This pdf document is for people who want to learn to the how and why of password cracking. There is a lot of information being presented and you should READ IT ALL BEFORE you attempted doing anything documented here.
Here is the table of contents

1 LM vs. NTLM
2 Syskey
3 Cracking Windows Passwords
   3.1 Extracting the hashes from the Windows SAM
      3.1.1 Using BackTrack Tools
         3.1.1.1 Using bkhive and samdump v1.1.1 (BT2 and BT3)
         3.1.1.2 Using samdump2 v2.0.1 (BT4)
         3.1.1.3 Cached Credentials
      3.1.2 Using Windows Tools
         3.1.2.1 Using fgdump
         3.1.2.2 Using gsecdump
         3.1.2.3 Using pwdump7
         3.1.2.4 Cached Credentials
   3.2 Extracting the hashes from the Windows SAM remotely
      3.2.1 Using BackTrack Tools
         3.2.1.1 ettercap
      3.2.2 Using Windows Tools
         3.2.2.1 Using fgdump
   3.3 Cracking Windows Passwords
      3.3.1 Using BackTrack Tools
         3.3.1.1 John the Ripper BT3 and BT4
            3.3.1.1.1 Cracking the LM hash
            3.3.1.1.2 Cracking the NTLM hash
            3.3.1.1.3 Cracking the NTLM using the cracked LM hash
            3.3.1.1.4 Cracking cached credentials
         3.3.1.2 John the Ripper - current
            3.3.1.2.1 Get and Compile
            3.3.1.2.2 Cracking the LM hash
            3.3.1.2.3 Cracking the LM hash using known letter(s) in known location(s) (knownforce)
            3.3.1.2.4 Cracking the NTLM hash
            3.3.1.2.5 Cracking the NTLM hash using the cracked LM hash (dumbforce)
            3.3.1.2.6 Cracking cached credentials
         3.3.1.3 Using MDCrack
            3.3.1.3.1 Cracking the LM hash
            3.3.1.3.2 Cracking the NTLM hash
            3.3.1.3.3 Cracking the NTLM hash using the cracked LM hash
         3.3.1.4 Using Ophcrack
            3.3.1.4.1 Cracking the LM hash
            3.3.1.4.2 Cracking the NTLM hash
            3.3.1.4.3 Cracking the NTLM hash using the cracked LM hash
      3.3.2 Using Windows Tools
         3.3.2.1 John the Ripper
            3.3.2.1.1 Cracking the LM hash
            3.3.2.1.2 Cracking the NTLM hash
            3.3.2.1.3 Cracking the NTLM hash using the cracked LM hash
            3.3.2.1.4 Cracking cached credentials
         3.3.2.2 Using MDCrack
            3.3.2.2.1 Cracking the LM hash
            3.3.2.2.2 Cracking the NTLM hash
            3.3.2.2.3 Cracking the NTLM hash using the cracked LM hash
         3.3.2.3 Using Ophcrack
            3.3.2.3.1 Cracking the LM hash
            3.3.2.3.2 Cracking the NTLM hash
            3.3.2.3.3 Cracking the NTLM hash using the cracked LM hash
         3.3.2.4 Using Cain and Abel
      3.3.3 Using a Live CD
         3.3.3.1 Ophcrack
4. Changing Windows Passwords
   4.1 Changing Local User Passwords
      4.1.1 Using BackTrack Tools
         4.1.1.1 chntpw
      4.1.2 Using a Live CD
         4.1.2.1 chntpw
         4.1.2.2 System Rescue CD
   4.2 Changing Active Directory Passwords
5 plain-text.info
6 Cracking Novell NetWare Passwords
7 Cracking Linux/Unix Passwords
8 Cracking networking equipment passwords
   8.1 Using BackTrack tools
      8.1.1 Using Hydra
      8.1.2 Using Xhydra
      8.1.3 Using Medusa
      8.1.4 Using John the Ripper to crack a Cisco hash
   8.2 Using Windows tools
      8.2.1 Using Brutus
9 Cracking Applications
   9.1 Cracking Oracle 11g (sha1)
   9.2 Cracking Oracle passwords over the wire
   9.3 Cracking Office passwords
   9.4 Cracking tar passwords
   9.5 Cracking zip passwords
   9.6 Cracking pdf passwords
10 Wordlists aka Dictionary attack
   10.1 Using John the Ripper to generate a wordlist
   10.2 Configuring John the Ripper to use a wordlist
   10.3 Using crunch to generate a wordlist
   10.4 Generate a wordlist from a textfile or website
   10.5 Using premade wordlists
   10.6 Other wordlist generators
   10.7 Manipulating your wordlist
11 Rainbow Tables
   11.1 What are they?
   11.2 Generating your own
      11.2.1 rcrack - obsolete but works
      11.2.2 rcracki
      11.2.3 rcracki - boinc client
      11.2.4 Generating a rainbow table
   11.3 WEP cracking
   11.4 WPA-PSK
      11.4.1 airolib
      11.4.2 pyrit
12 Distributed Password cracking
   12.1 john
   12.2 medussa (not a typo this is not medusa)
13 using a GPU
   13.1 cuda - nvidia
   13.2 stream - ati

Cracking_Passwords_Guide.pdf