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CLI Reference

ntdswolf <ntds.dit> [OPTIONS]

Arguments

Argument Description
ntds.dit Path to the NTDS.dit database file (required)

Options

Option Description
--system PATH Path to the SYSTEM registry hive for boot key extraction
--bootkey HEX Raw 32-character hex boot key (overrides --system)
-o, --output PATH Output directory (default: ntdswolf-output/)
-f, --format FORMAT Output format: ndjson, json, csv, hashcat, pwdump (default: ndjson)
-e, --extract CLASSES Comma-separated object classes to extract: users, computers, groups, trusts, domains, all (default: all)
-w, --workers N Number of parallel workers (default: 1)
--no-history Exclude password history hashes
--include-deleted Include deleted (tombstoned) objects (excluded by default)
--naming MODE Object naming: dn, sam, cn (default: dn)
--hashcat-username FIELD Username field in hashcat output lines: sam (sAMAccountName), upn, rid, or sid (default: sam)
-v, --verbose Verbose logging to stderr
-q, --quiet Suppress all non-error output
--version Print version and exit

Examples

# Auto-detect the SYSTEM hive next to the database
ntdswolf ntds.dit

# Provide the boot key directly
ntdswolf ntds.dit --bootkey aabbccdd11223344aabbccdd11223344

# Extract only password hashes in hashcat format
ntdswolf ntds.dit --system SYSTEM --format hashcat

# Full extraction to pwdump in a chosen directory
ntdswolf ntds.dit --system SYSTEM --format pwdump -o ./output/