Apr 30, 2013 Windows Server OEM licensing is cheaper, but not always. Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition (Open Business Version): $879.00.

Many people take a dim view of password recovery tools for ethical reasons — understandably so. You have a tool that can, in some cases, crack passwords on machines. But in certain situations, these tools wind up being the last ditch effort that can save you from having to go as far as reinstalling the operating system. Imagine losing your Windows Server administrator password and not having the means to retrieve it. Would you want to have to reinstall? Not on your life!

In such a tricky situation, a password recovery tool may be your only recourse. Let's take a look at five 'free' password recovery tools. I say 'free' because in some cases there are tables that must be purchased (such as rainbow tables) to break some types of passwords. Note: This list is also available as a. 1: LCP ( Figure A) is a user-account password recovery tool for Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. This tool can recover using a dictionary attack, brute force attack, or a hybrid dictionary/brute force attack. LCP allows you to import from a local computer, remote computer, SAM file,.LC file, LCS file, PwDump file, and Sniff file.

As with many of these applications, you should avoid using your machine while LCP recovers passwords, as it will consume the majority of your machine resources for the crack. Figure A LCP 2: Ophcrack ( Figure B) is one of the most popular password recovery tools.

It's free (open source as well), cross platform, and very reliable. Ophcrack uses a solid implementation of rainbow tables that just happens to have been done by those who created the method. Ophcrack runs on Windows, Linux/UNIX, and Mac.

It cracks LM and NTLM hashes; has free tables for XP, Vista, and 7; includes a brute-force module for simple passwords; offers an audit mode and a CSV export; presents real-time graphs; has a LiveCD for easier (and more efficient) recovery; and dumps and loads hashes from encrypted SAM. Figure B Ophcrack 3: Windows Key ( Figure C) can reset your Windows password for you. This is different from the other tools, in that it doesn't recover a list of user passwords or even recover from a file.

Windows Key creates a bootable CD (or USB device) you can use to boot the machine and recover the password. It's simple to use, and it can reset both local (standard version) and domain admin account (Enterprise edition only) passwords.

It promises a 100% recovery rate. Although Windows Key has a free trial, you'll have to pony up for the full version (Standard $39.00 USD, Enterprise $295.00 USD) before you can really recover any passwords. Figure C Windows Key 4: Windows Password Unlocker ( Figure D) also creates a USB or CD that can then be booted to recover passwords. There are three editions of this tool: Standard ($19.95 USD), Professional ($29.95 USD), and Enterprise ($49.95 USD). The biggest difference is that only the Enterprise and Professional editions can recover passwords. (Enterprise can even recover domain admin password.) The standard version simply removes the passwords, and it doesn't support the USB flashdrive method. Windows Password Unlocker 5: Hash Suite ( Figure E) is marketed as a program designed to test the security of password hashes.

It's incredibly powerful and offers high performance (one of the fastest crackers available), an easy-to-use GUI, reports and statistics, and all the features of modern crackers. It also works on large number of hashes. This is the go-to tool when you need to recover (or test) a number of password hashes. Please note: To successfully use this tool, you will need to employ a pwdump tool to gain the necessary hashes for Hash Suite to crack.

Figure E Hash Suite To the rescue There will come a time when you need to crack a password — and when that time comes, you'll be glad you have a recovery tool available. Yes, there can be tricky ethics to deal with.

But when you need to recover a password, sometimes there is no way around it. Get familiar with one (or more) of these tools so you won't have to resort to reinstalling an OS when a simple cracker will solve the problem.

Woody Walton I commonly encounter partners that buy and then resell Microsoft OEM licensing, especially Windows Server and the Windows Client. The typical reason for this is usually price, but the ease of purchase also comes into play. There certainly is a measure of convenience in obtaining a server for instance with a copy of Windows Server 2012 preinstalled, or “with” the server as included media. As an employee of Microsoft I am always happy when a server is sold with a Windows operating system, but I sometimes cringe when I hear that the version of Windows purchased is not up to the task at hand. What do I mean by that? Well as with everything else you what what you pay for.

If all you want is a copy of the current Windows Server operating system installed on the server and you never intend to do anything beyond have that one physical server do its particular job and do not intend to engage in any complex scenarios (and today rather common ones) than more power to you. Be warned however that when you or your customer venture into the realm of virtualization, backup, deploying a standardized image, support, and many other areas, the OEM Windows Server License may not be the best value, nor the best price. Let’s take a closer look. If we take Windows Server 2012 Standard edition as an example, you can find it on the internet from varying suppliers for the approximate prices listed below: Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition (OEM Version): $778.00 Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition (Open Business Version): $879.00 Basically there is $100 dollars difference in price. If we are speaking quantities of product that really can up too, right? Honda Cb400 Service Manual Free Download on this page. Sure, If your customer needs four server licenses you may save $400 on the front end, but upon a closer examination you may be better served with other licensing options such as with the slightly more expensive open license versions for a number of reasons that I alluded to above. To be specific OEM licensing has many limitations: • Licenses are non-transferable (to another computer) • Licenses expires with the hardware • A change of motherboard or processor will deem an OEM license invalid and a new license will have to be purchased as it is similar to changing to a new system • There is No upgrade path • You will need to keep the COA (certificate of authenticity) and invoice (OEM license is purchased with hardware) as proof of license • No on-line tracking • No re-imaging rights.

You cannot create custom images and deploy using third Microsoft or third party tools • If a license is lost, damaged in fire/flood or stolen, new licenses needs to be purchased as there is no way of replacing those licenses as Microsoft does not keep track of the licenses. • Each install has different license key and will need to be activated online.

You cannot use a Volume license key to install OEM licenses • No multiple language rights • Support is the responsibility of the OEM reseller (probably you), not Microsoft.. There are other limitations, some for applications such as Microsoft Office prohibit RDS (Terminal Services installation).

I encourage you to look at the OEM Software Licensing: Rules and Restrictions document that can be found as it answers the most common questions. If any of the above limitations are a concern for the customer I would encourage you to look at our volume licensing options. Another way to combat these limitations and to add additional capability is to attach Software Assurance directly to the OEM purchase. The customer has 90 days from the purchase date to add.

As a type of Volume License, Software Assurance confers even more benefits that may be useful while addressing the limitations inherent to the OEM license. This option is more expensive however.

As an aside, it may be useful to know that when you purchase Microsoft OEM or volume licensing, in order to receive revenue credit with Microsoft (and therefore be eligible for rebates and recognition), your purchases must be made through an authorized distributor. A list of authorized distributors can be found. I'm currently putting a proposal together for a client who want to use virtuaisation and am trying to clarify the licensing.

From what I gather, 2012 Standard can be used in vrtualisation but when you want to move a VM from one physical server to another, thats fine. But when you want to move it back, strickly this should be done for 90 days otheriwse you breech Microsoft licensing terms. With Datacentre edition, there are no restrictions.

Does this apply to earlier versions of Windows Server such as 2008 R2? Regards Matthew.