XP PRO Recovery consold "default " Password

K

krazykat

I am in a “catch 22†situation with the WIN XP recovery console password.

I have a laptop with WIN XP PRO and received a blue screen “Stop: c0000218
{Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate “ error.

I am trying to follow KB307545 “How to recover from a corrupted registry
that prevents Windows XP from startingâ€

The Problem:

I am trying to start the Recovery console from my WIN XP install disk. I
can get all the way to hitting “R†to start the recovery console and select 1
for C:\Windows. Then I am asked for the administrator’s password. I hit
“enter†and I get the error the “password is incorrectâ€. Try this a couple of
more times with the same “password is incorrectâ€. On the third time recovery
console has to be restarted.

I did not install the recovery console on the system or assign an
administrator password. Since I can not boot the system I can not find,
reset or change the administrator password the recovery console seems to be
looking for.

Is there a “default†password I can use to start the recovery console from
the XP install disk , or a way to bypass the password request?

Thanks.
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

krazykat said:
I am in a "catch 22" situation with the WIN XP recovery console password.

I have a laptop with WIN XP PRO and received a blue screen "Stop: c0000218
{Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file):
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate " error.

I am trying to follow KB307545 "How to recover from a corrupted registry
that prevents Windows XP from starting"

The Problem:

I am trying to start the Recovery console from my WIN XP install disk. I
can get all the way to hitting "R" to start the recovery console and
select 1
for C:\Windows. Then I am asked for the administrator's password. I hit
"enter" and I get the error the "password is incorrect". Try this a couple
of
more times with the same "password is incorrect". On the third time
recovery
console has to be restarted.

I did not install the recovery console on the system or assign an
administrator password. Since I can not boot the system I can not find,
reset or change the administrator password the recovery console seems to
be
looking for.

Is there a "default" password I can use to start the recovery console from
the XP install disk , or a way to bypass the password request?

Thanks.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

krazykat said:
Thanks for the link!! I will give it a try. I took a quick look at the
site.
Seems pretty straight forward. I will need to download and burn the CD.
Do
you have any experience in using the "bootdisk". Does it work?

Thanks again for the quick respponse.

If you check Google for this boot disk (or for "administrator password")
then you will probably find tens of thousands of hits. This is a VFAQ and
the Nordahl boot disk has been the default tool for such cases for more than
ten years.
 
J

ju.c

Resetting a Forgotten Password


NOTES

- The built-in Administrator account is found on the
Welcome screen only if there are no other accounts
available, other than Guest, or when the computer is
booted into Safe Mode.
- To get Admin account on the "Welcome Screen" make sure
that there are no accounts logged in.
- The built-in Administrator account can create and
change passwords for all users, but cannot restore a
forgotten one.
- When a password is changed, that account will lose
all encrypted files, personal certificates and stored
Internet Explorer passwords or network resources.
- Press "CTRL-ALT-DEL" twice to get the classic Windows
logon box. Type: Administrator. If this account has a
password, enter it. Otherwise, leave the it blank.
- Recovering a password is much more difficult. Using
a cracking program can take weeks!


RESET A PASSWORD USING THE ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT

1. Boot into Safe Mode.
2. Log on using the built-in Administrator account.
3. Open: Control Panel -> User Accounts.
4. On the Users tab, select a user name, the password
to change and click Reset Password.


RESET A PASSWORD USING MICROSOFT'S ERD COMMANDER

1. Download a 30 day trial from here:

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 5.0 $65 64 MB
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...69-0554-4595-8AB4-C34B2860E087&displaylang=en

2. Install it, run it and burn the image to a CD.
3. Boot the CD and run the Locksmith Wizard, found under
Start -> System Tools.
4. The Locksmith Wizard very easy to use, just select an
account and input a new password. Too easy!


RESET A PASSWORD USING OFFLINE NT PASSWORD & REGISTRY EDITOR

Bootable CD (Freeware):
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

- This disc can set, reset or unlock the password of any
user account.
- You do not need to know the old password to set a new one.
- Works with Windows NT/2k/XP/Vista.


RECOVER A PASSWORD USING THE LOGIN RECOVERY WEB SERVICE

Login Recovery is a service to recover passwords for Windows NT,
2000, XP, 2003 and Vista (Fast = $30, 3-day wait = Free):
http://www.loginrecovery.com/index.php


LINKS

How to reset the Administrator's password:
http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

EFS, Credentials, and Private Keys from Certificates Are
Unavailable After a Password Is Reset:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q290260

Administrator and User Passwords in Windows XP:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_passwords.htm


ju.c
 
K

krazykat

"ju.c"

Thanks for the information. Here is what I have done and a couple of
questions

I choose to use the http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ which has a link to
http://home.eunet.no . The “Offline NT Password & Registry Editor†CD worked
very well for me. NOTE the instructions “Offline NT Password & Registry
Editor, Walkthrough†are excellent. I was able to reset the admin password
to “blankâ€. Booted to the recovery console from the WIN XP Pro install disk
and completed the KB307545 procedure. Laptop is now up and running.

I plan to make the ubcd4win cd as a backup.

Couple of related comments you might have some knowledge about. When
following the KB307545 article I needed to access the recovery console a
second time after I had the laptop up and running. Recovery console password
was locked out! I had to run the Offline pass word reset cd again. Do you
know why the admin password would get locked out just by booting to the desk
top? I bet if I needed to start the recovery console again the password
would be locked out. Is there some admin setting that needs to be changed?

While using the recovery console I needed to remove the WIN XP install CD to
get a file from a different CD. The CD eject button was non functional,
could not open the cd tray until I exited the recovery console. Is this
normal/expected and is there a way to make the eject button work?
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads


Top