Ian said:
We have regained possession of a laptop that was used by an ex-employee.
Problem is we can't get into it because we don't know the password and can't
get it from the ex-employee.
Is there a way to bypass this? Or to reformat the drive on start up - tried
all ways of booting up but always end up being asked the password.
If you are referring to a BIOS password, you'll need to either provide
the make/model of the laptop in your next post or contact the laptop
mftr.'s tech support. In most cases, you will need to do the latter anyway.
If you are referring to a Windows password:
In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly
tapping the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to
the right menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not
work here. Once in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden
Administrator account. The default password is a blank.
In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen,
do Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in
"Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up Windows.
If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or
have Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the
built-in Administrator account's password to a blank.
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
Once in, back up any data you wish to preserve and do a clean-install of
Windows on that machine.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand
Malke
