how to HACK a password // Windows Edition

Introduction

This tutorial demonstrates how to ethically hack a password on a Windows computer using tools like Impacket and Hashcat. It highlights the process of extracting password hashes and cracking them, while emphasizing the importance of ethical hacking practices. This guide is meant for educational purposes only; always ensure you have permission before attempting any hacking activities.

Step 1: Prepare Your Environment

Before you start hacking, it’s essential to set up your environment correctly.

• Disable security features:
  • Disable the Windows firewall temporarily.
  • Enable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and add the target user to the RDP users group.
  • Disable the "DisableRestrictedAdmin" setting by running the following command in an administrator command prompt:

    reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa /t REG_DWORD /v DisableRestrictedAdmin /d 0x0 /f
    

Step 2: Access the Target Computer

You need access to the target computer to extract password hashes.

• Log into the target computer:

  • Ensure you have administrative access.
  • Open the Registry Editor (regedit).
  • Navigate to the following keys for password hashes:
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM

• Use Command Line to Save Registry Keys:

  • Launch Command Prompt as an administrator.
  • Run the following commands to save the necessary registry keys:

    reg save HKLM\SAM C:\sam.save
    reg save HKLM\SYSTEM C:\system.save
    

• Transfer the saved files:

  • Copy sam.save and system.save to a flash drive for further processing.

Step 3: Extract Password Hashes

Now that you have the saved registry files, you need to extract the password hashes.

• Use Impacket to dump hashes:
  • Make sure you have Impacket installed.
  • Run the following command in your terminal:

    impacket-secretsdump -sam /path/to/sam.save -system /path/to/system.save -local
    

  • Look for the NTLM hashes in the output. Copy the relevant hash for the target user.

Step 4: Crack the Password

With the NTLM hash in hand, you can now attempt to crack the password.

• Generate a password list:

  • Use the CUP (Common User Passwords) tool to create a list of potential passwords based on personal information:

    cup -i
    

  • Follow the prompts to input relevant information (e.g., name, birthday, etc.) to generate a list.

• Use Hashcat to crack the password:

  • Make sure Hashcat is installed.
  • Use the following command to start cracking:

    hashcat -m 1000 -a 0 /path/to/hashfile.txt /path/to/wordlist.txt
    

  • Replace /path/to/hashfile.txt with your hash file and /path/to/wordlist.txt with your generated password list.

• Check results:

  • After Hashcat runs, you can view cracked passwords with:

    hashcat -m 1000 --show /path/to/hashfile.txt
    

Step 5: Use the Cracked Password

Once you have the password, you can access the target computer.

• Remote access:

  • Use tools like Evil-WinRM for a shell:

    evil-winrm -i <Target_IP> -u <Username> -p <Password>
    

  • For RDP access, use:

    xfreerdp /u:<Username> /p:<Password> /v:<Target_IP>
    

• Pass the Hash Technique:

  • Alternatively, you can use the hash directly to authenticate:

    evil-winrm -i <Target_IP> -u <Username> -H <Hash>
    

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to ethically hack a Windows password by extracting and cracking password hashes. Always remember the importance of ethical hacking and gaining explicit permission before attempting these techniques. For further learning, consider exploring more about cybersecurity, ethical hacking practices, and the tools used in this tutorial.