Forgot winXP password

[Guest]

My son needs help. He is 14 and lost (can't remember) his
XP Home Edit. password on his computer. He is the only
one running as admin. to keep his sister from getting in
to his programs and homework. First, how do we reset the
password? I have searched the web and came up with two
solutions; one is to literally *hack* the password (seems
harsh to me), or to use the "control passwords2" command
(this seems moot as you must have admin. to use the
command, see above). Second, what is the best way to
setup the login so this won't happen again? Dad's
computer reputation is at stake here.

 

[Bill Spears [MSFT]]

If you boot to Safe Mode, you get the option to log on as the actual
administrator account. Do you by any chance remember this password, or it's
possible that you didn't put a password on this account when installing XP.

 

[Guest]

run system recovery cd's and mom and dad should have an
admin account. while we all trust our kids it is essential
you maintain a way to keep track of a teens computer
usage. a sister is a good excuse to have password
protection but also keeps mom and dad out also.

 

[My Name]

http://www.lostpassword.com/windows-xp-2000-nt.htm

 

[Alex Nichol]

My son needs help. He is 14 and lost (can't remember) his
XP Home Edit. password on his computer. He is the only
one running as admin. to keep his sister from getting in
to his programs and homework.

This is where the reserve, emergency account called Administrator comes
in. Boot, hitting F8 as BIOS info goes to black; take Safe Mode, There
will then be an icon for Administrator on the Welcome screen. (If not,
hit CTL-ALT-DEL twice and enter the explicit name
Administrator
and leave the password blank)

In that, Start - Run the line
control userpasswords2
where you can select any account name and Reset Password