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[Guest]

I was just thinking. If you have Windows XP Professional, and you created a
new password, but, forgot to write it down, and you turned off your computer.
Later, when you tried to login, you forgot your password, and didn't create a
hint, and you don't have a floppy drive, and you still have critical
information on your computer, what else could you do to get your computer
back---without formatting the hard drive?

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

I was just thinking. If you have Windows XP Professional, and you created a
new password, but, forgot to write it down, and you turned off your computer.
Later, when you tried to login, you forgot your password, and didn't create a
hint, and you don't have a floppy drive, and you still have critical
information on your computer, what else could you do to get your computer
back---without formatting the hard drive?

Hi,

Some options:

1)
You can reset the local Administrator password with one of the methods
mentioned here (creating the boot CD or floppy on another computer):

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

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


2)
Boot on the Windows CD and create a parallel OS installation


3)
Move the hard drive over to another computer that runs Windows XP
(or Windows 2000/2003).


For 2) and 3) you might need to take ownership to be able to access
the files:

"Access is Denied" Error Message When You Try to Open a Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810881

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421