Version 3.0 of Elcomsoft System Recovery was released by ElcomSoft, a boot-disk application that makes it easy to access your computer's Windows password settings. Elcomsoft System Recovery will give you access and let you troubleshoot problems that are preventing you from running Windows, if you're locked out of your computer.

Elcomsoft System Recovery works with local computer accounts, as well as with domain controllers, supporting the full range of Windows operating systems: Windows 2000, Windows NT4, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and now Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 released recently.

Elcomsoft System Recovery, under a special agreement with Microsoft, is based upon Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE), a hardware-independent minimal Windows system that replaces the antique DOS boot disk that was used to set up new computer systems. Microsoft recently upgraded Windows PE, and the latest version of Elcomsoft System Recovery fully supports the latest Windows PE system. You can run Elcomsoft System Recovery from a CD, DVD, or USB Flash Drive, unlike the original Windows PE system which required your computer to have a floppy disk drive.

Allowing you to access each of your computers without the need for third-party or proprietary software, Elcomsoft System Recovery is completely self-contained. Now you can troubleshoot all of your computers with a single, easy-to-use program.

The new version of Elcomsoft System Recovery includes built-in drivers for third-party SATA, RAID, and SCSI adapters from the most popular vendors, including Intel, VIA, NVIDIA, SiS, Promise, Adaptec, and LSI. There is no need to search the Internet for the latest hardware drivers, for most PCs. They are already contained in the Elcomsoft System Recovery boot disk.

Elcomsoft System Recovery can even back up the Windows Registry or Active Directory database onto your USB Flash disk.

It's easy to dump password hashes from SAM/SYSTEM files or from the Active Directory database, and write them to a text file for further analysis and password recovery. You can get a list of all user accounts (local or from the Active Directory database) and their properties, including Administrator accounts. Including the account of the Domain Administrator, it's simple to reset and change the passwords of any of these accounts.

The program supports Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008. Elcomsoft System Recovery supports, with full Unicode compliance, all US and non-US versions of Windows, with multilingual user names and passwords. The program detects which version of Windows you're using, and gives you access to your Registry files. Including RAID and SCSI devices, Elcomsoft System Recovery is completely compatible with all PC hardware.