[dbissett]

Hi, i have been trying to restore my daughters laptop, she cant remember her password and there are no disks with it, i have been trying but to no avail, can anyone help?

[Advertisements]

Toshiba:

To access the recovery partition do the following...

Power off the laptop.
Hold down the 0 (zero) key and turn the laptop on. Keep holding down the zero key until the TOSHIBA logo appears.
Start tapping the zero key repeatedly at this point.
Stop if the unit beeps or when the TOSHIBA logo disappears.
The screen should flash HDD RECOVERY MODE for a second and then it will load the Toshiba recovery program right from the hard drive.
Note that this erases all data, and reloads all factory default software.

[rshaffer61]

Toshiba:

To access the recovery partition do the following...

Power off the laptop.
Hold down the 0 (zero) key and turn the laptop on. Keep holding down the zero key until the TOSHIBA logo appears.
Start tapping the zero key repeatedly at this point.
Stop if the unit beeps or when the TOSHIBA logo disappears.
The screen should flash HDD RECOVERY MODE for a second and then it will load the Toshiba recovery program right from the hard drive.
Note that this erases all data, and reloads all factory default software.

[dbissett]

i've tried that but it asks for a password for the HDD, which i have but when i enter it the computer goes straight to startup and asks for the login password which i dont have>>>

[rshaffer61]

What happens if you don't enter a password?
Have you tried to go into the bios and see about setting it all back to default?

[dbissett]

yes i've tried a couple of times, maybe i'm doing something wrong, is there another way to fully restore to factory settings ???

Edited by dbissett, 14 May 2011 - 08:34 AM.

[dbissett]

i have pressed F8 and got into advanced boot options. i tried selecting 'repair your computer' but after i select that it comes up 'system recovery options' but the only options then is to select keyboard and language, after i select these options it looks for another password which i dont have, am i missing something

[rshaffer61]

Do not put a password in and just click Enter.
If no password was originally put in it should skip it and go on.

[dbissett]

but there was a password and i have to enter it or it will not proceed

[rshaffer61]

That is going to be a problem then cause the HD itself has a password and without knowing it this is going to be even harder.
Recovery disks should bypass that but since you don't have them then you will need to contact the manufacturer and see about purchasing a set of recovery disks.
They will include the original OS, Programs and drivers for the system as it was when it left the factory.
They normally cost less then 50USD and unless the laptop is really old they should have them.
The other option is to borrow or purchase a OEM version of the OS be it Home, Media or Pro.
Then do a format and reload OS fresh then.
The issue there is that we will have to have the make and model of the laptop to find all the original drivers so everything will work.
Can you boot into windows now or has that option been stopped also?

[dbissett]

i have the password for the HD, i can boot into windows but my daughter changed login password, so i can not get into windows proper without that password, any ideas??

[rshaffer61]

OK I'm confused now.
You said in a previous post:

i've tried that but it asks for a password for the HDD, which i have but when i enter it the computer goes straight to startup and asks for the login password which i dont have>>>

The system should not be logging into Windows to do a system recovery. This is done outside of windows in a Dos type environment. If you look at my first post it says:


To access the recovery partition do the following...

Power off the laptop.
Hold down the 0 (zero) key and turn the laptop on. Keep holding down the zero key until the TOSHIBA logo appears.
Start tapping the zero key repeatedly at this point.
Stop if the unit beeps or when the TOSHIBA logo disappears.
The screen should flash HDD RECOVERY MODE for a second and then it will load the Toshiba recovery program right from the hard drive.


At no point does it try to access Windows. Something is not right if it does.

[dbissett]

Power off the laptop.
Hold down the 0 (zero) key and turn the laptop on. Keep holding down the zero key until the TOSHIBA logo appears.
Start tapping the zero key repeatedly at this point.
at this point i am asked for a password which i have.
i enter password and then i am brought to login screen
pressing zero repeatedly does nothing just inserts a load of zeros into pop up box for password. i think this is the HD password

[rshaffer61]

It sounds to me like you have no recovery partition then. If the steps are followed and you say you are doing everything right, then you should never see a windows log in screen.
I suspect you will need to contact the manufacturer of the laptop to try and purchase a set of recovery disks.

[dbissett]

ok no problem thank you very much for your help,

[rshaffer61]

Since you can boot into windows lets check to make sure that recovery partition exists or not.

Go to Start then to Run
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On left side click on Disk Management
On right side you will see you hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply. Do the following to take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard. It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
Now go to Start and then to All Programs
Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop


Attach it to your next reply