lost password

[Brian]

Hi -
A couple of years ago a colleague set up a computer at work with a guest
account so that patients would be able to access the internet, type letters
etc., whilst they were there. Now he wants to add some more programmes but
cannot log on to the admin account as he has forgotten the name and password
that he originally used. Is there any solution to this, or if he has to
reinstall the whole of Windows (2000) would he need the original
name/password to format the disk so that he can reinstall?

Any help or suggestions on this would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian.

 

[typical computer geek]

you have to pull apart the machine and pull the battery. this erases the
administrator password. then you can log on a administrator

 

[R. McCarty]

I think the post refers to a Operating System account password, NOT
a BIOS Setup/Administrator password which can be reset by taking
out the Motherboard battery.

 

[Brian]

Hi again - It's the name/password which he set up via control panel / user
accounts, not the BIOS password (none is set for that).
Cheers and thanks for the help.
Brian.

 

[typical computer geek]

i may be wrong but i think it also applies to the OS administrator password.
But I have been known to be wrong before.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi -
A couple of years ago a colleague set up a computer at work with a guest
account so that patients would be able to access the internet, type letters
etc., whilst they were there. Now he wants to add some more programmes but
cannot log on to the admin account as he has forgotten the name and password
that he originally used. Is there any solution to this, or if he has to
reinstall the whole of Windows (2000) would he need the original
name/password to format the disk so that he can reinstall?

Any help or suggestions on this would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian.

Boot the machine with a boot diskette from here:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html
then suggest to your colleague to keep records of the
passwords of all machines that he sets up.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

you have to pull apart the machine and pull the battery. this erases
the administrator password. then you can log on a administrator

No, this is not at all correct.Pulling the battery and leaving it out for
fifteen minutes or more (or, more easily, using the BIOS reset jumper on the
motherboard, if there is one) resets the BIOS and the password within it, if
there is one.

It has nothing to do with the Windows administator password, which is on the
hard drive. Pulling the battery does nothing to affect the hard drive in any
way.

Brian, read here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;321305

 

[Brian]

Thanks very much everyone for your advice. I have been through to the
suggested sites and downloaded a couple of the suggested programmes. I'll be
giving them a try tomorrow.

Again, thanks for all the replies,
Brian.

 

[Guest]

Yes, you are wrong. BIOS battery power has nothing to do with OS accounts.

 

[Plato]

you have to pull apart the machine and pull the battery. this erases the
administrator password. then you can log on a administrator

Incorrect.