Repairing a damaged installation - admin password

[Tim Turner]

Hi;

Don't know if anyone can help me; my XP PC just reboots half way
through the boot-up cycle. I can't get into safe mode or anything - it
just reboots. I've taken the hard disk out and stuck it in another pc
- exactly the same happens.

So, I got out my XP CD, stuck it in the drive and booted from it, the
intention being to run the "Repair" option. (This is XP Pro, by the
way). And it's asking me for the Administrator password.

Now, I've been using this PC for years, and my login is my name, and I
know my password, and I have administrator rights - but my password
isn't good enough, it seems. It wants the password of the
Administrator account, and that was presumably set when I first
installed XP, and as that was (the shame of it) about 10 years ago,
I've now forgotten whatever it was. I've tried all my "standards", but
at three failed attempts and you have to reboot, this is taking a lot
of time, and it's not working either!

I can drop the hard disk into an external caddy and look at it as an
external hard disk; is there any way of getting round the problem? I
don't want to do a clean install, which seems to be the only option,
and have to reinstall all my software (some of which is ten years old
and therefore pretty difficult to source).

I keep my documents etc all backed up; but I haven't got a disk image
anywhere I could just restore which, on reflection, is a pity.
Something to bear in mind for the future. But for the present, can
anyone offer any practical advice?

Tim

 

[Tim Turner]

Thanks Joe;

I already tried just pressing enter, and most of the password recovery
software works on the full installation, but OPH did thetrick!

Thanks again

Tim