Re: HELP! Do I need to reformat?
- From: Malke <notreally@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 19:20:53 -0700
Ted Kerin wrote:
We have a WinXP Home PC for out son, that I set-up years ago -- I don't remember whatever I may have set up as user or password info, as they haven't been needed.
Earlier today, I made the big mistake of installing a new wireless network card witout first shutting down the computer. I first installed the driver, per instructions, but then I physically installed the card and neglected to shut-down the computer before inserting the card.
Then the computer wanted me to logon -- with the username "Owner", blank password. (huh? As far as I recall, I had never been prompted with username Owner, even during initial setup.) Sinced I assumed this was a reversion to some forgotten default, I tried the password "admin" -- no good.
Rebooting didn't help. Rebooting in safe mode presented the same barrier, asking me to sign in as "Owner".
Standard password troubleshooting:
If you have forgotten your password, if you have another user account with administrative privileges you can log into that account and change your original user account's password from the User Accounts applet in Control Panel. If you don't have another account like this set up or don't have the password to it, you'll need to log into the built-in Administrator account. 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
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
.
- References:
- HELP! Do I need to reformat?
- From: Ted Kerin
- HELP! Do I need to reformat?
- Prev by Date: Re: HELP! Do I need to reformat?
- Next by Date: Re: Send mail
- Previous by thread: Re: HELP! Do I need to reformat?
- Next by thread: Re: Windows Task Manager
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
