At least I think that's what I might need, if there is such a thing?

Work have given me a new Windows 7 laptop and I wanted to copy back a load of stuff I copies off the old XP laptop to my home NAS drive. With Windows 7 I've lost the default admin rights I used to have, so now I can't connect to my NAS at home either via WiFi or direct with a crossover etherlink cable. I can see the NAS but it shows up as a "media device" and all I can do is opne up Twonky Media, if I try to "connect" normally (or double click) it wants to install some "PnPX Device Assocation" and I don't have the admin rights.

Using Twonky I can "download" one file at a time from the NAS to the work laptop, but that will take forever...

However, I can still read/write to external USB drives, so I wonder if there is a way to fool it into thinking the NAS drive is like an external USB hard drive, by plugging in a special lead ("null modem"?) with normal USB A plugs on each end?

Failing that I will have to transfer the files in several Gb chunks via an actual external USB drive. I suppose I could pull out one of the NAS drives and plug it into a USB cradle, but I don't have one for SATA, only IDE, but at least that would save the time copying from NAS to USB drive to laptop.

Any other suggestions?

A few years ago I used some kind of software tool to retrieve the administrator password of a Windows PC.
I don't remember what it was, only that it worked, and I didn't have to infect the computer with a load of malware to do it, but I might have had to pay a nominal fee for the tool.

If you use the search terms
recover windows administrator password windows xp

You'll find a pile of options.

There's no such thing as a null modem USB cable; it doesn't work like that.

If your system won't recognise/allow the NAS, you're a bit stuffed. There are USB A-A leads, and they're intended to work when you have something like the NAS presenting as a bulk drive. Whether or not the NAS understands this is another matter...

It doesn't look like my NAS will be happy to pretend being a "bulk drive" so I may have to resort to pulling off stuff bit by bit, or getting a cradle

Losing admin rights on the work laptop is a pain, I can't even empty the recycle bin!

Perhaps some discreet hacking is required

What you *might* try is putting the work's machine's laptop in a cradle and stuffing that in the side of something that can see the NAS (and understands the work's machine's file system).

I'd either use Cain and Abel to recover the admin password or linux live disc to copy across using crossover/wifi/usb

I don't think it's advisable for me to crack open the laptop to pull out the hard disk and put it in a cradle, I was thinking of pulling a NAS disk out instead.

I'll have to look at what "Cain and Abel" is, and although I could use a linux boot disc (have used kubuntu before) the laptop doesn't have a CD drive and no doubt has been configured to *not* boot from USB (but no harm in trying I suppose).

Can I use a crossover ethernet cable to directly connect the laptop to a PC? I do have a cable, and I think I got it to connect the NAS to another PC to copy stuff on there in the first place, but I could be mistaken.

You can sometimes use a crossover ethernet cable but not all ethernet ends are happy with it, but it's usually easier to use a hub.

Yes you can. Amazed to see nobody remembers laplink! They have done USB ever since 1998 or so.

http://www.laplink.com/index.php/individuals/pcmover-for-windows-8/cables/

Not saying it's cheap. Personally I'd just network them or use a USB harddrive.

I remember them and am amazed they are still going, I used to use parallel laplink cables back in the early 1990s.

Ah yes, LapLink, I have memories of that, not all fond. Predictably I can't change the boot order on the work laptop, but where there's a will (and a screwdriver), there's a way...

I can put the hard disk into another laptop that does allow me to boot from CD or floppy, and allows me to connect to the home network, then I can transfer the files.

Oh well, my brief career as a hacker are over. Swapped the hard disc into a home laptop and was greeted by "Windows Bitlocker" screen asking me for the encryption key...oh bu99er Now I'm in trouble....








....or not. Swapped the hard disks back and both laptops are working as they were before, phew! USB memory stick it is then...