No Administrator Account - Recover Console?

[Guest]

I believe that I deleted the Administrator account on a Windows XP
installation for home use. Now when I try to get into the computer via
Recovery Console, it asks me for the administrator password. Well there is
no administrator account. There are two accounts, both with administrator
rights and no password on either. The Recovery Console does not accept a
blank password on either, how to I get in.
I need to fix a problem resulting from a file named IOMDISK.sys and it won't
boot to safe mode anymore.

 

[Rock]

I believe that I deleted the Administrator account on a Windows XP
installation for home use. Now when I try to get into the computer via
Recovery Console, it asks me for the administrator password. Well there
is
no administrator account. There are two accounts, both with administrator
rights and no password on either. The Recovery Console does not accept a
blank password on either, how to I get in.
I need to fix a problem resulting from a file named IOMDISK.sys and it
won't
boot to safe mode anymore.

What makes you think you deleted the Administrator account? That is very
hard to do. If you boot into Safe mode does Administrator appear at the
welcome screen? Normally the password is blank for this acccount in XP Home
unless one was assigned to it. For XP Pro it prompts you to assign a
password when XP is installed.

Login to another account with Admin privileges and set the password on the
Administrator account.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I believe that I deleted the Administrator account on a Windows XP
installation for home use.

The built-in Administrator account *cannot* be deleted. It can,
however, be disabled or renamed.

Now when I try to get into the computer via
Recovery Console, it asks me for the administrator password.

The password being requested is that of the built-in
_Administrator_ account, not the password for any other administrative
user accounts that the computer's owner may have created. Unless the
owner deliberately set the Administrator's password via the Management
Console (_not_ the Control Panel), it's probably still blank. WinXP Pro
asks the installer to set the Administrator's password during
installation, but WinXP Home doesn't.

Well there is
no administrator account.

Yes, there is. The built-in Administrator account *cannot* be deleted.

There are two accounts, both with administrator
rights and no password on either.

Then use one of them to reset the password of the built-in
Administrator account. Start > Run > "control userpasswords2" to modify
the desired account(s).

The Recovery Console does not accept a
blank password on either, how to I get in.

As above, or:

How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your
Password Expires
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q321305

Failing that, Linux-based password cracking utilities abound on the
Internet, freely available to anyone who can use Google.

I need to fix a problem resulting from a file named IOMDISK.sys and it won't
boot to safe mode anymore.

--

Bruce Chambers

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[Guest]

I think you great folks answered my question for the night, I was downloading
Windows Live Messenger, when I got a message the install could not be
completed because I indicated I wanted file sharing, and I was asked to
verify I had the rights to request file sharing, and the download was left
incomplete. I am sure that they want my Administrator account info, which I
looked for, tweaked until tweaked out. If I understand, there is no password
for this account, I think I can handle this now. But I have decided to hang
out, this Q&A or just hearing ideas being batted around is educational. So
glad to be aboard. Thanks