Can't login after switching from domain to workgroup

[Paul Kraemer]

Hi,

I have a PC running Windows XP Pro SP3. This PC was originally part of a
Windows 2003 Server domain "OldDomain". When I got this PC, I was still able
to log to the PC in with domain credentials (username = "OldUser"; password =
"OldPassword")

My plan was to remove this PC from the domain and to put it into a
workgroup. I made this change and it worked just how I had hoped - the PC
was now able to share files with the small workgroup that I put it in.
Everything was great until I restarted the PC. Now, I am no longer able to
log in with "OldUser" and "OldPassword". Can anyone tell me if there is
anything I can do? Unfortunately, I do not know any other account / password
combinations that work on the local computer.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Paul

 

[Malke]

Hi,

I have a PC running Windows XP Pro SP3. This PC was originally part of a
Windows 2003 Server domain "OldDomain". When I got this PC, I was still
able to log to the PC in with domain credentials (username = "OldUser";
password = "OldPassword")

My plan was to remove this PC from the domain and to put it into a
workgroup. I made this change and it worked just how I had hoped - the PC
was now able to share files with the small workgroup that I put it in.
Everything was great until I restarted the PC. Now, I am no longer able
to
log in with "OldUser" and "OldPassword". Can anyone tell me if there is
anything I can do? Unfortunately, I do not know any other account /
password combinations that work on the local computer.

Aside from the fact that it would be smartest to do a clean install of
Windows to remove any Group Policy settings that may be tattooed on the
machine, you would need to know the Local Administrator password to get
into the machine.

Since you don't know that, you can use NTpasswd to change the Local
Administrator password to a blank. Then log into that account and make new
local user accounts, copy data from the old accounts, create new passwords,
etc.

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

Malke

 

[Paul Kraemer]

Thank you Malke - that worked great!

 

[endurtech]

This helped me out as well, but may I also suggest trying to boot from the
Operating Systems Retail CD/DVD and performing a system restore. This
resolved my issue. Thanks again.