Ubuntu-live and examine the volumes on the hard disk – if someone was careless enough to leave them unencrypted. Ubuntu works great for windows filesystems BTW.
Well, you can hack almost everything if you got physical access
There is another way to hack windows (any).eg vista, Xp…so on.
You will not need any programs for this. Thats simple and time not wasted….
Step 1: Start pc and press F5 OR F8, Then a Black page should come up.
step 2.Click on safe mode, another page should come up with lot of commands. dont do any thing, just wait about 20 seconds or more.
step 3: Now it should start up like it usly starts. There will be and User that says Admin (if theres a password, you have to use that Ophcrack program. if not it should start up.
step 4:You are in safe mode. yeah… Now go make an user or hack a user. if you are not alound to change passwords on system there is another way to do so… Go to run and write: cmd. or if its blocked. go to notepade and write command.com and save it as command.bat and change it to all programs. Now go on Cmd and write in net user. This will show all the users on the system. now pick a user. then write: net user someone. This will show all the users things what they have done since they made the user. now to change there password write: net user someone *.<<<<the star as well and there is a space between someone and *. Now you have writen the password(note: when you write the pass theres no writing when you write it.
step 5: Restart the computer and log in. Now you have just hacked….
Written by a 13 year old kid… A white hat hacker/.lolz
have fun hacking…..
I did not tell you thisss. right…
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