Reset password in repair console

[Malke]

Hello

Trying to fix a friend's WinXP laptop after he forgot his password (he
kept using hibernate so he was never asked for the password, until he
had
to reboot by which time he'd forgotten it). I'm able to get into the
repair console by booting from the CD and I can log as administrator.
Is there a cmd line tool I can use to reset the password in the repair
console?

(At the GUI log on screen, there's no "Administrator" user, just
"default", so I can't log in as Administratpr there.)

I don't believe you can reset the password with the Recovery Console.
However, unless your friend has XP Pro, if you boot into Safe Mode the
hidden Administrator account will now be available. If he never set a
password, the default password is a blank. Then you can go into Control
Panel, User Accounts and change your friend's password. If he has XP
Pro or for some reason this doesn't work (like he set a password for
the default Administrator account and doesn't remember it), then you
can easily change the password with the program ntpasswd from:

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Read the howto first, of course. The best thing is to set the new
password to be blank.

Malke

 

[David Candy]

And in Pro pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete twice brings up a traditional entry box. Log on as admin and type in Start Run
control userpasswords2 and reset the password.

 

[darius]

Hello

Trying to fix a friend's WinXP laptop after he forgot his password (he
kept using hibernate so he was never asked for the password, until he had
to reboot by which time he'd forgotten it). I'm able to get into the
repair console by booting from the CD and I can log as administrator. Is
there a cmd line tool I can use to reset the password in the repair
console?

(At the GUI log on screen, there's no "Administrator" user, just
"default", so I can't log in as Administratpr there.)

 

[Steve N.]

darius wrote:




I don't believe you can reset the password with the Recovery Console.
However, unless your friend has XP Pro, if you boot into Safe Mode the
hidden Administrator account will now be available. If he never set a
password, the default password is a blank. Then you can go into Control
Panel, User Accounts and change your friend's password. If he has XP
Pro or for some reason this doesn't work (like he set a password for
the default Administrator account and doesn't remember it), then you
can easily change the password with the program ntpasswd from:

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Read the howto first, of course. The best thing is to set the new
password to be blank.

Malke

I keep wondering why in XP home (and some Pro installs) the
Administrator pwd is blank. Seems like a big security risk to me. What's
the point of having a backup admin acct if there is no security? I
realize in Home you can't get at the admin acct outside of Safe Mode but
why a blank pwd in Pro? Makes no sense.

Steve