Forgotten password for Windows XP
vanagon40
Indiana Member
My mother just called me because she cannot open Windows XP. She has an old Dell desktop with Genuine Windows XP Media Center 2005 (remember I said old, as in purchased 04/05/06).
Until today, she had not been required to enter a password. Now, she first gets a screen that states: "To begin, click your user name." After clicking the name, the screen prompts: "Type password." She has no idea what the password is. The hint is her street name, but that has not helped jog her memory.
Can anyone provide assistance in getting past the password. I understand that you may be reluctant to provide this information, especially in a public forum. Feel free to email me or send a private message.
If you look at my profile, you will see that I have been a member here since 2004 (although not active for the past several years). In 2004 to 2005 I was very active in the virus and spyware forums, actually achieving moderator status at that time. I can even provide a verified phone number to contact me if there is a concern with the legitimacy of my request.
I have no idea why the computer suddenly requested the password (and my mother has no idea what an operating system is, much less the ability to trouble shoot this problem). I am at work and will not have access to the computer until this evening (after 6:00 p.m. est).
Thanks in advance for any assistance. If I can get this computer to open up, I will probably be looking at a new computer as a Christmas present for her.
Until today, she had not been required to enter a password. Now, she first gets a screen that states: "To begin, click your user name." After clicking the name, the screen prompts: "Type password." She has no idea what the password is. The hint is her street name, but that has not helped jog her memory.
Can anyone provide assistance in getting past the password. I understand that you may be reluctant to provide this information, especially in a public forum. Feel free to email me or send a private message.
If you look at my profile, you will see that I have been a member here since 2004 (although not active for the past several years). In 2004 to 2005 I was very active in the virus and spyware forums, actually achieving moderator status at that time. I can even provide a verified phone number to contact me if there is a concern with the legitimacy of my request.
I have no idea why the computer suddenly requested the password (and my mother has no idea what an operating system is, much less the ability to trouble shoot this problem). I am at work and will not have access to the computer until this evening (after 6:00 p.m. est).
Thanks in advance for any assistance. If I can get this computer to open up, I will probably be looking at a new computer as a Christmas present for her.
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Comments
Best way to recover a lost password is probably still with Ophcrack. Boots from a CD, has a convenient GUI, probably the easiest tool to use.
Good luck!
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/
Although this is the easiest method, your mother is unlikely to be able to use it without guidance unless she is more tech savvy than this situation would suggest. You'll likely have to address the issue for her.
Also, a 2 second google search yields much information on bypassing a lost Windows password, for instance: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/f/forgetxppass.htm
Any idea why the request for the password? It has never been requested before.
I’m still not sure what happened to make the password screen appear. However, Mom is in her 70's (would you believe she was over 50 when I was born? . . . . . . . would you believe over 40?) and does not have a firm grasp on computer hardware and software, so anything is possible. She thinks gmail is her operating system. Actually, she is otherwise really sharp and does use her computer quite a bit to compose and send out newsletters, uses Microsoft Money (the 2004 edition), and recently learned how to convert Microsoft Word documents to PDF format for uploads to her email newsletters. But I digress.
Before I left work, I banged out CDs for Ophcrack, Offline NT Password & Registry Editor, and PC Login Now. But, on Mom’s computer, I could not get the computer to recognize a CD in the optical drive. I’m not sure if the optical drive was (is) defective, or the absence of a proper password rendered the drive inoperable. In any event, the only bootable system was Windows.
After receiving some wonderful advice from my son-in-law (would you believe I was only 16 when my daughter was born and she married at age 12?), I hooked up my external DVD drive through the USB port and I was in business.
I had no luck whatsoever with Ophcrack. On the initial bootup, it appeared to be working fine, but eventually flipped to a screen that made no sense to me and I could not figure out how to proceed. I reached the same unusable-to-me screen on subsequent reboots. I also had no luck with PC Login Now.
But, Offline NT Password & Registry Editor did work as described. My only problem was trying to figure out how to switch between user accounts. I had no problem clearing the password for the Administrator account, but had difficulty clearing the named account (the only account that Windows used as the login account). After reading the program instructions multiple times, I finally figured out how to switch accounts and erase the password.
Again, my Mom is now back in business. A new computer is in her future for Christmas.
Thanks everyone for the assistance.
And yeah, primesuspect, “long time no see” is correct and actually a good thing for me as I only show up when I have problems.
Sorry to be so long-winded.