Windows Log On Page Trouble

[Chris]

I can't log on to windows as there are no user accounts (icons) that show up
on the log on page. My only option is to turn off the computer. I have tried
ctrl/alt/del twice to get to the Log on to Windows small screen. Trouble is
I have never had passwords set up on the machine. The night before the
machine had trouble shutting down - major "hang" time. After it finally shut
down when i restarted this morning I had the problem.

Please tell me there is a work around - Help

 

[Guest]

Can you boot to safemode?

The way you do that is when the machine is booting up, hit F8. You have to
get it right after the BIOS loading, so just hit F8 repeatedly. You will see
a black screen titled "Windows Advanced Options Menu" with a list of options.
Select "Safe mode with Command Prompt" and hit enter.

A command window should soon appear. At the prompt, type the following:

reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon" /v
LogonType /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Hit Enter

The response should be "The operation completed successfully"

Next type:

shutdown -r -t 1

Hit Enter

This will restart the machine. Let it boot up and you should see the
Ctrl+Alt+Del login screen.

 

[Chris]

It gives me the option of Safe Mode with Command Prompt but when I press
enter it ends up in the same place - Safe Mode Windows Log On Page with no
user name to click on.

 

[Guest]

Ok, do you have your XP install cd? You should be able to boot to it and
select R for Recovery Console (instead of install). The recovery console
should allow you to run that command.

 

[Chris]

When i use the Windows XP CD and The Recovery Console it still asks for the
Administrator Password. There never was one. I am really frustrated.

 

[Guest]

Sorry, I know it is frustrating.

If you never set the password it should be blank. Did you try just hitting
enter when it requests the admin password?

 

[Chris]

i have tried every possible username, password including blank blank. Thanks
for your concern

 

[Chris]

Using another way i found looking on Google I was able to use an ISO image
cd to get to the command prompt. When I try to type what you had previously
written to me it just gives me :Bad command or file name. Any other
suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Guest]

did you try the username administrator and a blank password? That should be
the default.

As for booting to the ISO image, the reg.exe command is located in
%windir%\system32 so if you prefix that command I gave you with that since
that directory will not be in the path. It may work, it may not; I do not
recall if you can access the registry when booting to an ISO image.

I would try the administrator and blank password first though.

If you boot to

 

[Chris]

Okay - The software image that i am using is searching for passwords and it
can't find any users. This would make sense as the Log On screen does not
show any users to select. Is there a way to add a user account at this
point?

Thanks