How to recover OEM XP Admin password?

[perfb]

scenario:

new Dell laptop with Dell OEM XP installed was tweaked by some I.T.
dept at school and admin pw changed, now cannot contact I.T. dept to find out
what the admin pw change was. Laptop owner only has OEM Dell recover CD
which will wipe harddisk if used to reinstall to get admin priv back.

problem:

how to recover admin login without buying new XP retail CD?

here's my plan:

boot with FCKGW corp XP CD
reinstall XP preserving apps
use laptop owner's OEM XP serial # not FCKGW serial

will this work?

will I end up with a harddisk with existing apps preserved and admin priv restored?

what does M$ assume the owner should do in this case, if reinstalling
with recover CD not desired due to hd-wiping?

tia

 

[Courtney]

Look about a quarter of the way down this website:
http://is-it-true.org/nt/atips/atips262.shtml

By the way, it's free.

courtney sends....

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

scenario:

new Dell laptop with Dell OEM XP installed was tweaked by some I.T.
dept at school and admin pw changed, now cannot contact I.T. dept to find out
what the admin pw change was. Laptop owner only has OEM Dell recover CD
which will wipe harddisk if used to reinstall to get admin priv back.

problem:

how to recover admin login without buying new XP retail CD?

Hi

At least up to now Dell have always supplied a full
Dell OEM XP OS CD.

Anyway:

You might try to reset the local Administrator
password with one of the methods mentioned here:

http://securityadmin.info/noframes/faqget.asp#password

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Dell's OEM CDs are _not_ "Recovery" CDs that wipe out the hard
drive; they're just branded, but normal full installation CDs that are
capable of performing repairs.

Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[perfb]

Greetings --

Dell's OEM CDs are _not_ "Recovery" CDs that wipe out the hard
drive; they're just branded, but normal full installation CDs that are
capable of performing repairs.

very strange. iirc, it is labeled 'recovery cd',
and shows warning about files being deleted.
its an inspiron 8600 laptop 6 mos old.

anyway, can i use it without admin privs to reinstall
and restore admin privs?

it would seem this technique would be intentionally blocked
somehow for obvious reasons.

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

very strange. iirc, it is labeled 'recovery cd',
and shows warning about files being deleted.
its an inspiron 8600 laptop 6 mos old.

anyway, can i use it without admin privs to reinstall
and restore admin privs?

it would seem this technique would be intentionally blocked
somehow for obvious reasons.

Hi

Why not try to reset the local Administrator
password with one of the methods mentioned here:

http://securityadmin.info/noframes/faqget.asp#password

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

 

[relic]

very strange. iirc, it is labeled 'recovery cd',
and shows warning about files being deleted.
its an inspiron 8600 laptop 6 mos old.

Dell currently supplies both. They used to only supply the Recovery CDs.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Really? I've never seen a Dell that didn't come with a real
installation CD. Were these Recovery CDs targeted to a specific
market area or tied to a specific model Dell?

Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

This is very unusual; I've never seen a Dell that didn't come with
a true installation CD. However, if your CD is so labeled, and
provides that warning, caution is advised. You might try asking Dell
Support just what repair capabilities that CD has.

Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[relic]

Greetings --

Really? I've never seen a Dell that didn't come with a real
installation CD. Were these Recovery CDs targeted to a specific
market area or tied to a specific model Dell?

Bruce Chambers

When their first XP PCs were shipped in 2001, only the Recovery CDs were
supplied. To Dell's credit, it only took a few complaints for them to supply
both the recovery CDs and the XP CD.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Good to know. Thanks.

Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[relic]

Greetings --

Good to know. Thanks.

Now, if HP/Compaq, Sony, etc. would be more responsive to their customers...

 

[perfb]

for the record, i was in fact mistaken, the xp cd supplied by Dell
with the Inspiron 8500 was *not* a recovery cd,
but a full xp cd, even though it was a Dell labeled cd.

i was able to boot off the Dell xp cd, then do fresh install over
top of existing install, preserving all existing files,
reestablishing new admin password and new admin account,
though all apps need reinstallation. even previous user account directories
were preserved, so could migrate old 'my documents' folders etc.

it is a painful time-consuming way to recover from a
lost admin password, but at least it worked ...

 

[LAD]

In the W95 & W98 there is a CAB folder,
in Windows\Options\CAB
Actually in mine, it is empty.

Does anyone know what is the equivalent in WXP?

Salutations

LAD

 

[Kelly]

Generally speaking: i386

 

[Dr. Phil]

wow...how many newsgroups you goin' send this question to....