LindaQ said:
one of our computers in the office was turned off by accident. The
administrator password has been lost and the xp program has locked us out
because we couldn't figure out the password. How do we reset this if we
can't log onto the computer? Thanks
This requires a lot of time and work, so if you dont have the time find
another solution. Also, it is very confusing. If you find another way
fix your problem, use the other way.
If you cant log on to the computer, you will have to reinstall XP. If
you want to keep your important data, you can download a LINUX Live CD
from another computer, burn the ISO to a CD-R, and put the CD in the
Locked computer. Restart that computer and linux will boot up. On the
desktop, double click on the partition which has the data you want to
back up and copy it to another partition or a flash drive. Then restart
the computer, take out the CD, put in the XP Cd, and reinstall. Here is
a link to download a linux live cd:
http://csociety-ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/pub/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V3.9-2005-05-27-DE.iso
Sorry, that may not be enough information, but I am not a LINUX expert.
The partitions will be something like: dev/hda1. hd means hard disk, a
means your 1st hard disk, b means your 2nd and so on. 1 means your 1st
partition on that hard disk, 2 means the 2nd.... For example, dev/hdb1
means your 2 hard disk installed in the computer, and the 1st partition
on it.
Anyways, you can back up your data to a flash drive. If you want to back
it up to a hard disk partition, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, do it to a NTFS
drive. You will lose all data on that drive. Only do it to a Fat (or Fat
16 or fat 32 drive). It is okay to copy data from an NTFS drive, just
not copy data TO the NTFS drive. Right click the FAT drive you want to
copy data to and unmark read only.
NOTE: while downloading the ISO, it may take 6-7 hours with DSL.