I seem to have locked my own laptop!

schiff

Bought a new Dell 12 months ago, to move to a better machine than I had. Made the mistake of going into the facility of transferring the contents of my old one into the new. It needed a user name etc which I couldn't remember, as someone had helped me to set up the old one, and used tags that related to me but were unwieldy (and I kept no record).

Fortunately he had kept records so I then had a PIN, a Password and an SSID, whatever that is! My name is on the opening page, but I can't get any further; I've tried all the user names, PINs, passwords etc that I can think of, and none works. And there seems to be no facility to request a reminder of the necessary ID. I also found that I couldn't move the cursor smoothly at all - and so I just lost interest in my new laptop, carrying on with my old one. (I've had five laptops with touch pads, so I've had some experience!)

I can't face the Dell technical people, especially if it's over the phone, so I've got a brand new, unused machine that I can't get into. If I could just clear all the contents and start afresh, that would be perfect.

Any ideas please?

4743hudsonj

schiff wrote: »

Bought a new Dell 12 months ago, to move to a better machine than I had. Made the mistake of going into the facility of transferring the contents of my old one into the new. It needed a user name etc which I couldn't remember, as someone had helped me to set up the old one, and used tags that related to me but were unwieldy (and I kept no record).

Fortunately he had kept records so I then had a PIN, a Password and an SSID, whatever that is! My name is on the opening page, but I can't get any further; I've tried all the user names, PINs, passwords etc that I can think of, and none works. And there seems to be no facility to request a reminder of the necessary ID. I also found that I couldn't move the cursor smoothly at all - and so I just lost interest in my new laptop, carrying on with my old one. (I've had five laptops with touch pads, so I've had some experience!)

I can't face the Dell technical people, especially if it's over the phone, so I've got a brand new, unused machine that I can't get into. If I could just clear all the contents and start afresh, that would be perfect.

Any ideas please?

ummmm

im lost

you talk about ssid

thats for setting up a network

so when you say your locked out

what do you actually mean?

ABH_3

If you mean 'your name' on this type of screen:
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/showcase/winxp_login.jpg

you'll need one of the tools listed here:
http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

However, don't go running off untill what you'll need to do. So read the rest of this then make a choice preferably after the 1,2,3,4 stage please.

SSID (Service Set Identifier) would be part of your networking router setup. Does your router have a SES (SecureEasySetup) button? If so, don't press it. If you have however, there's a chance you'll never know your ssid details, as it's automatically setup for you.

You can get ssid retrievers, however it's not really clear what you need. You seem to have confused 2 passwords somehow.

Take us through what you're doing in a 1,2,3,4 manner ie:
1 - Press Start button on computer box\laptop
2 - computer screen goes black with white writing?
3 - computer screen goes blue? etc etc.

You get the idea?

HTH

schiff

You are being very helpful, thanks!

Switch on:

1. Two boxes appear. One with my name under it, the other with 'How do I use fingerprints?' under it.

2. I click on my name and a Password box appears. Underneath that, the fingerprints thing again. Under that a box with 'Switch User' in it.

That's it - the lot. And because I don't know my password, I can't go any further. Hence my comment that I'm locked out!

I'm going to have to continue this tomorrow, as I'm absolutely shattered! Thank you and good night - till tomorrow then.

MaxG

There are usernames and passwords to log onto Windows or Linux possibly.
The SSID is usually to do with networking, for your wireless router etc.

not sure about a PIN though

financequest

Found on Microsoft website...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321305

Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional
To log on to a computer as the administrator to reset a password, try the following steps.
1a. Log on as an administrator as follows.
1b. Restart the computer by pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE keys togeter two times, and then type the name of the administrator user account, in your case, administrator.
1c. In the Password box, type the administrator password, and then click OK, however, as a new system,the administrator password is set to a blank password, so do not type a password before you click OK.
2a. To Reset to a fresh password.
Click Start, and then click Run.
2b. Type control userpasswords2, and then click OK.
On the Users tab, click the name of the user account that you want to reset the password for, and then click Reset Password.
2c. Type a new password in the New password box, and then type the password again in the Confirm new password box, and then click OK.
Restart the computer, (ctrl+Alt+Delete) and then try to log on to Windows XP again.
If you can log on as an administrator to reset your password and you can now log on successfully, you have resolved the issue, and you are finished. If you are still unable to log on, go to the "Next Steps" section.
Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional in a workgroup
To log on to a computer as the administrator to reset a password, when that computer is in a workgroup of more than one member, follow these steps:
Log on as an administrator.
Restart the computer, and then press the F8 key during startup until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears.
On the Windows Advanced Options menu, use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode, and then press ENTER.
Select Microsoft Windows XP edition, and then press ENTER.
Note In this step, edition represents the correct Windows edition.
On the To begin, click your user name screen, click Administrator, and then type the administrator password.
Press ENTER, and then click Yes.
Reset the password.
Click Start and then click Run.
Type control userpasswords2, and then click OK.
Click the name of the user account that you want to reset the password for.
Click Change the Password, and then type a new password.
Note If you do not want to use a password, click Remove password, and then continue to step "e."
Click Change Password.
Restart the computer, and then try to log on to Windows XP again.
If you can log on as an administrator to reset your password and can now log on successfully, you have resolved the issue, and you are finished. If you are still unable to log on, go to the "Next Steps" section.
Windows XP Professional in a domain
To log on to a computer as the administrator to reset a password, when that computer is a member of a domain, follow these steps:
Log on as an administrator.
In the Welcome to Windows dialog box, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then type the name of the administrator user account.
In the Password box, type the administrator password, and then click OK.
Note If the administrator password is set to a blank password, do not type a password before you click OK.
Reset the password.
Click Start and then click Run.
Type compmgmt.msc , and then click OK.
In the Computer Management (Local) dialog box, expand Local Users and Groups.
Click the Users folder, and then right-click the user account that you want to reset the password for.
Click Set Password, and then click Proceed.
Type a new password in the New password box, type the password again in the Confirm password box, and then click OK two times.
Restart the computer, and then try to log on to Windows XP again.
If you have reset your password and you can log on successfully, you have resolved the issue. If you cannot reset the password, you may have to reinstall Windows XP and other programs before you can use this computer again. Go to the "Next Steps" section for information about contacting Support.
Back to the top

schiff

Thanks financequest. I'll need to find a bit of time to try that, as it does look a bit time-consuming, and I'm not the brightest at technicalities!

Strider590

Are you sure it's not a blank password?
I sometimes get people with the same problem when ive setup XP for them, they try every password they can think of, but the fact is I didn't enter a password, it's been left blank.