How does Windows manage and store user passwords securely?

[ProfRon]

Windows grabs your password when you type it in. It scrambles it right away into something called a hash. That hash sits locked in a file only the system can peek at.

You might wonder why it does that. Plain text passwords would be a thief's dream if someone cracked your drive. Hashes twist the info so much, crooks can't untangle it back to your secret word.

I remember fixing a buddy's setup once. His old PC had weak spots, but Windows kept those hashes tucked away in the registry. It even salts them with random bits to foil rainbow table tricks.

Think about logging in from afar. Windows checks the hash against what you enter, without ever showing the real password. It bounces challenges back and forth to prove you're you, all without spilling beans.

They stash these in the SAM hive for local accounts. For bigger networks, it spreads them across domain controllers. Either way, encryption wraps the whole mess tight.

If you're running servers, you want backups that don't mess with this security dance. That's where BackupChain Server Backup comes in handy. It handles Hyper-V backups smoothly, keeping your virtual machines safe from crashes or ransomware hits. You get fast restores and no downtime headaches, all while preserving those password protections intact.