Hello-

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop running Windows XP Home with Service Pack
2 installed. I was having some issues with viruses and the like, so
installed Norton Internet Security 2006. After finally getting LiveUpdate to
work (a previous version would not connect properly), I downloaded about 2
hours worth of installs, which, when finished, prompted me to restart Windows.

When restarted the machine, Windows had lost my two login accounts, so the
only way to get into Windows was by pressing Contral+Alt+Delete, and entering
a password. I have no idea what the password is, as I've never locked down
the machine. Hence, I can't get in.

I've tried to go into the BIOS at startup (pressing F8), to get the machine
to boot to the CD, so I could do a complete restore, but changing the boot
disc is not an option. Is there anything I can do here, aside from replacing
the drive, or throwing away the machine?

Would greatly appreciate any help...

Regards



--
Erik G

"Erik" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>When restarted the machine, Windows had lost my two login accounts, so the
>only way to get into Windows was by pressing Contral+Alt+Delete, and entering
>a password. I have no idea what the password is, as I've never locked down
>the machine. Hence, I can't get in.

The accounts may not be wiped: "How to Change the Logon Window and the
Shutdown Preferences" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291559).
Also see "How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or
Your Password Expires" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321305).

Hello Thorsten-

Thanks you so much for the prompt response. I looked at both of these
articles, and neither worked, unfortunately. The first link assumes that I
know the password, when I do not - I never set a password for the users, and
I've tried every one of my others. When I tried to log in as the
administrator in SAFE mode, I got the error message "The local policy of this
system does not permit you to logon interactively".

Is there any way around this lock out? My PC won't give me the option of
booting from my CD drive, so my backup discs are worthless, and Windows won't
let me enter in command prompt mode, so I can't start from scratch, and
delete Windows altogether.

I can't see this being the first case where someone has been locked out of a
perfectly good pc- is there a nuclear option at startup I can use to wipe the
PC and start over?

Many thanks again for your help.

--
Erik G


"Thorsten Matzner" wrote:

> "Erik" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >When restarted the machine, Windows had lost my two login accounts, so the
> >only way to get into Windows was by pressing Contral+Alt+Delete, and entering
> >a password. I have no idea what the password is, as I've never locked down
> >the machine. Hence, I can't get in.
>
> The accounts may not be wiped: "How to Change the Logon Window and the
> Shutdown Preferences" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291559).
> Also see "How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or
> Your Password Expires" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321305).
>

Hi,

You can use Active@ Password Changer utility to quickly reset lost or
unknown password. That is a really useful tool, it helped me before in
a simmilar situation, it's small yet really powerful. Try it out, I bet
that will help.

http://www.password-changer.com/

Erik wrote:
> Hello Thorsten-
>
> Thanks you so much for the prompt response. I looked at both of these
> articles, and neither worked, unfortunately. The first link assumes that I
> know the password, when I do not - I never set a password for the users, and
> I've tried every one of my others. When I tried to log in as the
> administrator in SAFE mode, I got the error message "The local policy of this
> system does not permit you to logon interactively".
>
> Is there any way around this lock out? My PC won't give me the option of
> booting from my CD drive, so my backup discs are worthless, and Windows won't
> let me enter in command prompt mode, so I can't start from scratch, and
> delete Windows altogether.
>
> I can't see this being the first case where someone has been locked out of a
> perfectly good pc- is there a nuclear option at startup I can use to wipe the
> PC and start over?
>
> Many thanks again for your help.
>
> --
> Erik G
>
>
> "Thorsten Matzner" wrote:
>
> > "Erik" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >
> > >When restarted the machine, Windows had lost my two login accounts, so the
> > >only way to get into Windows was by pressing Contral+Alt+Delete, and entering
> > >a password. I have no idea what the password is, as I've never locked down
> > >the machine. Hence, I can't get in.
> >
> > The accounts may not be wiped: "How to Change the Logon Window and the
> > Shutdown Preferences" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291559).
> > Also see "How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or
> > Your Password Expires" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321305).
> >

Go to http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ and download the boot
disk, this will enable you to reset any system password on an NT class
operating system.

If you cannot boot from the CD and your machine has a floppy drive then
download the relevent boot floppy set from:-

Windows XP Home Edition Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...5-BD5AFEE126D8

Windows XP Professional Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...7-4FED408EA73F

Make sure you get the XP drives from the Toshiba site for your machine.

Thanks!
--
Erik G


"GreenieLeBrun" wrote:

>
> Erik wrote:
> > Hello Thorsten-
> >
> > Thanks you so much for the prompt response. I looked at both of these
> > articles, and neither worked, unfortunately. The first link assumes that I
> > know the password, when I do not - I never set a password for the users, and
> > I've tried every one of my others. When I tried to log in as the
> > administrator in SAFE mode, I got the error message "The local policy of this
> > system does not permit you to logon interactively".
> >
> > Is there any way around this lock out? My PC won't give me the option of
> > booting from my CD drive, so my backup discs are worthless, and Windows won't
> > let me enter in command prompt mode, so I can't start from scratch, and
> > delete Windows altogether.
> >
> > I can't see this being the first case where someone has been locked out of a
> > perfectly good pc- is there a nuclear option at startup I can use to wipe the
> > PC and start over?
> >
> > Many thanks again for your help.
> >
> > --
> > Erik G
> >
> >
> > "Thorsten Matzner" wrote:
> >
> > > "Erik" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > >
> > > >When restarted the machine, Windows had lost my two login accounts, so the
> > > >only way to get into Windows was by pressing Contral+Alt+Delete, and entering
> > > >a password. I have no idea what the password is, as I've never locked down
> > > >the machine. Hence, I can't get in.
> > >
> > > The accounts may not be wiped: "How to Change the Logon Window and the
> > > Shutdown Preferences" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291559).
> > > Also see "How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or
> > > Your Password Expires" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321305).
> > >
>
> Go to http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ and download the boot
> disk, this will enable you to reset any system password on an NT class
> operating system.
>
> If you cannot boot from the CD and your machine has a floppy drive then
> download the relevent boot floppy set from:-
>
> Windows XP Home Edition Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...5-BD5AFEE126D8
>
> Windows XP Professional Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...7-4FED408EA73F
>
> Make sure you get the XP drives from the Toshiba site for your machine.
>
>

Thanks. I think this would have helped, had I been able to log into the
maching - being locked out, I was unable to install any software, or change
any setting.

Many thanks for your help.
--
Erik G


"(E-Mail Removed)" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> You can use Active@ Password Changer utility to quickly reset lost or
> unknown password. That is a really useful tool, it helped me before in
> a simmilar situation, it's small yet really powerful. Try it out, I bet
> that will help.
>
> http://www.password-changer.com/
>
>