Recovery Console Problem

[Danny Lusk]

I've had three XP Pro machines that have developed
problems over time and I've tried to use the Recovery
Console on each. When I tell Windows Setup that I want to
do a Repair and the Recovery Console option, I choose the
Windows installation, always 1, and then it prompts me
for an admin password. I know for a fact that there is no
password because I was the one who set them up to begin
with, so I just press Enter. The system never lets me
past that point because it thinks there is a password.
How can I get around this?

 

[Guest]

I've had three XP Pro machines that have developed
problems over time and I've tried to use the Recovery
Console on each. When I tell Windows Setup that I want to
do a Repair and the Recovery Console option, I choose the
Windows installation, always 1, and then it prompts me
for an admin password. I know for a fact that there is no
password because I was the one who set them up to begin
with, so I just press Enter. The system never lets me
past that point because it thinks there is a password.
How can I get around this?

Hi Danny,I had this same problem on another computer (an HP "never again")
This is what I found out,it should be done BEFORE you need to use it.

The recovery console needs the pasword for the person who installed XP, not
for just any administrator. If the install was done by a major PC maker,
you may need to contact them for it.

However, the password is sometimes blank. So, try just pressing enter when
you are asked for a password, it may help.

Or, if you can get into XP, even safe mode, you can arrange to bypass the
password by the following registry change:

Instead, just run REGEDIT (Start à Run à Regedit)


Navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole


Set the DWORD SecurityLevel value to 1
Exit Registry and Reboot