Editing Syskey (section)

==History==
Introduced in the Q143475 hotfix included in [[Windows NT 4.0]] SP3,<ref name="bvskdottxt" /> Syskey was intended to protect against [[offline]] [[password cracking]] attacks by preventing the possessor of an unauthorized copy of the SAM file from extracting useful information from it.<ref name="bvskdottxt" />

Syskey can optionally be configured to require the user to enter the key during [[Booting|boot]] (as a startup password) or to load the key onto removable storage media (e.g., a [[floppy disk]] or [[USB flash drive]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/310105/how-to-use-the-syskey-utility-to-secure-the-windows-security-accounts|title=How to use the SysKey utility to secure the Windows Security Accounts Manager database|date=8 January 2018|website=Support|publisher=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref>

In mid-2017, Microsoft removed syskey.exe from future versions of Windows.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4025993/syskey-exe-utility-is-no-longer-supported-in-windows-10-windows-server|title=Syskey.exe utility is no longer supported in Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019|website=support.microsoft.com|access-date=2019-01-12}}</ref> Microsoft recommends using "[[BitLocker]] or similar technologies instead of the syskey.exe utility."