forgot password

W

Wesler

I've read a lot about people given tips on how to recover or delete password.
I'm dump. I've tried a lot of things and the more I try...I get no where.
If anyone can help me in deleting my password completele I would appreciate.
I have a Dell latitude D505 laptop..windows xp pro
I set up a password on my log in screen but for some reason the password is
not what I set up. When I set it up it asked me for a hint word which I
remember very clearly. The screen does not give me an option for the hint
password.
I try to log in into my computer and keep on saying my password is wrong.
I never set up an administrator account because my name was the
administrator.
If anyone can give me the steps to delete my password would be nice.
The only way I can see doing that is through DOS. Safe mode does not work
and as a guest I'm limited as everyone knows.
I'm reeally frustrated at this point. Thanks.
 
M

Malke

Wesler said:
I've read a lot about people given tips on how to recover or delete
password. I'm dump. I've tried a lot of things and the more I try...I get
no where. If anyone can help me in deleting my password completele I would
appreciate. I have a Dell latitude D505 laptop..windows xp pro
I set up a password on my log in screen but for some reason the password
is not what I set up. When I set it up it asked me for a hint word which I
remember very clearly. The screen does not give me an option for the hint
password.
I try to log in into my computer and keep on saying my password is wrong.
I never set up an administrator account because my name was the
administrator.
If anyone can give me the steps to delete my password would be nice.
The only way I can see doing that is through DOS. Safe mode does not work
and as a guest I'm limited as everyone knows.
I'm reeally frustrated at this point. Thanks.
Click to expand...

If you are talking about your user account password in XP, you can't change
it from DOS. Follow these instructions to change your user account's
password:

If you have forgotten your password, if you have another user account with
administrative privileges you can log into that account and change your
original user account's password from the User Accounts applet in Control
Panel. If you don't have another account like this set up or don't have the
password to it, you'll need to log into the built-in Administrator account.
In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly tapping
the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to the right
menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once
in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden Administrator account. The
default password is a blank.

In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen, do
Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in
"Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up Windows.

If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or have
Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the built-in
Administrator account's password to a blank.

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

Then go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel and set passwords that
you will remember and make other desired changes. WRITE THE PASSWORDS DOWN
AND PUT THEM SOMEWHERE YOU WON'T LOSE THEM.


Malke
 
P

philo

Wesler said:
I've read a lot about people given tips on how to recover or delete password.
I'm dump. I've tried a lot of things and the more I try...I get no where.
If anyone can help me in deleting my password completele I would appreciate.
I have a Dell latitude D505 laptop..windows xp pro
I set up a password on my log in screen but for some reason the password is
not what I set up. When I set it up it asked me for a hint word which I
remember very clearly. The screen does not give me an option for the hint
password.
I try to log in into my computer and keep on saying my password is wrong.
I never set up an administrator account because my name was the
administrator.
If anyone can give me the steps to delete my password would be nice.
The only way I can see doing that is through DOS. Safe mode does not work
and as a guest I'm limited as everyone knows.
I'm reeally frustrated at this point. Thanks.
Click to expand...


I've tried it and it works

http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=305
 
X

Xandros

philo said:
I've tried it and it works

http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=305
Click to expand...


While you may have tried the process at the above link you should warn the
poster that doing a repair install as suggested will require them to reapply
all of the hotfixes and Windows Updates again after the reapir. With nearly
100 hotfixes that could take a very long time. Using the process to log onto
the hidden Admininstrator account in XP Home or using the disk that Malke
suggested is a much better option.
 
P

philo

Xandros said:
While you may have tried the process at the above link you should warn the
poster that doing a repair install as suggested will require them to reapply
all of the hotfixes and Windows Updates again after the reapir. With nearly
100 hotfixes that could take a very long time. Using the process to log onto
the hidden Admininstrator account in XP Home or using the disk that Malke
suggested is a much better option.
Click to expand...


Except if the OP knew his administrator's password, he would not have posted
in the first place !
 
M

Malke

philo said:
Except if the OP knew his administrator's password, he would not have
posted in the first place !
Click to expand...

