Bypassing Windows Logon Security with Kon-Boot

I'd been looking for an excuse to try this out for a while, but as with such things, a reason presented itself that REQUIRED me to try Kon-Boot in order to get onto a Windows machine that I didn't have a password for.

The situation is this - a typical problem that presents itself to administrators is new starts with no notice, that is, a new person is coming into the company on Monday and I was told about it today. Today is Friday. The person is only going to be here for a short while but they still need a PC and access to the company network, so I had to rustle something up for them. There's been a spare PC on my desk for a while now and this seems the perfect opportunity to get rid of it for a while, however when I powered it up I realised why it was there in the first place. It works, but no-one can log on as no one has a clue what the local password is and it won't connect to the company domain so those user accounts are no good either.

I'd seen Kon-Boot on an episode of Hak5 and had sworn that I'd get round to trying it our for real. Not too long ago a friend of mine contacted me asking for advice on how to deal with the problem I've just been presented with and I suggested that he try this naughty little piece of software that's designed to get you through the pesky security on a windows computer. I'm not sure if he ever tried it but I vowed that I would.

So, this very afternoon I was finally given the excuse I needed to do this (legitimately) at work. I searched for the website (see links below) and downloaded the iso image for the Windows version. This I burned onto a disc which I used to boot the PC in question. Upon boot, you are presented with an old school boot screen that presents the credits for the developers of the software. This reminded me of the credits that used to go at the beginning of old Amiga games that had been craked and were a favorite of the kids at the school I attended back in the day - if you take a look at the Kon-Boot website you may notice some other references to the old Amiga systems.

Once you get beyond this screen another, similar screen lets you know the system is loading. From this point you are in familiar terrirtory as the XP loading screen is presented and the computer gets to the CTRL ALT DELETE prompt as normal. All is far from normal however, as once you press those three keys you can put in any old muck and the system will log you on.

That's it. You're in at that point and free to do whatever you please.


Links:
http://www.piotrbania.com/all/kon-boot/
http://www.hak5.org/episodes/episode-518