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Cannot login to Windows

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MLodsin

New Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2004
As a joke, my roommate used a program to change the Windows password on my computer. It worked the first time, but when he changed it a 2nd time, it didn't. I now cannot get into my Windows.

It is Windows XP Professional. I just want to know if there is any way I can access my hard drive, so I can either backup my files or not have to reboot. Any help would greatly appreciated, I don't want to lose my files!!
 
MLodsin said:
As a joke, my roommate used a program to change the Windows password on my computer. It worked the first time, but when he changed it a 2nd time, it didn't. I now cannot get into my Windows.

It is Windows XP Professional. I just want to know if there is any way I can access my hard drive, so I can either backup my files or not have to reboot. Any help would greatly appreciated, I don't want to lose my files!!

Try this:
Boot into safe mode by pressing F8 just after your BIOS screen disappears, and windows almost starts to boot. Choose Safe Mode and press enter
Log in as administrator
Use the User Admin option in Control Panel to set your password.
Reboot.

EDIT: VVV pwned :cool: .... j/k Only 1 minute in it ;)
 
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Get into windows through safe mode.
To do that, reboot the computer, and keep pressing F8 continuosly until you get a menu. There will be an option for safe mode. Select it and press enter. Then, you will see the windows login screen and there will be an account named "Administrator" You can get into that without a password.

EDIT: Bah, David beat me to it! :clap:
 
take the harddrive out and stick it in another compter - use the security tools to change permissions on the drive to that of the local computer and copy what ever you need over -

that is if you can not get the password to change.
 
I have a copy of the program he used and I believe it is the one found on theultimatebootdisk.

Also, it says all the passwords are blanked, including the admin. So that will not work either, but I will try it again.

As far as taking out the harddrive, that might just work. I will look into that more, thanks.

Any more ideas?
 
Ok, I took out the hardrive and hooked it up fine. I was able to access all my files, thanks.

Now, is there any way I can change the password this way? I believe the SAM file in WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG controls the password. Can I just delete this? Any ideas?

Thanks for all the help again.
 
Start | Run | Type control userpasswords2 | "Users" tab | Click the user account that you want to change the password for, and then click the "Reset Password" button | Type a new password in both the New password and the Confirm new password boxes, and then click OK.

If you reset the password for a user account in this manner in XP Pro, the following kinds of information for that user will no longer be available:
a. E-mail messages that are encrypted with the user's public key.
b. Internet passwords that are saved on or remembered by the computer.
c. Any files that the user has encrypted.
 
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