Urgent! Bypassing password protection

aliasojo

Something has happened and I need to get into my son's computer but he has got a Windows password set up so that I can't get past the first screen.

Is there a simple way of bypassing this?

Please don't give me any moral arguments about the rights and wrongs of doing this. I'm not going into the situation, I just need to know can I do it?

Debt_Free_Chick

Which OS, as that makes a difference to the answer?

aliasojo

XP Home....

Debt_Free_Chick

Do you or she know the Administrator password?

aliasojo

No, unfortunately son has set this all up himself and I have no idea what password was used. I obviously tried relevent guessing but no joy.

smcicr

hi, is the account you are trying to access the actual administrator account or a user account set up with admin rights?

in xp home the administrator account is blank (ie: empty) by default so if you boot the machine in safe mode then use Administrator / 'blank' as the logon that will allow you full access and you can then reset other user account passwords.

see here for additional info: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=321305

DilbertJones

You can try this, but it will only work if the admin password is left blank or you know it

Reboot the PC and almost immediatley start tapping the F8 key, you should see a list of options, if you see the Win XP logo you've missed it & will have to start again.

On the list of options, select Safe mode (With the Arrow Keys) and press return, then you will have to press return again for Windows XP Home.

Once it has booted up everything will be larger & blocky don't worry this is ok, you will have to accept a prompt at some point just accept anything on the screen it wont come to no harm.

Then you should see the list of users. select Administrator, & it should go straight in.

You can then go to control panel, select users, & remove the password from your sons account.

Restart the PC then you can go into his account

aliasojo

Ok...no idea if Admin is blank but will try it anyway. If it is blank and this works, is there a way of finding out what the password was that was used?

Is my only option to delete the password to get access?

I need in regardless but is there a way of getting in and out so that the computer appears untampered with?

DilbertJones

it wont be 'blank' as such more like empty, nothing i.e dont type anything in

smcicr

if the above does not work (ie - the account your son uses is the administrator account) then see here: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

this is a utility that needs to be copied to a floppy disk and then the pc should be booted with the floppy disk in. the utility will reset passwords for you - if the user of the accounts you reset has any encrypted files they will not be readable without the original password.

if the encrypted stuff is an issue then see here: http://www.loginrecovery.com/ they offer a service whereby passwords will be recovered and the resulting file must then be uploaded to them for decoding. they do this for free if you are willing to wait 48hrs or in minutes for £10.

aliasojo

Thank you VERY much for all your help.