Passwords

[CB]

I saw but did not buy a laptop at a thrift store that looked fairly modern
and appeared to have XP Pro. The store had a very low price due to the fact
that the pc was donated with the password still in force. No one there had
a clue what it was. Other than fdisk and installing another os is there a
way to work around the password problem????

This is a serious question, I am not trying to hack into someone's
computer.

Comments welcome.

Regards........

 

[John John (MVP)]

The password for what? If it's the BIOS password leave the laptop at
the thrift shop! If it is just the Windows password then the laptop
*may* be worth buying, that is easy to work around or the laptop may
have a recovery partition that allows you to completely reinstall
Windows to factory condition, but unless you can first make it past the
BIOS the laptop is completely useless. On many laptops if you lose the
BIOS laptop you have to contact the manufacturer and prove bona fide
ownership of the laptop before they will help you and if the laptop is
out of warranty it may be a costly proposition to have them reset the
password usually you have to ship the laptop or bring it to an
authorized service depot.

John

 

[John John (MVP)]

Oh boy, that's what happens when you hit the send button without reading
your scribblings twice! Maybe this makes a bit more sense:

The password for what? If it's the BIOS password leave the laptop at
the thrift shop! If it is just the Windows password then the laptop
*may* be worth buying. The Windows password is easy to work around and
the laptop may have a recovery partition that allows you to completely
reinstall Windows to factory condition, but unless you can first make it
past the BIOS the laptop is completely useless. On many laptops if you
lose the BIOS password you have to contact the manufacturer and prove
bona fide ownership of the laptop before they will help you. If the
laptop is out of warranty it may be a costly proposition to have them
reset the password, usually you have to ship or bring the laptop to an
authorized service depot.

John

 

[VanguardLH]

I saw but did not buy a laptop at a thrift store that looked fairly modern
and appeared to have XP Pro. The store had a very low price due to the fact
that the pc was donated with the password still in force. No one there had
a clue what it was. Other than fdisk and installing another os is there a
way to work around the password problem????

This is a serious question, I am not trying to hack into someone's
computer.

Comments welcome.

Regards........

Why do you care about the password? Doesn't sound like the laptop
included a legitimate copy of Windows XP Pro since you didn't mention
that it came with any installation media. If it did then you would
simply boot using the install CD and format the partition to install a
FRESH copy of Windows and use whatever password you want.

You got a laptop with a polluted hard drive. Now you get to go buy a
legit copy of Windows XP Pro (if that's what you want) to install a
fresh copy of it.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I saw but did not buy a laptop at a thrift store that looked fairly modern
and appeared to have XP Pro. The store had a very low price due to the fact
that the pc was donated with the password still in force. No one there had
a clue what it was. Other than fdisk and installing another os is there a
way to work around the password problem????

This is a serious question, I am not trying to hack into someone's
computer.

Comments welcome.

Regards........

If the person or business from whom you wish to purchase the
computer cannot give you the password, I would also strongly suggest
that you check with local law enforcement agencies to ensure the laptop
isn't stolen.

Beyond that:

Simply log in using the built-in Administrator account (which
cannot be deleted) and modify the desired account(s) and use Start > Run

"control userpasswords2" to modify the desired account(s). Failing

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

However, with second-hand computers, especially if acquired from
strangers but perhaps even if acquired from a family member, your
friend's wisest course of action would probably be to format the hard
drives and start fresh. He doesn't want to get in trouble because the
original owner may have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have
problems because the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or
other malware. Because Best Buy didn't reformat the hard drive and
return that laptop to its original ex-factory condition before
re-selling it, your friend should also seriously wonder what else is
wrong with it.

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered
the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[CB]

If the person or business from whom you wish to purchase the
computer cannot give you the password, I would also strongly suggest
that you check with local law enforcement agencies to ensure the laptop
isn't stolen.

Beyond that:

Simply log in using the built-in Administrator account (which
cannot be deleted) and modify the desired account(s) and use Start > Run
that, Linux-based password cracking utilities abound on the Internet,
freely available to anyone who can use Google.

However, with second-hand computers, especially if acquired from
strangers but perhaps even if acquired from a family member, your
friend's wisest course of action would probably be to format the hard
drives and start fresh. He doesn't want to get in trouble because the
original owner may have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have
problems because the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or
other malware. Because Best Buy didn't reformat the hard drive and
return that laptop to its original ex-factory condition before
re-selling it, your friend should also seriously wonder what else is
wrong with it.

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered
the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

To everyone who responded, thank you. When I stopped by the store a day
later the laptop was gone. Someone brought it. My question was for the
most part academic, I just wanted to know if there was a way. My Windows
knowledge only goes to 98 SE. I doubt I would have brought it without
the software. A new software package for XP Pro runs around $199.00 in
my area. Which would was twice what the thrift store wanted for the
hardware.

I hope I didn't get on anyone's wrong side with taking up your time with
a question that I just was curious about.

Thanks again and regards....

Charles Bennett