Buying a locksmith or upgrading to xp edition

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

If I can't figure out my administrator's password, and i"ve
tried doing ctrl alt del twice and pushing enter (that
isn't working), should I buy a new edition of XP pro? If I
have the installation cd, will that allow me to start from
scratch and set up a new password for the administrator?
 
Greetings

Yes it will

---Pasword Help---

Because of the security features built into Windows XP, it is virtually
impossible to get back into the system without a valid password. You have
several options to try and get around this problem.

If you have access to another user account with administrator rights, you
can use that account to change the password of the account that is locked
out. You can also use the default Administrator account that is built into
Windows
XP.

First you need to boot the system into Safe Mode:

1. Restart your system.
2. When you see the initial startup screen, press the ( F8 ) key about 3
times a
second.
3. You should get the Windows startup menu. Use the (Up or Down) arrow keys
to
highlight (SafeMode)
4. Press (Enter) on (Safe Mode), then press (Enter) on (Windows XP).
5. The system should boot to Safe Mode.

Once you are at the Account Log on Screen, click on the icon for the user
account with administrator rights, or click on the icon for the
administrators account.

Note: For Home the Administrator account isn't normally shown & in Safe Mode
you have to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys twice to show. For PRO you can do
this in normal mode.

When the system has booted to the desktop, use the following steps to change
the accounts password:

1. Click Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools.
2. Click Computer Management.
3. Double click Local Users and Groups, double click the folder Users.
4. Right click on the account name that is locked out, and click on Set
Password.
5. You may get a warning message about changing the password, simply click
proceed.
6. Leave the New Password box blank, also leave the Confirm Password box
blank.
7. Click OK, and OK again.
8. Then close all Windows, reboot the system and try to log in.


There are also applications that can recover the password for you.
The following companies provide these applications at a cost:

iOpus® Password Recovery XP: http://www.iopus.com/password_recovery.htm
LostPassword.com : http://www.lostpassword.com/
Asterisk Password Recovery XP v1.89 :
http://www.fadsoft.com/password_recovery.htm
Windows XP / 2000 / NT Key:
http://www.lostpassword.com/windows-xp-2000-nt.htm


If the above information does not help in recovering the password, the only
option left is to format the hard drive then reinstall Windows and the
system software.

Perhaps the following articles can help:

How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your Password
Expires
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321305

Administrator and User Passwords in Windows XP
http://www2.cajun.net/~theriots/xpsitefolder/win_xp_passwords.htm

[Courtesy of Kelly Theriot, MS-MVP]

Ultimate Password Recovery Guide
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/answerstips/story/0,24330,3504258,00.html

[Courtesy of Carey Frisch MS-MVP]
 
You have to get to the machine's hidden administrator account, did you do
the following when you attempted this. NOTE: the additional instructions
for home are provided for others who may wonder how to deal with this on a
Home Edition setup.

If you have XP Pro on your computer, at the log in screen type
ctrl-alt-delete
twice. In the user account type administrator, leave the password blank and
press enter. You likely didn't create a password for this hidden account
during setup and if the computer was purchased with XP pre-installed it
doesn't likely have one either,

If you have Home, boot into Safe Mode (F8 after the post test and before
Windows starts. Once Windows starts loading, you've missed it and will have
to try again). You'll have an option to log on as Administrator. Again,
the same procedure, you'll be asked to log in to get into safe mode, type
administrator, leave the password blank and press enter.

This will get you in. Then go to Control Panel, user accounts, select the
specific user and select change password. Once you've changed the password
it would be advisable to create a Password Reset Disk by clicking "Prevent a
Forgotten Password" link in the left pane.

In either case, there's no need to purchase a new version of XP. In a worst
case scenario which really shouldn't apply unless you made a password for
the hidden admin account and can't remember it, you would need to do a clean
install of XP which would wipe out the current installation and all
information on that drive as follows:
Boot with the XP CD in the drive. When you see the message on the boot
screen to "Press any key in order to boot from the CD," do so.

After loading drivers and files, you should be taken to a screen with
the following:

To Setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To Repair a Windows XP Installation using Recovery Console press R.
To Quit setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

In your case, press ENTER.

Agree to the License agreement by pressing F8.

You will then be taken to a screen with two options.

To repair the selected Windows XP installation press R.
To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing,
press ESC.

This will bring you to a partition map where you
can delete, create and format partitions.
Select the drive you wish to format, delete the partition, then create a new
partition, format as desired and continue with XP installation.

NOTE: formatting may require you to again activate XP, just do so as you did
the first time you installed. Unless you've made substantial changes to the
hardware, it should be nothing more than a handshake between two computers
over the Internet.
 
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