admin password

[Piedmont]

many things to learn! been using my pc for a while now and finally decided
to set it up correctly as I learned about the need to have separate admin
account with individual users. so now it is done and i'm learning i should
have made a cd for password retrieval if password for admin account doesn't
work.

Well, my password doesn't work for my admin account and i didn't make a
password retreival cd.

So it seems i have to reload vista? my desktop pc is an HP and like most new
pc don't come have disks. if i decide to reload vista, will i lose all my
personal data, pics, mp3, docs unless i copy them all to dvd? or will vista
reinstall itself without losing personal data. i seem to remember that on
older ms-os's you could reload the os and not lose you personal data?

then, if i do reinstall vista or is it reload? how do i do that on a 1 year
HP pc?

Regards,
Piedmont

 

[ray]

many things to learn! been using my pc for a while now and finally
decided to set it up correctly as I learned about the need to have
separate admin account with individual users. so now it is done and i'm
learning i should have made a cd for password retrieval if password for
admin account doesn't work.

Well, my password doesn't work for my admin account and i didn't make a
password retreival cd.

So it seems i have to reload vista? my desktop pc is an HP and like most
new pc don't come have disks. if i decide to reload vista, will i lose
all my personal data, pics, mp3, docs unless i copy them all to dvd? or
will vista reinstall itself without losing personal data. i seem to
remember that on older ms-os's you could reload the os and not lose you
personal data?

then, if i do reinstall vista or is it reload? how do i do that on a 1
year HP pc?

Regards,
Piedmont

There used to be a utility on several Linux Live CDs - particularly
Knoppix - with the ability to reset the admin password on an MS system. I
don't know if that capability is still there or if it works with vista,
but it would be worth checking into.

 

[Malke]

many things to learn! been using my pc for a while now and finally decided
to set it up correctly as I learned about the need to have separate admin
account with individual users. so now it is done and i'm learning i should
have made a cd for password retrieval if password for admin account
doesn't work.

Well, my password doesn't work for my admin account and i didn't make a
password retreival cd.

So it seems i have to reload vista? my desktop pc is an HP and like most
new pc don't come have disks. if i decide to reload vista, will i lose all
my personal data, pics, mp3, docs unless i copy them all to dvd? or will
vista reinstall itself without losing personal data. i seem to remember
that on older ms-os's you could reload the os and not lose you personal
data?

You don't need to reinstall Windows. You can reset your password with
NTpasswd. (To a blank is best with this utility; then change it to a good
one from within Windows.)

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Download the bootable CD .iso, burn with third-party burning software (as an
image, not as data), boot with the media you created. You may need to
change the boot order in the BIOS or get a temporary boot order menu with a
special keypress. NTpasswd will run. Follow the instructions carefully.

I hope your other users are all Standard accounts.

Malke

 

[Corday]

When all is back in order, consider a hard drive backup that not only backs
up your data, but also the OS.

 

[H Brown]

Before you do anything else, STOP and THINK about the password you created
for your admin account.
You say your pass word doesn't work.
Your absolutely 100% positive the password your trying to use is typed in
correctly, and for some unknown reason Vista will not except it.
Do you know the password or passwords for any other User accounts? Do they
work?
You understand that any pass word is case sensitive.
Have you used capitalization where it should have been lower case letters or
visa-versa?
Use the letter "o" when it should have been a zero "0"?
Think of any symbols or punctuation marks you may have used like "!" but it
should be the number "1".
Think about your use of the spacebar.
If your password was setup as (piedmontsmainpc) and you type (piedmonts main
pc) or (Piedmont's MainPC) they all infer the same thing but not to Vista.
A common error is the Caps Lock or Num Lock keys switched on and you not
realize it or using a space in a phrase.
The above examples or just a few to get you thinking along those lines.
Depending on how complicated / powerful your password is / was, I bet you
can figure it out.

I don't understand what you mean when you say "I learned about the need to
have separate admin account" separate being the key word?
Because you say you've been using your pc for a while you already had an
admin account setup.
All you needed to add were a standard user account for yourself and one each
for any others you let use your computer.
I can understand you changing the admin password.
If it takes a pass word to access any of the other User Accounts you've set
and you can, then I think your
definitely typing in the wrong pass word for your admin account.
If you CAN'T think out the correct password, then use Malke solution
provided to you in her post to this thread.
There's no telling how many times Malke has had to do this for some of her
clients.

Malke said:
You don't need to reinstall Windows. You can reset your password with
NTpasswd. (To a blank is best with this utility; then change it to a good
one from within Windows.)

Download the bootable CD .iso, burn with third-party burning software (as
an
image, not as data), boot with the media you created. You may need to
change the boot order in the BIOS or get a temporary boot order menu with a
special keypress. NTpasswd will run. Follow the instructions carefully.

 

[Piedmont]

I was using the 'admin' as mine, so i created a new 'CompAdmin' and made it
the administrator, then went back and made mine a standard, everything else
is standard. I just remembered it may be the wirless keyboard too, believe
it or not. I have a wireless keyboard and this happened to me once before. I
disconnected the wireless and plugged in a standard keyboard and guess what,
the password worked. I did this several times to confirm. Than I got rid of
the password. I have to scronge around to find an old wired keyboard and see
if that works, I'd forgotten about that old issue. It is strange as I did do
one thing that asked for the admin password and it went through, then did a
different thing where I had to enter the Admin PW and it didn't work, I'll
get a wired keyboard a try first thanks all!!!!!!!!
Piedmont

 

[H Brown]

That's great, happy you figured it out.
Any Keyboard is subject to glitch's.
I use a Unicomp (IBM) buckling spring (a lot fewer mistakes) USB connection
and have an older Sp2 keyboard incase.
Stopping and thinking will work better than most things.
I've used some type of computer since 1978 there has always been some logic
as to how they should work.
The input the operator uses is the first place to look for most problems.
I've used Vista HP (clean install) when MS released to manufacturing and I
can say I have had no and I do mean NO problems with Vista.
Vista has had some problems with of me. I under stand why.
Thanks, Piedmont for the feed back.

 

[webster72n]

When all is back in order, consider a hard drive backup that not only
backs
up your data, but also the OS.

And I'm starting to master 'Vista', little by little.
Good to see you over here, Corday.

Harry.