can't log in

[tennisnut]

I was having problems on a laptop. I decided to change the domain and not
have it connect to our network. In my haste, I apparently changed a password
without realizing it, and now cannot log in at all when Windows XP
Professional starts up.

I get the CTRL ALT DEL screen with the prevous user name, but no password
works. I've tried changing the user to Adminisstrator with no password--no
luck. I've tried booting in safe mode without networking, and the CTRL ALT
DEL screen keeps coming up. I've tried to boot to a command prompt, with no
luck.

How can I get past this so I can even get to "control userpasswords2".

I've rendered this laptop useless and need help! (I have just enough
knowledge to be dangerous, but not enough to know what I'm doing.)

 

[John John (MVP)]

You need to log on to a local administrator account, if you don't know
the password you can use this procedure and restore the machine to an
earlier date to just before you disjoined the machine from the domain,
you will then be able to logon again with your domain credentials:

How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from
starting
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/

Is this a work machine, a machine that was joined to your work domain?

John

 

[tennisnut]

this was a machine that was joined to our work domain.

I think I might be totally up the creek because the user said there were no
disks that came with it (i.e., start-up or recovery).

 

[John John (MVP)]

Your network administrator should be able to rejoin the machine to the
domain. You can use this to reset the password of the local
Administrator account: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ Make
sure that you get permission from your network administrator before you
use this utility. Also be warned that if you had any encrypted files on
the machine you will lose them!

John

 

[Twayne]

Check with the vendor; its highly likely they're available and if he
bought through a regular channel, they might eve be free. Acer, Dell
and Gateway I know honor such legitimate requests but it's up to the
sender to prove what he has.

 

[Rod P.]

I went into the Registry and changed a value data from instructions by
Windows and now I cannot log in...even using Safe Mode. Windows takes me to
where I would log in (Administrator). I click Administrator, it goes through
the settings phase and then just stops. Is there anything I can do to get to
the Registry so I can change the Value data back to what it was?

 

[Tom [Pepper] Willett]

What were the precise instructions you received from windows, and how/why
did you receive them?

:I went into the Registry and changed a value data from instructions by
: Windows and now I cannot log in...even using Safe Mode. Windows takes me
to
: where I would log in (Administrator). I click Administrator, it goes
through
: the settings phase and then just stops. Is there anything I can do to get
to
: the Registry so I can change the Value data back to what it was?
:
:

 

[Rod P.]

Everytime I would boot up, the Documents folder would appear on the desktop.
Article ID: 899865 "The "My Documents" folder automatically opens every time
that you log on to a Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer. I have SP3,
but the guy told me it shouldn't matter. So I went to the article's
instructions and bam...now I can't logon (even using Safe Mode).

 

[Tom [Pepper] Willett]

The hazards of messing with the registry. Sounds like a reinstall of Windows
may be in order.


: Everytime I would boot up, the Documents folder would appear on the
desktop.
: Article ID: 899865 "The "My Documents" folder automatically opens every
time
: that you log on to a Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer. I have
SP3,
: but the guy told me it shouldn't matter. So I went to the article's
: instructions and bam...now I can't logon (even using Safe Mode).
:
: "Tom [Pepper] Willett" wrote:
:
: > What were the precise instructions you received from windows, and
how/why
: > did you receive them?
: >
: > : > :I went into the Registry and changed a value data from instructions by
: > : Windows and now I cannot log in...even using Safe Mode. Windows takes
me
: > to
: > : where I would log in (Administrator). I click Administrator, it goes
: > through
: > : the settings phase and then just stops. Is there anything I can do to
get
: > to
: > : the Registry so I can change the Value data back to what it was?
: > :
: > :
: >
: >
: >

 

[Daave]

A manual System Restore is then indicated:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

Everytime I would boot up, the Documents folder would appear on the
desktop. Article ID: 899865 "The "My Documents" folder automatically
opens every time that you log on to a Windows XP Service Pack 2-based
computer. I have SP3, but the guy told me it shouldn't matter. So I
went to the article's instructions and bam...now I can't logon (even
using Safe Mode).

What were the precise instructions you received from windows, and
how/why did you receive them?

I went into the Registry and changed a value data from instructions
by Windows and now I cannot log in...even using Safe Mode. Windows
takes me to where I would log in (Administrator). I click
Administrator, it goes through the settings phase and then just
stops. Is there anything I can do to get to the Registry so I can
change the Value data back to what it was?