Windows XP (home) is now asking for a password

[Guest]

I rebooted yesterday, and now Windows is asking for a password before it will
log on. This is a personal computer, and I've never entered a password, as I
am the only person who uses it. I have rebooted countless times in the past
without being asked for a password.

In the current situation, I have tried every password I've ever used in
another situation, and none work. I've tried going into BIOS, but can't even
get to the password entry - the arrow buttons pass right by it. Anyway, I'm
not sure if this is the password I need. I've tried clicking Escape, which
won't work.

I've tried entering no password. I can get to the computer, but my Start
menu and my Task Bar are gone. I can get online, but all of my passwords are
gone,

Can anyone help me? I read pages of old messages about passwords, but none
of them seemed to fit my situation.

Thanks,

.. Joann

 

[Guest]

Does anyone have an idea about this situation?

 

[Test User]

Does anyone have an idea about this situation?

Yes. Some part of your user account has corrupted. Restart in Safe Mode
and log into the Administrator account. By default, this account on Home
has no password (i.e. just press enter). Go to Control Panel, Users, and
reset the password for your regular account to blank.

As the Administrator account is only available in Safe Mode on XP Home, you
may find it helpful to create another user account with admin rights.

TweakXP contains tools to help control which account you actually boot to.

Also, did you do anything before rebooting yesterday? Specifically, there
are some combinations of actions that can cause this desktop behaviour

Also, from :
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Q_21201108.html
"You can try downloading these files in Safemode and running them in Normal
mode by opening the folder where u saved these files from Task Manager>New
Task

Restore Taskbar and Start Menu
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/nodesktop.reg

Restore Desktop Icons and Taskbar
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/xp_taskbar_desktop_fixall.vbs

source >> http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm"

To get to task manager when you have no desktop, press control+alt+delete
once. Choose New Task. (sorry, I'm using a Windows 2000 machine right now
and can't give you exact details).

HTH
-pk