Re: Administrator login password problems

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

"suzhannah" <suzhannah@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1A2EBEEF-304E-4184-BABD-B151D004E4FC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,
I am in a blind panic because i cannot get into my home computer. i have
forgotten my login password and i did not keep a back up of it, so i cant
log
on at all.
i am the administrator/owner, so it is a dreadful thing to be locked out
of
my own pc.
there is no way to get a hint or anything because i simply cannot log on
at
all.
do you have any advice pls.
urgent because everything is in my home pc.

thanks
suzanne
Galway
Ireland.

You can change the password from outside the account, either from the
(actual) Administrator account, which in XP Home is available only in Safe
Mode and by default has no password, or by way of a password reset utility.
Those are available on a number of Linux CDs.

However, you don't mention whether you have XP Home or Pro. If you have XP
Pro, there's a potential issue that you must be aware of, and that has to do
with the encrypting file system. If you chose to encrypt files, changing
the password from outside the account will instantly prevent you from ever
seeing the contents of those files again in unencrypted format. The only
exception will be the unfortunately unusual situation where you actually did
finish the task and export the account certificates, and can re-import them.

So, if you have XP Pro, pause before you reset the password, and think of
whether you encrypted. If you even think you might have, and didn't make
the certificate export diskette, do NOT reset the password. Instead, to
get working, clone the disk to another drive, use that drive, and reset the
password on the cloned disk. Set the original drive aside and do nothing
with it for a while. Then, you can easily figure out what is missing, and
make attempts at leisure to guess the password. Protect the original
drive.

Hopefully, this won't apply to you, but if it does, you must be aware of the
risk. Too late is definitely too late.

HTH
-pk


.

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