Re: Access to XP Home PC

Steve wrote:
Hi,

This kind of question must have been asked a million times, but as usual I can't find anything that helps me!

I've got a laptop with XP Home installed. It has one user account with admin rights but no password (stupid, I know!). The computer used to auto login to this account, presumably because it was the only one.

I then installed some software on my computer which required a reboot. Since doing so, I am faced with a login dialog upon reboot, with my username in the username box. However, pressing Enter (no password) reports an incorrect password error! I've never had a password...Why has this happened? I've tried safe mode boot up, and when asked for an Administrator password (which I never created, Windows was pre-installed) again, a blank entry fails.

I have to get some documents off the laptop quite urgently, and as I can't login, I'm quite stuck. I took the hard disk out, and with a USB adapter connected it to my desktop PC. However, my documents folder is inaccessible, Access Denied.

Any advice you can offer to either log back in, or access My Documents would be gratefully received.

Many thanks for reading,
S


Simply log in using the built-in Administrator account (which cannot be deleted) and modify the desired account(s) and use Start > Run > "control userpasswords2" to modify the desired account(s).

Unless you've set the built-in Administrator's password via the Management Console (_not_ the Control Panel), it's probably still blank. WinXP Pro asks the user to set the Administrator's password during installation, but WinXP Home doesn't.

By design, the only way to log into the Administrator account of WinXP Home is to reboot into Safe Mode. For WinXP Pro, pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome Screen will produce the standard login dialog box.

How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your Password Expires
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q321305

Failing that, Linux-based password cracking utilities abound on the Internet, freely available to anyone who can use Google.



--

Bruce Chambers

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