[cyberdyne]

Hi guys,
I have a friends system which has unfortunately run into the hands of their 10yr old son who thought it would be cool to set a password so his sister cant use his comp. Now, hey presto, hes forgotten the password.
Im sure his account is the administrators account and im pretty sure is Win XP Home (not Pro).
How do I reset it for him please?
Any help appreciated.
Thank you.

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haha that's annoying. I did that once and luckily I was using xp home at the time also.

I *think* that there is a way to log on as an administrator in safe mode. tap the F8 key continuously when the machine is booting and there will be a menu where you can choose to start in 'safe mode'. Hopefully when windows loads this way you'll see 2 accounts, one is called administrator, and the other is your locked out account. the administrator account doesn't need a password so log in to that and use it to change the password on the account that is locked out, then reboot normally. if I remember correctly, this should work.

[Thef0rce]

haha that's annoying. I did that once and luckily I was using xp home at the time also.

I *think* that there is a way to log on as an administrator in safe mode. tap the F8 key continuously when the machine is booting and there will be a menu where you can choose to start in 'safe mode'. Hopefully when windows loads this way you'll see 2 accounts, one is called administrator, and the other is your locked out account. the administrator account doesn't need a password so log in to that and use it to change the password on the account that is locked out, then reboot normally. if I remember correctly, this should work.

[cyberdyne]

I'll give that a shot, thank you ThefOrce

[JimB007]

.....one is called administrator, and the other is your locked out account. the administrator account doesn't need a password so log.....

Totally wrong !! You're simply saying here that an administrator account doesn't "need" a password. FYI if there has been an administrator PW set you can't get in the administrator account either, period. On the other hand an administrator can change PW's and delete accounts..
Sorry.. had to make that correction.

[Thef0rce]

err... administrator accounts don't need a password in windows. you can have an administrator account without a pw. there's a default account called 'administrator'. most of the time you cant even see that account cept in safe mode.

I know this sounds stupid. if you boot up in safe mode, I'm pretty sure it'll show up. its a hidden account, I know xp home has it because I've locked myself out before too and panicked for a bit before booting up in safe mode and going duh.

Edited by Thef0rce, 04 October 2005 - 09:21 AM.

[cyberdyne]

Totally wrong !! You're simply saying here that an administrator account doesn't "need" a password. FYI if there has been an administrator PW set you can't get in the administrator account either, period. On the other hand an administrator can change PW's and delete accounts..
Sorry.. had to make that correction.

Well, ill leave that one for you to discuss amongst yourselves, but for now, ill try every option open to me - including those discussed here - before having to go down the reformat road. I believe there IS a way to do it, but just haven't as yet been able to confirm if it is still possible with SP2.
Thanks.

[Murray S.]

Howdy:

When XP is first setup, the user is given an option to put a password on the Administrators account.. This account is different from a simple user account with Admin rights.. If this was done then, even if you get to this account, you would need the password..

If a password wasn't chosen, then a blank password option will get you in..

A little clarfication from both posters would have cleared this up for you..

Murray

[Thef0rce]

yes.. exactly. thank you. should've said it wasn't the same account

[cyberdyne]

Howdy:

When XP is first setup, the user is given an option to put a password on the Administrators account..  This account is different from a simple user account with Admin rights.. If this was done then, even if you get to this account, you would need the password..

If a password wasn't chosen, then a blank password option will get you in..

A little clarfication from both posters would have cleared this up for you..

Murray

Thank you Murray

[Murray S.]

Not a problem.. Goodluck with the fix!!

Murray

[Johanna]

There seems to be confusion over the REAL Admin Account and the Admin USER accounts. The Real Admin is hidden. In XP Home you must be in Safe Mode to access it. If a password was not set at install (many OEMs) it will be blank. In either XP, two control -alt- delete taps at the Welcome Screen should get you to the real Admin log in box.

Note: if you have not set a real admin password, you should, because anyone can log onto your comp, see your files and make changes, if you don't.

Johanna