SAM Database corrupt after using Syskey

[Tom Smith]

Windows 2000 Pro SP3 - up to date patches. I used Syskey
to encrypt my SAM and entered my own password. Tried
rebooting and could not get it to logon (wrong password I
guess, kept rebooting - at syskey startup prompt). Now I
don't even get the password prompt. I get a lsass.exe -
System error. Sam database could not be initialized.

Tried ERD, no change. Can't get into emergency console
because it wants an admin password which can't be read
from the SAM. I could use NTFS for Dos to get in, but
what could I do to rebuild the SAM?

Any help would be greatly apprecaited.

Tom Smith

 

[Steven L Umbach]

Tom. That sounds like a tough situation. Only thing I can think of is to try reaming
sam and then rebooting which should create a new one and the administrator password
will be null/blank. I do not know what effect that will have on syskey, but I think
at this point it is worth a try. --- Steve