He doesn't need to know his Administrator password to fix this issue. He
doesn't need to do a Repair Install. With so many posters, they don't say
whether they're running XP Home/Pro/MCE and they also think they are
Administrator. Now he did tell us he has XP Pro and he *might* only have
the one user account, the built-in Administrator. Or he might think he's
the Administrator because his use account says "Computer Administrator" and
he really has at least two user accounts. But it doesn't matter in terms of
getting into the machine.

Even if the OP was using the built-in Administrator, it is a matter of less
than 5 minutes to change the password to a blank using NTpasswd. To do a
Repair Install and, as Xandros pointed out, now to have to redo all the
updates and reset all the customizations when one could simply change the
password with very little fuss would be foolish and a waste of time.

Even someone who is not a computer whiz can create the NTpasswd CD/floppy
and change the password. OK, it's not going to take that person 5 minutes
but it's not going to be a huge reinstallation deal either. I just walked
someone else through it in another thread last week and he managed just
fine.

Malke
 
P

philo

Malke said:
He doesn't need to know his Administrator password to fix this issue. He
doesn't need to do a Repair Install. With so many posters, they don't say
whether they're running XP Home/Pro/MCE and they also think they are
Administrator. Now he did tell us he has XP Pro and he *might* only have
the one user account, the built-in Administrator. Or he might think he's
the Administrator because his use account says "Computer Administrator" and
he really has at least two user accounts. But it doesn't matter in terms of
getting into the machine.

Even if the OP was using the built-in Administrator, it is a matter of less
than 5 minutes to change the password to a blank using NTpasswd. To do a
Repair Install and, as Xandros pointed out, now to have to redo all the
updates and reset all the customizations when one could simply change the
password with very little fuss would be foolish and a waste of time.

Even someone who is not a computer whiz can create the NTpasswd CD/floppy
and change the password. OK, it's not going to take that person 5 minutes
but it's not going to be a huge reinstallation deal either. I just walked
someone else through it in another thread last week and he managed just
fine.

Malke
Click to expand...


The OP forgot his password so how can he log on the the system
to re-assign a new one? He did mention that he logs on as administrator
 
G

Gordon

philo said:
The OP forgot his password so how can he log on the the system
to re-assign a new one? He did mention that he logs on as administrator
Click to expand...

he doesn't need to. AFAIK NTPasswd boots from a floppy...
 
P

philo

Gordon said:
he doesn't need to. AFAIK NTPasswd boots from a floppy...
Click to expand...

Oh, I never got any of those password recovery utilites to work...
that's why I suggested that link ...at least I know for sure that method
works.

I am now using a different news server and see that I missed a few posts
so I probably missed that
 
X

Xandros

philo said:
Even though I've never had any such utilities actually work...
I agree that it would be worth a try first
Click to expand...


I have successfully used these tools at least 20 times in tests I've run.
The first tool works best but the instructions must be carefully followed.
It will simply blank out the admin password. The second tool is useful in
that it uncovers admin passwords without having to blank them out. However
it cannot uncover sophisticated password without purchasing a set of tables
that are very expensive.
 
R

Rick

Malke said:
If you are talking about your user account password in XP, you can't change
it from DOS. Follow these instructions to change your user account's
password:

If you have forgotten your password, if you have another user account with
administrative privileges you can log into that account and change your
original user account's password from the User Accounts applet in Control
Panel. If you don't have another account like this set up or don't have the
password to it, you'll need to log into the built-in Administrator account.
In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly tapping
the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to the right
menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once
in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden Administrator account. The
default password is a blank.

In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen, do
Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in
"Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up Windows.

If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or have
Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the built-in
Administrator account's password to a blank.

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

Then go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel and set passwords that
you will remember and make other desired changes. WRITE THE PASSWORDS DOWN
AND PUT THEM SOMEWHERE YOU WON'T LOSE THEM.


Malke
Click to expand...
Why not make a disk so that you do not have the same problem again. It
would in XP-Pro I do not know about the Home edition.

--

Rick
Fargo, ND
N 46°53'251"
W 096°48'279"

Remember the USS Liberty
http://www.ussliberty.org/
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Expiration notification 4
Repairing a damaged installation - admin password 1
Are password protected WiFi networks secure? 3
Administrator password 3
Windows Hello devices 13
error in login password 5
Reset password from USB boot 4
Password hidden 4

Top