First off, every XP system has a built-in account named Administrator. It's
usually hidden and, by default, the password for the Administrator account is
blank. If you hit the Enter key when you came to that prompt in the Recovery
Console and Windows did not accept a blank password, that would indicate that
there's a password associated with the Administrator account.
There are a number of ways to reset that account's password. The easiest would
be to logon with an account that's a Computer Administrator and change it using
the alternative User Accounts applet. You launch this applet by going to
Start -> Run and entering control userpasswords2 in the Open box. As long as
there's a check mark in the box next to "Users must enter a user name and
password to use this computer", you should be able to click on Administrator in
the "User for this computer" box and hit the Reset Password button in the
Password for Administrator section at the bottom of the Users page. Another
option is to use the utility available from this web site.
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
Note: If you're installing XP Pro, you'll be presented with the option of
creating a password for the Administrator account during the process. Adding a
password to this account is a good idea.
How you log on with the Administrator account depends on what version of XP you
have installed on your computer.
XP Home Edition
To logon with the built-in Administrator account in XP Home Edition you have to
restart the computer and boot into Safe Mode.
To start in Safe Mode, reboot your computer and start tapping the F8 key as soon
as you see anything displayed
on the screen.
Keep hitting F8 until the Advanced Startup Options menu appears.
Use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard to select Safe Mode.
Hit Enter.
Click on the Administrator icon.
Unless you changed it, the password should be blank.
XP Professional
Restart your computer.
If the Welcome screen is displayed, hit the Ctrl + Alt + Del key combination
twice.
This should bring up the Log on to Windows dialog.
Enter Administrator in the User Name box.
If you set up a password for this account, enter it now. Otherwise, leave the
password box blank.
Good luck
Nepatsfan
chesjak said:
Hi Nepatsfan
You are absolutly right. I did hit the "R" key to soon. I'll have another
go as you suggest.
Can you answer the bit as follows:
[[[Question!!!! What would my Administrators password be and where do I
find it.
When I installed the Windows XP Operating system, I do not remember having
been asked to put an Administrators Password in. ]]]
Many thanks
Nepatsfan said:
HI
I need to restore my copy of Windows and have got to the bit in "set up"
where it askes me for "Administrators Password"
Question!!!! What would my Administrators password be and where do I find
it.
When I installed the Windows XP Operating system, I do not remember having
been asked to put an Administrators Password in.
Can you please help
Regards
Being asked for a password for the administrator account leads me to
believe you ended up in the Recovery Console. Did the screen looks like this?
http://web.mit.edu/ist/products/winxp/advanced/registry01.gif
If you're trying to perform a repair installation, then you hit the R key too
early in the process. Reboot the computer from the XP installation CD and
when
you come to this screen, hit Enter.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/images/XP Home Setup Graphic/CC.gif
Windows will search for any existing XP installations on your computer and
display a screen where you're asked if you want to repair the installation.
Here's where you hit the R key.
Take a look at the following web sites for more info on repair installations.
http://web.mit.edu/ist/products/winxp/advanced/reinstall-repair-shallow.html
Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP
Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
I hope you have any important files backed up. While a repair installation
should preserve your data and installed programs, there's always a chance
that
something could go wrong and your files would be lost.
Good luck
Nepatsfan
