harrisisatexan said:
This is a basic set of questions;
1. I need to reformat the hard drive due to lost administrator
password. 2 I do not have any boot disk for the machine.
Where do I go from here?
I can bring up the computer with limited usage, but the control
panel will not display, and the hard drive is 80% used and I cannot
access the the locked out files.
I just want to start over.
Where do I go from Here?
1) No - you don't.
2) That sucks - I guess what you really mean is that you don't have any
installation media?
What do you mean by "locked out files"? Would you happen to be getting a
message stating, "Access denied" when you try (useful information to give.)
Without the installation media and/or some way provided by your original
computer manufacturer (Dell, HP, Gateway, IBM/Lenova, etc...) - you would
need to beg/borrow/copy someone's installation media of the same
version/type as yours. Do you have a "product key" sticker on your computer
case someplace? If so - it will tell you the product version/type - let us
know...
Hacking the administrative password and getting to your stuff so you can
back it up would be the first priority. Unless you have an extremely small
(per today's standards) hard disk drive - haviong 80% used space means *you*
have a lot of stuff, stuff *you* may not want to lose.
First - hack the admin password.
Second - copy the stuff you want to keep off the system and onto an external
drive/CD/DVD/etc.
Last - either cleanup what you have or find the media/method you need to
cleanly install the machine.
For the first:
Basically - almost anything from here:
http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm
This works particularly well:
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/
For the second - you may need to take ownership of the files/folders with
your newfound admin rights from the first - then copy your stuff in whatever
method you are comfortable doing so to whatever media (external) you can
get/have around. Your pictures, your documents, your spreadsheets, your
internet favorites/bookmarks, your emails, your contacts, etc and so on...
How to Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421
Read *carefully* - do not just skim the page and start following steps.
There is important information there dependent on the version of Windows XP
For the last - find out if your original equipment manufacturer (Dell, HP,
etc) provided a method (perhaps on a hidden partition, something) to restore
the system. If not - contact them and see if they are willing to send you a
CD/DVD installation set (even if they might charge for it. If that can't be
done (don't worry about how old the machine is when doing that) - then see
if you can figure out exactly what you have either by a sticker on the
machine or by running something like "Belarc Advisor" to get all the
information (including a product key) about your machine you might need to
install cleanly... And then see if you cannot find a friend, family member,
co-worker, computer geek you know to locate you a proper installation CD or
three you can use your product keys with. Don't forget you have software
other than Windows XP - like Office products, accounting software, etc...
(maybe.) Then come back here and let everyone know your results...
- Operating System (Version/Type)
- Applications installed
