Back door to Admin Acct?

[Don Phillipson]

It is two years since I looked at the old lady's PC,
(Dell Dimension DIM 2400) used for email and family
snaps and not much else -- but could not instal this
year's income tax software because it has only
one user account, Owner (limited) and installation
of course requires an administrator account. In
/Control Panel / Users I see only this limited acct
(and options are thus similarly limited.)

I half remember hearing about a back door into
the Backup Admin account (F12 during boot?)
but had no time for trial and error on her dollar.
(I had an Admin acct on this PC in year 2008
apparently since deleted, but did not then search
/Recycled in case I could restore it.)

What is the simplest course of action? We
have instal CDs and could simply reinstal the OS
(data saved first to an external drive) but it took
a long time to instal SP2 in 2008 and I'd bet there
is a quicker way to create/locate an Admin. acct.

 

[Alias]

It is two years since I looked at the old lady's PC,
(Dell Dimension DIM 2400) used for email and family
snaps and not much else -- but could not instal this
year's income tax software because it has only
one user account, Owner (limited) and installation
of course requires an administrator account. In
/Control Panel / Users I see only this limited acct
(and options are thus similarly limited.)

I half remember hearing about a back door into
the Backup Admin account (F12 during boot?)
but had no time for trial and error on her dollar.
(I had an Admin acct on this PC in year 2008
apparently since deleted, but did not then search
/Recycled in case I could restore it.)

What is the simplest course of action? We
have instal CDs and could simply reinstal the OS
(data saved first to an external drive) but it took
a long time to instal SP2 in 2008 and I'd bet there
is a quicker way to create/locate an Admin. acct.

Go into Safe Mode. Usually F8 will take you there so you can log on to
The Administrator account. I am assuming you mean XP Home, not pro. If
pro, there is an easier way to do it.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

It is two years since I looked at the old lady's PC,
(Dell Dimension DIM 2400) used for email and family
snaps and not much else -- but could not instal this
year's income tax software because it has only
one user account, Owner (limited) and installation
of course requires an administrator account. In
/Control Panel / Users I see only this limited acct
(and options are thus similarly limited.)

I half remember hearing about a back door into
the Backup Admin account (F12 during boot?)
but had no time for trial and error on her dollar.
(I had an Admin acct on this PC in year 2008
apparently since deleted, but did not then search
/Recycled in case I could restore it.)

What is the simplest course of action? We
have instal CDs and could simply reinstal the OS
(data saved first to an external drive) but it took
a long time to instal SP2 in 2008 and I'd bet there
is a quicker way to create/locate an Admin. acct.

Type the words

forgot windows password

into a Google search box and take your pick.

 

[Jim]

CTRL-ALT-DEL in the login window opens a box which allows you to enter any
account name. Note that the built in Administrator account cannot be
deleted although you can rename it. The fact that you cannot see the admin
account in the control panel is a design decision by MS.
Jim

 

[Bruce Chambers]

It is two years since I looked at the old lady's PC,
(Dell Dimension DIM 2400) used for email and family
snaps and not much else -- but could not instal this
year's income tax software because it has only
one user account, Owner (limited) and installation
of course requires an administrator account. In
/Control Panel / Users I see only this limited acct
(and options are thus similarly limited.)

I half remember hearing about a back door into
the Backup Admin account (F12 during boot?)
but had no time for trial and error on her dollar.
(I had an Admin acct on this PC in year 2008
apparently since deleted, but did not then search
/Recycled in case I could restore it.)

What is the simplest course of action? We
have instal CDs and could simply reinstal the OS
(data saved first to an external drive) but it took
a long time to instal SP2 in 2008 and I'd bet there
is a quicker way to create/locate an Admin. acct.

Simply log in using the built-in Administrator account (which
cannot be deleted) and use Start > Run > "control userpasswords2" to
modify the desired account(s).

By design, the only way to log into the Administrator account of
WinXP Home is to reboot into Safe Mode. For WinXP Pro, pressing
CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome Screen will produce the standard login
dialog box. Unless the owner deliberately set the Administrator's
password via the Management Console (_not_ the Control Panel), it's
probably still blank. WinXP Pro asks the installer to set the
Administrator's password during installation, but WinXP Home doesn't.

Failing that, Linux-based password cracking utilities abound on
the Internet, freely available to anyone who can use Google.


--

Bruce Chambers

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