forgot password

[B Hart]

My mom set up her XP to have the password changed every
14 days. Now she has forgot it. She can sign on as a
guest and still play her computer games. Is there a way
she can restore the password, or create a new identity.
When she first loaded it she did not create a
administrator account, only her account with admin
rights. If there was a way she could get admin. rights I
could walk her through setting up a new account. Thank
you in advance for any help you can provide. She has the
worm and I have the patch but can not apply it without
her having admin. rights.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Try leaving the password blank.

The password is Case Sensitive.
Check Caps Lock and try various of Capital combinations.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321305
If you do not have a Password Recovery Disk, it is to late to make it.
Or
Log in to any account that has Administrator access.
Then go to User Accounts in Control Panel.
Select the user and change the password.

Reboot to Safe Mode, select Administrator, leave password blank.
Then go to User Accounts in Control Panel.
Select the user and change the password.
If you are using Windows XP Pro and have encrypted data, you may
permanently lose access to the encrypted data.

Here is another option:
http://www.wininternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/index.asp

Another option is to install Windows XP on another partition and take
Ownership of your data.
You could also perform another installation on the same partition,
although this is not a permanent fix and it is recommended to perform
a Clean Installation after retrieving your data.

After this is resolved, take precautions to not lose the password.