Lost password - XP Pro

[Denis Leveille]

How can I start XP Pro without the password?

I only have an administrator account and no user account. I do not have the
password for the administrator account.

I cannot get past the screen that asks for the user name and password.

I really do not want to format the drive. If required, I could move the
drive to my son's computer and access the drive from there.

 

[rifleman]

Denis Leveille cogitated deeply and scribbled thusly:

How can I start XP Pro without the password?

I only have an administrator account and no user account. I do not have the
password for the administrator account.

I cannot get past the screen that asks for the user name and password.

I really do not want to format the drive. If required, I could move the
drive to my son's computer and access the drive from there.

have you EVER had a password? Try leaving the password field blank.

BTW, it is usually considered to be a BIG NO NO to use the built-in
Administrator account as your daily log in. Create a user Account and
give it Admin Rights. Save the Administrator account for emergencies,
such as forgetting your user password.

HTH

 

[Tech]

http://www.winternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/erdcommander2002.asp

 

[Patrick Keenan]

How can I start XP Pro without the password?

You pretty much don't.

I only have an administrator account and no user account. I do not have the
password for the administrator account.

That would be a problem...

I cannot get past the screen that asks for the user name and password.

I really do not want to format the drive. If required, I could move the
drive to my son's computer and access the drive from there.

That's pretty much what you will have to do, and then format and re-install
XP after backing up the drive and returing it to its original location.
Bear in mind that if your disk is formatted NTFS and your son's machine is a
Win9x or ME machine, this won't work as those OS's don't support NTFS.
You'll need to format because XP will probably try to use the existing admin
account and ask for the password... which you don't have.

Unfortunately you can't use the CD for the recovery console, as you need to
log in and if you could you wouldn't be asking here.
There are some 3rd party password reset utilities, but you'll be using these
at your own risk. Be sure to back up the system (via your son's) first.

HTH
-pk