Locked Out

[ROWAN]

Our family laptop seems to have a corrupted password file. On boot up, we
have tried logging into every account but it is not accepting the password.
Caps Lock is not switched on. We do not have a boot or recover disc. Any
suggestions? As a last resort, I guess we could reinstall the OS but I'd
rather not. I can get a copy of a boot disc from a friend if necessary.

Thanks
Rowan

 

[Nepatsfan]

Our family laptop seems to have a corrupted password file. On boot up, we
have tried logging into every account but it is not accepting the password.
Caps Lock is not switched on. We do not have a boot or recover disc. Any
suggestions? As a last resort, I guess we could reinstall the OS but I'd
rather not. I can get a copy of a boot disc from a friend if necessary.

Thanks
Rowan

You can try logging on with the built-in Administrator account and going to
Control Panel -> User Accounts to change the password. How you log on with the
Administrator account depends on what version of XP you have installed on your
computer.

XP Home Edition

To logon with the built-in Administrator account in XP Home Edition you have to
restart the computer and boot into Safe Mode.
To start in Safe Mode, reboot your computer and
start tapping the F8 key as soon as you see anything displayed
on the screen.
Keep hitting F8 until the Advanced Startup
Options menu appears.
Use the up and down arrow keys on your
keyboard to select Safe Mode.
Hit Enter.
Click on the Administrator icon.
Unless you changed it, the password should be blank.

XP Professional
Restart your computer.
If the Welcome screen is displayed, hit the Ctrl + Alt + Del key combination
twice.
This should bring up the Log on to Windows dialog.
Enter Administrator in the User Name box.
If you set up a password for this account, enter it now. Otherwise, leave the
password box blank.

If you're still locked out of your computer, take a look at these web sites for
information on creating a bootable CD that will let you reset passwords.

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Ultimate Boot CD for Windows®
http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm

Note: If order to repair or reinstall your copy of XP, you would need to use a
CD that matches in version and type your current installation. Bottom line, you
can't just use any XP installation CD.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[ROWAN]

Nepatsfan

Thanks for this but fortunately it was nothing quite so drastic.

I changed the login screen to classic mode and typed in the username and
password. That revealed that NumLock was on, even though the LED suggested
it was off. Switching NumLock off (which activated the LED !!) allowed me
to enter the username and password which were OK.

I still don't know whats going on with the NumLock key but at least we can
log into the laptop using a workaround.

Regards

 

[Nepatsfan]

Glad to hear you were able to fix the problem. Thanks for taking the time to let
us know you're able to logon to your laptop.

Nepatsfan