I got a winxp machine and I need to get root access to it.
anyone?

I'll ask my nerd roomate when he gets home.

he's not completely sure what the problem would be. Could you describe the problem as specifically as you can? He thinks he can help with some more information.

Did you buy it secondhand or something?

What do you need to do? Did you forget the admin password and need it cracked?

try this:

This method isn't new but it still works like a charm. I didn't see it posted yet so I would like to share this with you all. This is very simple and very effective. Enjoy!

STEPS

1. Open a command prompt. I am sure you can figure this out, as there are many ways of going about it, even if some ways are blocked by administrators.

2. Execute the following command:
at 00:00 /interactive "cmd.exe"
Note: 00:00 is in Military Time. It should be changed to one minute ahead of the time that you run it. at the time you specify, a new command prompt should appear. You can now close your original command prompt.

3. Execute the following command and go to the processes tab:
taskmgr
Note: Alternatively you can press control+alt+delete, but this may be blocked.

4. End all "Explorer.exe" processes. Yes, your desktop will disappear

5. In your new command prompt, type explorer.exe and press enter.

6. Your desktop should restart after updating some settings and your username will be "System"

Congratulations! You now can change any Administrator's password and do just about anything you wish on that box.

heh, I gotta try that a little later.

Also, if you can't get into the machine at all (forgot password) you can use this bootable utility:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

it's a laptop from work that I don't want to f with. I just want to be able to use it.

if you use the steps that I posted, you have unrestricted acces to the whole machine

Oh, I forgot to mention that the bootup CD I linked to obviously doesn't work on domain stuff, it will just blank out the local passwords for the accounts you choose in the local SAM.

And those other directions don't appear to be working for me. I just tested it out on an unused machine here. Took the local account out of the administrators group and logged back in. Now when I tried to follow the instructions I keep getting an access denied message when using the AT command.