Recovery Issue

[zebraengine]

I am undoubtly the biggest idiot on this planet. That being said let me try to explain my problem.

I installed SafeGuard Client on my PC. Its meant to keep bad people away and require the user to use a password at boot up in order to log into windows. Here is where my stupidity comes in. I rushed through the installation and now when i boot my PC i'm confronted with a request to enter a password which i promplty put in but apparently i'm using the wrong one. Since this program runs at boot up how can i get around it? Could it be possible to delete the program off the hard drive and expect it to boot up normaly as if it weren't there in the first place? I can look at the files with my knoppix 4.0 DVD, but i'm afraid of deleting the program and leaving the BOOT up password promt still up at start up. I'm honstly completely lost on where to go from here so if anyone could help me out it would be great.

[Harry Kuhman]

What version of Windows are you using, and more importantly what pertition type do you have on the hard disk. This is important because if you are using NTFS partitions, the default for XP, then you cannot write to the disk with Knoppix (including deleting files), and if you do manage to do so you will likely destroy the partition. The best thing that you might be able to do is backup any data and then reinatall Windows from scratch, less the "security program".

If you are running Win98 or other than a NTFS version of Windows you might be able to delete something, but if I were writing such an application I would make sure that it wasn't so simple to defeat it. Time to do your homework about how the application works and how to work around it.

[zebraengine]

I'm using XP so looks like i'll have to delete the partition.

Sony was so kind to not provide me with a recovery disk but instead placed a hidden partioin for recovery.
So basically my Hard drive is split up as follows:
hda1 6gigs NTFS ACTIVE ( I believe this is the hidden recovery partion)
hda2 13gigs NTFS
hda3 129gigs EXTENDED

Could it be possible to delete the hda2 13 gig partion then use the 6 gig recovery one to reinstall windows?

I also have another harddrive on my PC with knoppix DVD 4.0 installed onto the hard drive so i'm thinking once i delete that partion i can then log into linux set up grub to read hda1(recovery) then once i restart run off that partition then install xp....

[ckamin]

BEFORE you start to delete partitions, lose information, and spend hours reinstalling Windows or spending time and effort guessing, why not do two things. Look at the documentation provided by SONY about your system recovery process. It may be a little easier to follow THEIR directions, rather than do something by guessing. The second is that I strongly recommend that you contact the software company that produced the "SafeGuard Client" that you installed and see if THEY have a way to fix it. If they wrote it, they should be able to fix it, unless they are named Micro$oft.

[zebraengine]

Where would a program reside on the hard drive that would allow it the capability to check and see if the MBR has been changed and if so replace it with the previous unaltered-MBR?

I'm reading up on partitions and MBR at: http://mirror.href.com/thestarman/asm/mbr/Win2kmbr.htm, but its a bit over my head and its going to take some time before i'm able to understand all that i'm reading and proceed with a recovery attempt :( . I've contacted http://www.utimaco.com/ so it should take a few days for them to contact me if at all since i did not purchase the product. I'll have to use knoppix to look into the installation folder and see if i can gleem any info on what it may be doing.

Any ideas on how i should approach this issue? The way i see it is if i can overcome the program that is telling my hard drive where to boot from and what codes to run....then maybe i could possibly make it run an altered MBR that would then proceed to load windows without the prompt for a password.

Feel free to correct my thinking since i'm not sure if this is at all plausible. :oops:

[zebraengine]

probably should add some more info on here:

Before i installed the program i had a multiboot system with windows XP on one hard drive (hda) and linux knoppix 4.0 on hard drive (hdb)
I usede GRUB boot loader not sure what version it is.

Here is the process that GRUB runs through while attempting to get you started:
GRUB boot process


1. The BIOS finds a bootable device (hard disk) and moves control to the master boot record (MBR, the first 512 bytes of the hard disk).
2. The MBR contains GRUB stage 1. Because the MBR is small, Stage 1 does little more than load the next stage of GRUB (which may be physically located elsewhere on the disk). Stage 1 can either load stage 1.5, or it can load Stage 2 directly.
3. GRUB Stage 1.5 is located in the first 30 kilobytes of hard disk immediately following the MBR. Stage 1.5 loads Stage 2.
4. GRUB Stage 2 (loaded by Stage 1 or 1.5) is passed control, and the user is presented with the GRUB boot menu.
5. GRUB loads the user selected kernel into memory and passes on control to the kernel. (For less well-supported operating systems, control is handed off to another bootloader which then continues the process of loading that kernel).

Now since none of this takes place then i'm left to assume that my BIOS is finding the device and moves the control over to the MBR, but since i have that software installed its altered my MBR so now it runs god knows what codes then proceeds to ask me for a password.

[ckamin]

If you can figure out how to get to the Windows XP recovery console, you can use the command "fixmbr" to restore a previous version of the MBR on that partition. I am NOT sure just what this will do since you have an altered MBR to begin with. I get to the recovery console by booting the XP install CD and booting into the recovery console. There are other ways, since you said your system came without recovery or Install discs. The Recovery Console might even be installed on your machine. You can download the Windows XP XP Boot Disks can be found at the following links. Be sure to use the right Version, Pro or Home and SP-2 if it is up to date:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=15491F07-99F7-4A2D-983D-81C2137FF464&displaylang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=535D248D-5E10-49B5-B80C-0A0205368124&displaylang=en
Here are a few links to help you out.
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,112479,00.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654
http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxprcons.htm

I am sure there are many more ways to fix your system, but you should do some research before doing ANYTHING and making your situation worse. If you need to get out of the hole you have dug for yourself, the first thing you need to do is to STOP digging! There is a wealth of information out there and most of it can be found with Google or just searching within the Micro$oft site.

One recommendation I will make about this situation. You can restore the system back to it's original configuration of running Windows XP. Recover whatever files you need to keep BEFORE restoring your drive. Then save the experimentation with various versions of Linux, multiboot installations, etc, for another system that you use JUST for that type of experimentation. When something goes bad, as it has in this case, you can then wipe it clean and start over without breaking a sweat. A second system with enough horsepower to run Knoppix or most other versions of Linux can be had for very little money AND you can use a KVM to switch your monitor, keyboard, mouse, and even sound between the systems. Just remember to back up everything you might need BEFORE doing ANYTHING!