password not known

[geronimo]

I have been given an old IBM model 600E laptop to use but
no one knows the password needed at the Windows login-
screen.
What options do I have to make use of the machine?
I today heard about password-crackers; never knew such a
thing existed; how do they work?

 

[Robert Moir]

I have been given an old IBM model 600E laptop to use but
no one knows the password needed at the Windows login-
screen.
What options do I have to make use of the machine?
I today heard about password-crackers; never knew such a
thing existed; how do they work?

I'd just use the windows setup disks you should also have been given to set
the machine up again from scratch. Who knows what unhelpful things have been
done to the laptop before you got it?

 

[Nathan]

If it's an old Windows95/98 OS you can press ESCAPE to
cancel log on and load into the default desktop. You
should also be able to input any user name to login.

If it's NT 3.51/4 then re-install as previously
recommended.

 

[Guest]

if the OS is windows 2000. you can use a program called
Linboot, this will allow you to reset the admin password.

 

[Guest]

I have been given an old IBM model 600E laptop to use
but

if the OS is windows 2000.

If it's a windows 2000 OS then it isn't that old

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

I have been given an old IBM model 600E laptop to use but
no one knows the password needed at the Windows login-
screen.
What options do I have to make use of the machine?
I today heard about password-crackers; never knew such a
thing existed; how do they work?

Hi

You might try to reset the local Administrator password
with one of the methods mentioned here:

http://securityadmin.info/noframes/faqget.asp#password

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

 

[serverguy]

Ahem, the group isn't called "microsoft.public.win2000.howtobreakintoit."