Dynamsoft Forums

10 Easy steps to recover VSS password

From: http://dotnet.org.za/gangatha/articles/19185.aspx

1. If you are running SourceSafe 3.04 or later, skip to the next step, otherwise find out the serial numbers by doing the following:
- Run SS\ADMIN\SERIALIZ -s <data directory>.
- Make a note of the serial number(s) that the program returns.
2. Create a temporary directory, such as C:\SSTEMP.
3. Print the USERS.TXT file, located in the main directory of the SourceSafe server installation. This will give you a list of current users that you can use later to add back into SourceSafe.
4. If you are using VSS 5 or older, run MKSS <temp directory>.
This executable can be found in the server copy of SourceSafe. If you are running SourceSafe 3.x, MKSS can be found in the ADMIN or WINNT directory. If you are running Visual SourceSafe 4.0, MKSS can be found in either the WIN or WIN32 directory. For example: MKSS C:\SSTEMP.
5. If you are using VSS 6, use the Admin tool to create a new database in the temporary folder
6. Run DDCONV <temp directory>. This executable can be found in the server copy of SourceSafe. If you are running Visual SourceSafe 4.0, DDCONV is located in either the WIN or WIN32 directory. For example: DDCONV C:\SSTEMP
7. If you are running SourceSafe 3.04 or later, skip to the next step, otherwise, reset the serial numbers by doing the following:
- Run SERIALIZ -s<serial number> <temp directory>.
- Repeat this step for each serial number.
8. Copy the UM.DAT file from the temporary directory to the SourceSafe data directory. Rename or Delete the RIGHTS.DAT and STATUS.DAT files in the SourceSafe data directory.
9. If you are running Visual SourceSafe 4.0, download the latest version of Analyze from the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ssafesupport and run ANALYZE.EXE with the -F switch. If you have Visual SourceSafe 5.0 or higher, you can run the Analyze in the Win32 subdirectory with the -F parameter.
10. Finally, with the administrator program, add all the users back into the system, using the USERS.TXT printout that you made in step 3. If you get "Access denied..." or "...directory already exists..." errors, just click the OK key.

Are there any different steps when trying to recover the VSS Admin password for SourceSafe 2005?

Hi,

Besides the methods mentioned above, you can also refer to the following post to recover the VSS Admin password:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums ... c32dd7fecc

Thanks.