Re: Access to XP Home PC

On Mar 12, 8:13 pm, Bruce Chambers <bchamb...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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 Expireshttp://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

Help us help you:http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"control userpasswords2" seems to only be available in XP Pro
(MCE???) and NOT HOME.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Access to XP Home PC
    ... Since doing so, I am faced with a login dialog upon reboot, with my username in the username box. ... I have to get some documents off the laptop quite urgently, and as I can't login, I'm quite stuck. ... 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. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Not allowed for interactive logon
    ... something that I am also pretty certain that is not supported by WinXP Home. ... login with my username and password to Windows XP Home SP2. ... You are not allowed for interactive logon. ... Two times I have opened a new account and copied the layers from the old ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Setting a default user NAME for the login screen but still password blank
    ... If you want both the username and password to be blank (so as not to ... reduce your secure login by half of its value), ... believe when a new account is defined under WinXP home that a password ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Access to XP Administrator account
    ... "Win2K-style" login dialog box, as you've observed, but you cannot use ... With WinXP Home, the only way to log in as Administrator is to ... > executable to add the registry change. ... > the account in User Manager and change the password. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Problem with the DNS
    ... Do you use the firewall in the XP workstations? ... iam facing problem with winxp pro i have ... added the xp client to the domain one month it was worked fine after ... users are unable to login into the system by using domain user name ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.dns)