Problems with my password

[Stefan Vartolomeev]

Hello
I`m a student in Bulgaria and I`m administrating the
computer hall. Soon the school take some new computers
working on Windows XP. I put passwords for my new
administrator accout but someone has deleted it and now is
staying his accout which is administrator and one user
accont. He had put and password to the "Administrator"
account. How can I remove these passwords and recreate my
accout without reinstalling Windows?

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Stefan;
In the future strictly control who has access to an Administrator
profile.
Any Administrator can do and undo anything any other Administrator can
do.

Try leaving the password blank.

The password is Case Sensitive.
Check Caps Lock and try various of Capital combinations.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321305
If you do not have a Password Recovery Disk, it is to late to make it.
Or
Log in to any account that has Administrator access.
Then go to User Accounts in Control Panel.
Select the user and change the password.

Windows XP Pro:
At the log-in screen, press Ctrl/Alt/Del twice quickly
Type "Administrator" and leave password blank.

Windows XP Home:
Reboot, tapping F8 each second.
Select Safe Mode at the menu.
Select Administrator, leave password blank.

Then go to User Accounts in Control Panel.
Select the user and change the password.
If you are using Windows XP Pro and have encrypted data, you may
permanently lose access to the encrypted data.

Here is another option:
http://www.wininternals.com/products/repairandrecovery/index.asp

Another option is to install Windows XP on another partition and take
Ownership of your data.
You could also perform another installation on the same partition,
although this is not a permanent fix and it is recommended to perform
a Clean Installation after retrieving your data.

After this is resolved, take precautions to not lose the password.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Once you have created regular user accounts, the default Administrator
account vanishes from the Welcome screen, which you see when the computer
starts up. Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete twice at the Welcome screen to retrieve the
standard logon dialog. You can log on as Administrator from there.

Enable Administrator account on Welcome Screen
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_admin_ok.htm

Because of the security features built into Windows XP, it is virtually
impossible to get back into the system without a valid password.
You have several options to try and get around this problem.

If you have access to another user account with administrator rights, you can
use that account to change the password of the account that is locked out.
You can also use the default Administrator account that is built into Windows
XP.

First you need to boot the system into Safe Mode:

1. Restart your system.
2. When you see the initial startup screen, press the ( F8 ) key about 3 times a
second.
3. You should get the Windows startup menu. Use the (Up or Down) arrow keys to
highlight (SafeMode)
4. Press (Enter) on (Safe Mode), then press (Enter) on (Windows XP).
5. The system should boot to Safe Mode.

Once you are at the Account Log on Screen, click on the icon
for the user account with administrator rights, or click on the icon
for the administrators account.

Note: For Home the Administrator account isn't normally shown & in Safe Mode you
have to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete keys twice to show.
For PRO you can do this in normal mode.

When the system has booted to the desktop, use the following steps to change the
accounts password:

1. Click Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools.
2. Click Computer Management.
3. Double click Local Users and Groups, double click the folder Users.
4. Right click on the account name that is locked out, and click on Set
Password.
5. You may get a warning message about changing the password, simply click
proceed.
6. Leave the New Password box blank, also leave the Confirm Password box blank.
7. Click OK, and OK again.
8. Then close all Windows, reboot the system and try to log in.


There are also applications that can recover the password for you.
The following companies provide these applications at a cost:

iOpus® Password Recovery XP: http://www.iopus.com/password_recovery.htm
LostPassword.com : http://www.lostpassword.com/
Asterisk Password Recovery XP v1.89 :
http://www.fadsoft.com/password_recovery.htm
Windows XP / 2000 / NT Key: http://www.lostpassword.com/windows-xp-2000-nt.htm


Perhaps the following articles can also help:

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;321305

Administrator and User Passwords in Windows XP
http://www2.cajun.net/~theriots/xpsitefolder/win_xp_passwords.htm

[Courtesy of Kelly Theriot, MS-MVP]

Ultimate Password Recovery Guide
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/answerstips/story/0,24330,3504258,00.html

Forgot Your Admin Password?
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

If the above information does not help in recovering the password, the only
option left is to format the hard drive then reinstall Windows XP
and the system software.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

| Hello
| I`m a student in Bulgaria and I`m administrating the
| computer hall. Soon the school take some new computers
| working on Windows XP. I put passwords for my new
| administrator accout but someone has deleted it and now is
| staying his accout which is administrator and one user
| accont. He had put and password to the "Administrator"
| account. How can I remove these passwords and recreate my
| accout without reinstalling Windows?