I do have Cain 2.5 , so I got my SAM file with cain and I have the copy from the dir you said, and I cracked my sister password with my sam file that cain gets , but when I try to crack my sister's password with the copy it doesnt crack it, its a 6 char pass , and its up to 7.

does the whole c:WINDOWSrepair thing actually work?

all files in this directory are "workable" and it seems that they are a backup of your registry and it also contains the SAM file with your encrypted passwords. With l0phtcrack4 you should get your pwd at most in a week.

But there also tools to change the NT pwd without cracking it ! even if you don't know your old password (that's what is called windows security !!! )

But if you use encrypted file system then everything will be lost after you change the Password

yeah thats what im saying...how can you do it without messing stuff up

If your purpose is to retrieve your datas by changing the password, then you can go here : http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20348448.html or grab this Linux bootdisk tool : http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

"If used on users that have EFS encrypted files, and the system is XP or later service packs on win2k, all encrypted files for that user will be UNREADABLE! and cannot be recovered unless you remember the old password again "