Recovery console off limits

[Guest]

My DVD drive has gone missing (not physically) and has resisted all my
efforts to bring it back. I thought recovery console was worth a try but it
won't accept the administrator password. I fould this... "if the Security
Accounts Manager (SAM) database is missing or damaged, you cannot use the
Windows Recovery Console because you cannot have correct authentication" in
windows support.

I've tried changing the password (which works when I log on normally) but no
result. Does this mean SAM is also awol?

It begins to look like my only choice is to re-install Windows after booting
from the cd. Please tell me I'm wrong.

 

[Ricky]

Have you tried leaving the password blank?

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ricky - yes the password started out blank and I only put one in today
to see if the pesky thing would work.

So now I'm going to try re-installing Windows - I hope I'm not gone too long.

 

[Ron Martell]

My DVD drive has gone missing (not physically) and has resisted all my
efforts to bring it back. I thought recovery console was worth a try but it
won't accept the administrator password. I fould this... "if the Security
Accounts Manager (SAM) database is missing or damaged, you cannot use the
Windows Recovery Console because you cannot have correct authentication" in
windows support.

I've tried changing the password (which works when I log on normally) but no
result. Does this mean SAM is also awol?

It begins to look like my only choice is to re-install Windows after booting
from the cd. Please tell me I'm wrong.

The password you need to log into Recovery Console is the one you set
up for the built-in account named Administrator, not the one for your
user account with Administrator-level privileges. Note that this
Administrator account does not show on the login menu at startup
except when booting into Safe Mode.

If you did not specifically create a password for the account named
Administrator then it should be set to the default value which is
blank (blank as in no password not the word blank).

If you still cannot log into the Recovery Console then boot the
computer normally and open a Command Prompt window (Start - Run - CMD)
In the command prompt window enter the following command:

net user Administrator <password you want to use>

You should now be able to log into the Recovery Console using that
password.


However rather than going to Recovery Console to fix your DVD drive
problem try download the file CDGONE.ZIP from
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/cdgone.zip and extract the contents.
Merge the file CDGONE.REG into your registry and reboot the computer.
Hopefully that will resolve the problem for you.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Guest]

The password you need to log into Recovery Console is the one you set
up for the built-in account named Administrator, not the one for your
user account with Administrator-level privileges. Note that this
Administrator account does not show on the login menu at startup
except when booting into Safe Mode.

If you did not specifically create a password for the account named
Administrator then it should be set to the default value which is
blank (blank as in no password not the word blank).

If you still cannot log into the Recovery Console then boot the
computer normally and open a Command Prompt window (Start - Run - CMD)
In the command prompt window enter the following command:

net user Administrator <password you want to use>

You should now be able to log into the Recovery Console using that
password.


However rather than going to Recovery Console to fix your DVD drive
problem try download the file CDGONE.ZIP from
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/cdgone.zip and extract the contents.
Merge the file CDGONE.REG into your registry and reboot the computer.
Hopefully that will resolve the problem for you.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

I see you don't use top posting so you must be as old as I am.

I had quite forgotten about the Administrator account that doesn't show up
amongst users so I'll try that right now. Cdgone.zip did not fix the problem
I'm afraid.

Many thanks for your reply.
Regards Lee

 

[Guest]

I see you don't use top posting so you must be as old as I am.

I had quite forgotten about the Administrator account that doesn't show up
amongst users so I'll try that right now. Cdgone.zip did not fix the problem
I'm afraid.

Many thanks for your reply.
Regards Lee

Thanks to your help I got into Recovery Console but I didn't find anything
there that I dared try so I re-installed Windows. I'm back, as you can see
and everything seems to work.

Regards Lee