Editing Syskey (section)

{{Short description|Discontinued Windows NT component}}
[[File:Syskey screenshot.png|thumbnail|Screenshot of the Syskey utility on the [[Windows 8.1]] operating system requesting the user to enter a password.]]

The '''SAM Lock Tool''', better known as '''Syskey''' (the name of its [[executable file]]), is a discontinued component of [[Windows NT]] that [[encryption|encrypts]] the [[Security Account Manager]] (SAM) [[database]] using a 128-bit [[RC4]] [[encryption key]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.technig.com/enable-syskey-to-protect-windows/|title=Enable Syskey To Protect Windows From Password Cracking|date=2015-04-06|work=Technig|access-date=2018-02-04|language=en-US}}</ref>

Introduced in the Q143475 hotfix for [[Windows NT 4.0]] SP3, the tool was removed in [[Windows 10]]'s Fall Creators Update in 2017 because its method of [[cryptography]] is considered insecure by modern standards and the fact that the tool has been widely employed in scams as a form of [[ransomware]]. Microsoft officially recommended use of [[BitLocker]] [[disk encryption]] as an alternative.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4034825/features-that-are-removed-or-deprecated-in-windows-10-fall-creators-up|title=Features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update|date=12 December 2017|website=Support|publisher=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4025993/syskey-exe-utility-is-no-longer-supported-in-windows-10-version-1709|title=Syskey.exe utility is no longer supported in Windows 10 version 1709 and Windows Server version 1709|date=20 October 2017|website=Support|publisher=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref>