I can't log on! My Password changed? What do I do?

[Ralph]

Op System Windows XP Home Version.

This is a question about re-setting my password on my laptop.

But let me give some background and history. Maybe I'll be able to
give some useful clues and/or answer some questions in advance.
Likely, I've made a simple question a long and boring one. If so, I
do apologize. : )

About a year ago I bought a used Dell Laptop Experion 6000. I bought
it for personal use only from an individual on CraigsList. (this may
not be very relevant, but I am almost 50 years old, use Craigslist a
lot, and savvy enough to know to ask a LOT of questions to make sure
there is no evidence or hint that I am buying stolen property. I have
no doubt that he sold me his own personal laptop. He did not delete
everything off the hard drive. Later after searching the hard drive,
I found some of his old docs and pics, confirming to me that that the
laptop had in fact been his)...so anyway...now you know I am not the
original owner and got no discs of any kind when I bought it. The
seller told me all documentation is on the hard drive. So, all that
previous history is incase someone asks me, "do you have the original
discs?". If I am supposed to, no I don't.

For a year, no problem with the laptop at all! I gave it to my 13 yr
old daughter for her own use, not her 2 siblings. At my request she
put a password on it so her siblings could not sign-on and use it.

About 2 months ago, LCD panel got some kind of impact and went black.
No one in the family knows how it happened (but I'm guessing, someone
in the family accidentally dropped it).

We plugged the laptop into a desktop monitor and continued to use it
as normal.

About 2 weeks ago, I took it to a shop that specializes in laptop
repair. They installed a refurb'd LCD Panel. Instant solution! It
worked great. Laptop back to normal.

But then about 1 week ago, mysteriously, it would not accept the sign-
on password! It worked the night before, then the next time, 8 hours
later, it would not accept the sign on password.

My daughter said she had not changed it in a long time. We tried
upper and lower case. I quizzed everyone in the family. No one
changed the password. And it worked the night before.

In the past week, we have tried a few more times. No luck.

So, our problem is we can't get past the sign-on ID password! We
can't use the laptop at all!

Now what do I do?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Malke]

Op System Windows XP Home Version.

This is a question about re-setting my password on my laptop.

But let me give some background and history. Maybe I'll be able to
give some useful clues and/or answer some questions in advance.
Likely, I've made a simple question a long and boring one. If so, I
do apologize. : )

About a year ago I bought a used Dell Laptop Experion 6000. I bought
it for personal use only from an individual on CraigsList. (this may
not be very relevant, but I am almost 50 years old, use Craigslist a
lot, and savvy enough to know to ask a LOT of questions to make sure
there is no evidence or hint that I am buying stolen property. I have
no doubt that he sold me his own personal laptop. He did not delete
everything off the hard drive. Later after searching the hard drive,
I found some of his old docs and pics, confirming to me that that the
laptop had in fact been his)...so anyway...now you know I am not the
original owner and got no discs of any kind when I bought it. The
seller told me all documentation is on the hard drive. So, all that
previous history is incase someone asks me, "do you have the original
discs?". If I am supposed to, no I don't.

For a year, no problem with the laptop at all! I gave it to my 13 yr
old daughter for her own use, not her 2 siblings. At my request she
put a password on it so her siblings could not sign-on and use it.

About 2 months ago, LCD panel got some kind of impact and went black.
No one in the family knows how it happened (but I'm guessing, someone
in the family accidentally dropped it).

We plugged the laptop into a desktop monitor and continued to use it
as normal.

About 2 weeks ago, I took it to a shop that specializes in laptop
repair. They installed a refurb'd LCD Panel. Instant solution! It
worked great. Laptop back to normal.

But then about 1 week ago, mysteriously, it would not accept the sign-
on password! It worked the night before, then the next time, 8 hours
later, it would not accept the sign on password.

My daughter said she had not changed it in a long time. We tried
upper and lower case. I quizzed everyone in the family. No one
changed the password. And it worked the night before.

In the past week, we have tried a few more times. No luck.

So, our problem is we can't get past the sign-on ID password! We
can't use the laptop at all!

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.


Malke

 

[JS]

Note: The default password for the built in Windows Administrator account is
normally blank (none).

For XP Home users:
Boot the computer into Safe Mode
Do this by pressing the F8 key after the Power On Self Test is finished,
until the Start menu appears.
This will get you to the correct menu window.
Once in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden Administrator account
and any other accounts.
(Note: Accounts are displayed alphabetically).
Use the Up/down arrow keys to highlight the 'Adminstrator' account;
Remember as mentioned above: The default password is a blank (no password
required).

Also See: Forgotten your Windows XP Home password
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894902/en-us
and: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894901/

For XP Pro users:
You do not need to go into Safe Mode.
At the Welcome Screen, do/press the Ctrl-Alt-Del keys twice to display the
Windows logon box.
Type in "Administrator" (without the quotes) and 'if' you assigned a
password when you set up Windows, then enter it. (Note: by default the
password is blank, no password need be entered)

Once your in, then:
Click Start/Run/and type in: Control Userpasswords2 and then press OK
Next click on the Advanced tab and then click Manage Passwords.

Also see: How to log on to Windows XP if you forget your password or if your
password expires
(This Microsoft article applies to both XP Home and Pro)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321305/en-us

JS

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Download the ophcrack iso file
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=133599 and burn it to
CD. It will create a bootable CD that will display your XP passwords.
You must use the correct process for burning ISO files to disc. If you don't
know how to do that see this link
http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm

 

[Jim]

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.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

If the OP tried the wrong password too many times, the account is now
locked. The OP will need to unlock the account through the use of
the administrator account.

Also, inquiring minds would like to know how the password was changed (or if
it was changed).

Jim