XP Password Lockout

[Guest]

We inherited my daughter's Sony Vaio laptop with XP Home Edition and have
used it for 5-6 months. In the past few days, it has started asking for a
login password under my son-in-law's name. He did not have a password
previously and has given my the likely password he would have used.

I have read through a few password threads and tried a few solutions with no
luck. When I tried to log in as Administrator with no password, I got these
messages:

"Windows cannot load the user's profile but has logged you on with the
default profile.

Configuration registry database is corrupt."

Then an error message box apears:

"Explorer.exe Application Error
The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0150002). Click OK to
terminate the application."

My wife is a new user (email only) and is not sure if she may have entered a
password. Again, we tried some passwords she thinks she might have used.

I have recently installed Window updates. I believe that it was SP 2,
though it may have been a security update. Since it was automatic, it's hard
to remember exactly.

Do I have any options beyond using the Recovery CD to restore the machine to
factory configuration? (I have ordered this CD since my daughter didn't pass
hers along.)

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

We inherited my daughter's Sony Vaio laptop with XP Home Edition and have
used it for 5-6 months. In the past few days, it has started asking for a
login password under my son-in-law's name. He did not have a password
previously and has given my the likely password he would have used.

I have read through a few password threads and tried a few solutions with no
luck. When I tried to log in as Administrator with no password, I got these
messages:

"Windows cannot load the user's profile but has logged you on with the
default profile.

Configuration registry database is corrupt."

Then an error message box apears:

"Explorer.exe Application Error
The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0150002). Click OK to
terminate the application."

My wife is a new user (email only) and is not sure if she may have entered a
password. Again, we tried some passwords she thinks she might have used.

I have recently installed Window updates. I believe that it was SP 2,
though it may have been a security update. Since it was automatic, it's hard
to remember exactly.

Do I have any options beyond using the Recovery CD to restore the machine to
factory configuration? (I have ordered this CD since my daughter didn't pass
hers along.)

The standard way to deal with all of these problems is to plan
ahead and create a "master" administrator's account that is only
used to reset passwords. It's the same as having a master key
for a building.

Use this tool to reset the current administrator's password to a
blank. To log on as "administrator", press Cntrl+Alt+Del twice
in succussion.
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply, Pegasus. I am downloading the program(s) and will
create a CD. You mention pressing Crtl-Alt-Del twice to login as an
administrator, and elsewhere in this forum I read that this works for XP
Professional. Since I have XP Home, should this work as well or do I need to
try Safe Mode?

I have tried Safe Mode, but I end up with a login box and then a blank
screen there as well. Thanks again for your suggestion. I will try it in
the next day or two.

DavidB