Unable to logon using Administrator password

[Berne]

I have a strange logon issue which just cropped up in windows xp. I have
always logged on automatically with the admin user and did not setup a
password. Just recently the logon screen started to display however when I
choose the admin it starts to load windows but then comes back to the user
selection screen with the message "saving you settings". There are no other
users which I can select to launch windows. If I use CTL+ALT+DEL I am
presented with a pop up requiring the password. If I enter any value other
then blank I get a password incorrect error message. When I leave blank and
press enter the same thing happens, windows starts to load and then comes
back to the logon screen with the message that the settings for the admin are
being saved. Starting in safe mode is no different, accepts the blank,
nothing else and won't start windows. If I start up in safe mode with
command prompt I am presented with a password entry to which I just press
enter and receive the C:/WINDOWS prompt, but can't seem to find a way to
change the windows admin password back to blank and reset the auto logon
value. To make matters worse I did not create password backups.

Seems to me there are now 2 passwords which are in effect, the original
blank and something else. The blank seems to work on the disk but will not
work in windows. Is this possible? Any ideas how I can fix short of
reinstalling the OS? Will reinstalling even work?

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

From the prompt, type:
LOGON

If no help, use system restore:

HOW TO Start System Restore Tool from Command Prompt (Q304449):
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q304/4/49.asp

 

[Berne]

In Safe Mode with Command Prompt, issuing the LOGON command just returns a
list of the drives into which I wish to access, 2 options for the D drive and
1 option for the C drive which is C:\WINDOWS. I select windows and am
prompted for the password, which is blank. This returns me to the C:\WINDOWS
prompt, which is where I started. I followed your link to the restore page
however cannot execute the command %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
as am receiving an Invalid command type /? for help message.

 

[John John (MVP)]

The problem you are experiencing is not a password related one at all,
it is most likely related to the userinit.exe file or it's corresponding
entry in the registry. Is the laptop part of a network? If yes it can
be relatively easy to fix the userinit problem, if not part of a network
it will be a bit complicated.

John

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

You cannot log on to Windows XP after you remove Wsaupdater.exe:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892893

 

[Gerald Ross]

Thanks Guys,

John - no, the laptop is not a part of the network however I can get a
limited access to the whole drive by hooking it up through USB
enclosure. Trouble with that is that I still can not get to the registry
files as that area is 'locked' and all files under the Admin & User
which are normally a part of Windows environment are out of bounds. I've
tried Chris Grenier's data recovery disk but unfortunately it doesn't
fully load (thus allowing Registry access) because it complains about
'wrong flags' being set on the hard drive?
Mark - With the MS solution they say to use a Recovery Consol - as the
laptop has only an XP Home installed I don't believe that the RC is
available. I suppose this can not be installed at this point in time?

Cheers
BMac

If you can buy or borrow an XP home disk, you can boot up on it and
use the recovery console. I had to buy one a couple of years ago to
do that. It's the pits they no longer give you a disk of Windows.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

A child of five could understand this!
Fetch me a child of five.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654&Product=winxp

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

You can blank the Admin password (set it to "*") with this boot disk
utility.

Offline NT pw & reg-editor, bootdisk password:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Whatever that is, it certainly seems intention, rather than some corrupt
file or error. I don't know of another repair option you might have.