Administrator Password Problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paulie
  • Start date Start date
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Paulie

Hi all, I have a problem with the XP administrator's password that stops me
going into recovery mode. I want to remove a Linux partition but can't at
the moment. The story so far....

My PC is a single user, no logon, no password machine. It boots straight
through to Windows
Install Linux onto PC with XP as dual boot using GRUB. No problems at all.
Now have old laptop for Linux, want to get my 20 GB back from Linux on
original PC.
Need to - boot from XP CD, go to recovery mode, run FIXMBR
I then, Get to recovery mode, prompted for Administrator Password

This is where it all goes wrong. As far as I am aware I don't have a
password so hit enter, doesn't work, try a couple of other regular
passwords, still no luck. Run out of tries and it reboots.

I go to Users in Control Panel and check that
1) I am the administrator
2) I have no password

I then set myself a password. Reboot, am forced to logon to Windows so it
must be OK

Boot from XP CD -> Recovery mode -> Admin Password. Put in password set
above - still tells me its invalid. This is really driving me nuts now and
would appreciate any help in either sorting out the admin password OR
another way to get rid of the GRUB boot and get my disk back.

Cheers, Paul
 
Paulie said:
Hi all, I have a problem with the XP administrator's password that stops me
going into recovery mode. I want to remove a Linux partition but can't at
the moment. The story so far....

My PC is a single user, no logon, no password machine. It boots straight
through to Windows
Install Linux onto PC with XP as dual boot using GRUB. No problems at all.
Now have old laptop for Linux, want to get my 20 GB back from Linux on
original PC.
Need to - boot from XP CD, go to recovery mode, run FIXMBR
I then, Get to recovery mode, prompted for Administrator Password

This is where it all goes wrong. As far as I am aware I don't have a
password so hit enter, doesn't work, try a couple of other regular
passwords, still no luck. Run out of tries and it reboots.

I go to Users in Control Panel and check that
1) I am the administrator
2) I have no password

I then set myself a password. Reboot, am forced to logon to Windows so it
must be OK

Boot from XP CD -> Recovery mode -> Admin Password. Put in password set
above - still tells me its invalid. This is really driving me nuts now and
would appreciate any help in either sorting out the admin password OR
another way to get rid of the GRUB boot and get my disk back.

Cheers, Paul
Click to expand...
It is looking for the password the PC maker used when they loaded windows.

From "http://www.theeldergeek.com"
Recovery Console Password-
On many XP installations you can't start the Recovery Console because it
won't recognize your password. This registry edit causes the Recovery Console
not to ask for a password. This works for both XP Home and XP Professional.
Start | Run | Regedit
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole
Set the DWORD SecurityLevel value to 1
Exit Registry and Reboot
 
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