Lost Password

[DaveH]

I have a user that has forgotten his password to his
Windows XP machine and therefore can not log on to the
machine.

They have a Windows 2003 server as a file server (no
Active Directory, DHCP, DNS). So he's on a workgroup not a
Domain...

Naturally he does not have a password recovery disk....Any
ideas how to get him back up and running with the least
amount data loss, etc.

Thanks.

 

[purplehaz]

Log onto the hidden administrator account and reset the user password.
XP home = boot to safe mode, log on as administrator
XP Pro = ctrl, alt, del twice at the welcome screen, log on as
administrator

 

[Alex Nichol]

I have a user that has forgotten his password to his
Windows XP machine and therefore can not log on to the
machine.

This is where the reserve, emergency account called Administrator comes
in. Boot, hitting F8 as BIOS info goes to black; take Safe Mode, There
will then be an icon for Administrator on the Welcome screen. (If not,
hit CTL-ALT-DEL twice and enter the explicit name
Administrator
and leave the password blank)

In that, Start - Run the line
control userpasswords2
where you can select any account name and Reset Password