Poof!...and now there's a login screen

[Alan]

I have a laptop running XP home that I originally set up
with password login. No login screen at startup at all,
just right into the desktop. Now a funny thing has
happened. Literally overnight, a login screen at startup
has appeared, with two accounts, what I assume must be the
main account, and a guest account. Of course, since I
never setup any passwords for the main account, and don't
know a Guest password, I can't login to my machine. Can
anyone help me to understand what might have happened and
how to fix it.

Many thanks in advance,

Alan

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Alan;
See this for the password issue:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/lostpass.htm

Once you are in:
Start/Run
Type "control userpasswords2" ENTER
Uncheck "Users must enter..."
Click OK and follow prompts.
This will eliminate the need for a password at logon.

 

[Guest]

Jupiter,

Thanks for your help, but I think I have not explained my
problem very well, and there is a misleading typo in my
first post. I meant to say that this machine was NOT set
up with a password login and I never set any administrator
passwords up for the main account. The BIOS also has no
password set for the administrator account. The system
would always just go right to the desktop on startup and
never require a login at all. Then, from one time it was
on to the next, the login screen now appears at startup,
and since I never set any passwords, I can't get into the
system. It shows two accounts, one with my name, and one
that is 'guest'. I've tried everything I know to login,
but nothing works. Is there a default guest password and
would it give me access to administrator privileges so I
could reset this out, or am I stuck with a reinstall? What
might have caused this in the first place?

Thanks again,

Alan

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Alan;
The link I gave still applies.
If Windows thinks there is a password, then that is the fix.
There is no default password.
The only passwords in Windows are put there by a user.
Could someone else had set a password, accidentally or deliberately,
possibly with mischief in mind?

The second part of my post tells how to set computer to boot directly
without asking for a password thus getting the computer where you want
it once you have access.