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Windows Forum / Windows XP / Basics / July 2006

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Password bypass?

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mw - 31 Jul 2006 19:54 GMT
I just bought an old computer at a yard sale for $10.  It does have Windows XP but it is telling me I have to change the password which I can only do by using the OLD Passowrd.  Aside from driving 2 hours to the house where  Ibought it and ask the guy what it might be (and he had not used it for a long time he told me, so he may not even remember it), is there some way I can get to the desktop without knowing the old PW??
Thanks
Mike
gls858 - 31 Jul 2006 20:13 GMT
> I just bought an old computer at a yard sale for $10.  It does have Windows XP but it is telling me I have to change the password which I can only do by using the OLD Passowrd.  Aside from driving 2 hours to the house where  Ibought it and ask the guy what it might be (and he had not used it for a long time he told me, so he may not even remember it), is there some way I can get to the desktop without knowing the old PW??
> Thanks
> Mike

Try this. It's basically a bootable CD that allows you to
blank the admin password. If it's XP home you may be able
to boot to the safe mode and select the admin account and just
try a blank password. Many time people never set an admin password.

gls858
Malke - 31 Jul 2006 20:38 GMT
>> I just bought an old computer at a yard sale for $10.  It does have
>> Windows XP but it is telling me I have to change the password which I can
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> to boot to the safe mode and select the admin account and just
> try a blank password. Many time people never set an admin password.

Forgot the link. ;-)

To the OP:

The smartest thing you can do with a used computer is to format the drive
and clean install Windows.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#reinstall_Windows - What you
will need on-hand

However, here is the answer to your password question:

In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly tapping
the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to the right
menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once
in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden Administrator account. The
default password is a blank.

In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen, do
Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in
"Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up Windows.

If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or have
Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the built-in
Administrator account's password to a blank.

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

Then go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel and set passwords that
you will remember and make other desired changes.

Malke
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MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

gls858 - 31 Jul 2006 21:54 GMT
>>> I just bought an old computer at a yard sale for $10.  It does have
>>> Windows XP but it is telling me I have to change the password which I can
[quoted text clipped - 41 lines]
>
> Malke

Damn it's hell to get old :-)

Here the link should it be needed.

http://ebcd.pcministry.com/
Harry Ohrn MS MVP - 31 Jul 2006 20:43 GMT
If this is XP Home version then restart the computer and keep tapping the F8
key until you see the Boot Menu (black screen with white options). Select
the option to boot into Safe Mode. You will arrive at a logon screen. Select
Administrator and press the Enter key. If you have XP Home that will get you
to the Safe Mode Desktop. From there you can go into the Control Panel->User
Accounts and reset the password for the logon account.

If this doesn't work or you have XP Pro you might be able to hack out the
password using this bootable CD
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/Tools/NTPASSWORD/ntpasswordhack.zip

Signature

Harry Ohrn MS MVP [Shell\User]

I just bought an old computer at a yard sale for $10.  It does have Windows
XP but it is telling me I have to change the password which I can only do by
using the OLD Passowrd.  Aside from driving 2 hours to the house where
Ibought it and ask the guy what it might be (and he had not used it for a
long time he told me, so he may not even remember it), is there some way I
can get to the desktop without knowing the old PW??
Thanks
Mike
Ken Blake, MVP - 31 Jul 2006 22:29 GMT
> I just bought an old computer at a yard sale for $10.  It does have
> Windows XP but it is telling me I have to change the password which I
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> remember it), is there some way I can get to the desktop without
> knowing the old PW??

Answered in another newsgroup. Please do not send the same message
separately to more than one newsgroup (called multiposting). Doing so just
fragments the thread, so someone who answers in one newsgroup doesn't get to
see answers from others in another newsgroup. And for those who read all the
newsgroups the message is multiposted to, they see the message multiple
times instead of once (they would see it only once if you correctly
crossposted instead). This wastes everyone's time, and gets you poorer help
than you should get.

If you must send the same message to more than one newsgroup, please do so
by crossposting (but only to a *few* related newsgroups).

Please see "What is the accepted way to share a message across multiple
newsgroups?" at http://smjg.port5.com/faqs/usenet/xpost.html

Signature

Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 
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