SAM database

Storage location of the SAM database

According to ChatGPT:

  • Main storage: %systemroot%\system32\config\sam

Eg. C:\Windows\System32\config\

  • Backup: %systemroot%\repair\sam._

Eg. C:\Window\repair\sam._

General format of values in a SAM database entry

username:RID:LM_hash:NT_hash:::

  1. username: Username of the account

  2. RID: Unique relative identifier value

  3. LM_hash: LM hash value. It is an older and weaker hash used for authentication. It created by appling the DES (Data Encryption Standard) algorithm on a given password.

  4. NT_hash: It is the more secure and widely used hash in modern Windows systems. It can be generated by using the MD4 hashing algorithm on the UTF-16 representation of a given password.

Example entry in the SAM database

jarrett:xxx:xxxx:xxxx:::

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