Account Profiles Deleted - Cannot remember password - Cannot hard

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G

Guest

Hello-

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop running Windows XP Home with Service Pack
2 installed. I was having some issues with viruses and the like, so
installed Norton Internet Security 2006. After finally getting LiveUpdate to
work (a previous version would not connect properly), I downloaded about 2
hours worth of installs, which, when finished, prompted me to restart Windows.

When restarted the machine, Windows had lost my two login accounts, so the
only way to get into Windows was by pressing Contral+Alt+Delete, and entering
a password. I have no idea what the password is, as I've never locked down
the machine. Hence, I can't get in.

I've tried to go into the BIOS at startup (pressing F8), to get the machine
to boot to the CD, so I could do a complete restore, but changing the boot
disc is not an option. Is there anything I can do here, aside from replacing
the drive, or throwing away the machine?

Would greatly appreciate any help...

Regards
 
Erik said:
When restarted the machine, Windows had lost my two login accounts, so the
only way to get into Windows was by pressing Contral+Alt+Delete, and entering
a password. I have no idea what the password is, as I've never locked down
the machine. Hence, I can't get in.
Click to expand...

The accounts may not be wiped: "How to Change the Logon Window and the
Shutdown Preferences" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291559).
Also see "How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or
Your Password Expires" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321305).
 
Hello Thorsten-

Thanks you so much for the prompt response. I looked at both of these
articles, and neither worked, unfortunately. The first link assumes that I
know the password, when I do not - I never set a password for the users, and
I've tried every one of my others. When I tried to log in as the
administrator in SAFE mode, I got the error message "The local policy of this
system does not permit you to logon interactively".

Is there any way around this lock out? My PC won't give me the option of
booting from my CD drive, so my backup discs are worthless, and Windows won't
let me enter in command prompt mode, so I can't start from scratch, and
delete Windows altogether.

I can't see this being the first case where someone has been locked out of a
perfectly good pc- is there a nuclear option at startup I can use to wipe the
PC and start over?

Many thanks again for your help.
 
Hi,

You can use Active@ Password Changer utility to quickly reset lost or
unknown password. That is a really useful tool, it helped me before in
a simmilar situation, it's small yet really powerful. Try it out, I bet
that will help.

http://www.password-changer.com/
 
Erik said:
Hello Thorsten-

Thanks you so much for the prompt response. I looked at both of these
articles, and neither worked, unfortunately. The first link assumes that I
know the password, when I do not - I never set a password for the users, and
I've tried every one of my others. When I tried to log in as the
administrator in SAFE mode, I got the error message "The local policy of this
system does not permit you to logon interactively".

Is there any way around this lock out? My PC won't give me the option of
booting from my CD drive, so my backup discs are worthless, and Windows won't
let me enter in command prompt mode, so I can't start from scratch, and
delete Windows altogether.

I can't see this being the first case where someone has been locked out of a
perfectly good pc- is there a nuclear option at startup I can use to wipe the
PC and start over?

Many thanks again for your help.
Click to expand...

Go to http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ and download the boot
disk, this will enable you to reset any system password on an NT class
operating system.

If you cannot boot from the CD and your machine has a floppy drive then
download the relevent boot floppy set from:-

Windows XP Home Edition Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=E8FE6868-6E4F-471C-B455-BD5AFEE126D8

Windows XP Professional Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=55820EDB-5039-4955-BCB7-4FED408EA73F

Make sure you get the XP drives from the Toshiba site for your machine.
 
Thanks!
--
Erik G


GreenieLeBrun said:
Go to http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ and download the boot
disk, this will enable you to reset any system password on an NT class
operating system.

If you cannot boot from the CD and your machine has a floppy drive then
download the relevent boot floppy set from:-

Windows XP Home Edition Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=E8FE6868-6E4F-471C-B455-BD5AFEE126D8

Windows XP Professional Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...FamilyID=55820EDB-5039-4955-BCB7-4FED408EA73F

Make sure you get the XP drives from the Toshiba site for your machine.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks. I think this would have helped, had I been able to log into the
maching - being locked out, I was unable to install any software, or change
any setting.

Many thanks for your help.
 
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