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Reset D830 Latitude to factory settings but start of process asks for a non existent password
Hello-
I have a Dell Latitude D830 (purchased in January 2008). Windows XP.
I'm trying to wipe the drive as I plan to donate it. However once I finally found the disks that came with the laptop I ran into some issues.
I used the green Operating system Windows XP disk.
Placed in DVD drive
- Restarted/shut down-start the laptop
- hit F12 upon startup & Dell splash screen
- Menu asked me where to boot to- chose CD/DVD hit
- Hit any key to get into the next step
- next screen- blue and said To install Windows XP press , to reinstall/recover press R (in other words get to the Recovery Console.
- then asked what profile to log into. There's only 1 C:\Windows so entered 1
-- then "Type the Administrator password.
That's where it's at a standstill. At first I could not even remember the password I had for the Admin account (the one I set up under my name "Duckie"). Then found a way to erase the password so that the account DOES NOT HAVE A PASSWORD. Or at least it says it doesn't anymore in the Control Panel. Yet both the normal Windows XP process and this process of trying to factory reset the laptop keeps insisting on a password.
No matter what I do at the Recovery Console command line info for password, I fail 3 times and have to restart...again and again. What could be the issue and how can I get to restoring this laptop to factory settings (there is no 'Repair computer' under advanced options when using F8 nor any options in the Recover console IN Windows XP.
Am at a loss... Thank you.
jphughan
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July 19th, 2021 19:00
@NinjaDucky The password in question is for an account actually called “Administrator”, which is separate from any admin-level user you might have created. But if the goal is to wipe the hard drive, then don’t bother trying to repair the existing installation. Just proceed through Setup, and when you get to the point asking where you want to install Windows, choose to delete the existing partition, then have Windows install into that newly empty disk. No password will be required since you’re not trying to interact with the existing Windows installation. You’re just blowing it away.
NinjaDucky
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August 2nd, 2021 08:00
I may have left out a bit in my last post; frazzled lately. I was able to do the path of install windows- it did proceed but somewhere along the line it hung at the Windows splash screen with "Please wait..." . I ended up wiping out the partition and everything else (using DBAN). Set up a new partition then did the Windows XP fresh install. That worked. At this point I'm not going to do the Win10 install because I do not have a Win7 Pro COA- that I'm aware of. I don't recall the RAM size but the hard drive itself is 128 GB; I'm sure I could have gotten Win10 on the laptop- maybe but will leave that til later or up to the people refurbishing.
Haven't decided if I want to turn it into a Chromebook. May look into that.
jphughan
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July 19th, 2021 19:00
@NinjaDucky Or as an alternative, just delete the existing partition and then power off the system. Reinstalling XP here in 2021 is borderline useless. The version of Internet Explorer that comes with XP doesn’t support any of the modern security standards now in widespread use on the Internet, so you can’t even connect to sites via HTTPS anymore, which is a problem since the vast majority of the sites you’d want to use on the Internet now require it. That means you literally can’t even get to a download page to get an installer for a different, newer browser. Although even if you could, there isn’t a truly modern Web browser for XP even available because all the major browser vendors dropped support for it years ago. Even Windows 7, which is two releases newer than XP (remember Vista in between?) hasn’t received security updates in over a year now, so THAT is already a liability to keep using for any important, Internet-connected tasks.
NinjaDucky
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July 20th, 2021 17:00
LOL- I don't talk about Vista- I had problems with that OS when my sister & brother in law had a PC with Vista. The other OS... um... Windows ME has been mostly blocked from my memory...so long ago it was a Gateway laptop!.
NinjaDucky
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July 20th, 2021 17:00
@jphughan Thanks. You do have a good point regarding Windows XP being pretty much useless in general- oddly enough for about 2 years my PC at work- well technically it's the one I work on in my area it still had Windows XP on it. And it then became the ONLY one in my group lol. Finally got a PC with Windows 10. I don't know why the company is hanging onto Win XP- there's still a few in the other group too.
Anyway- yes at this point after having tried everything even before the Admin password fiasco- and the only reason I did that to my account with Admin privileges is because of the 'built in Administrator account'- I'm leaning to just nuking the drive clean.
I still have all the original discs so those are going with it; the receiving party of the donation can do whatever with it lol.
Now to find what's the best way to wipe all the data/programs/OS off. I at one time years ago used Darik's Boot & Nuke (and something else- no idea anymore)
but I think I read somewhere it isn't as good anymore?ahh- seems to be discontinued according to Google.Thanks again for your comments I appreciate it1
jphughan
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July 20th, 2021 20:00
@U2CAMEB4ME The OP has system that came with Windows XP, not Win7. Win10 never activated on XP keys.
jphughan
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July 21st, 2021 06:00
@U2CAMEB4ME You're asking me to show you where you mentioned using an XP key, when you're the one who started talking about Windows 7 even though that hadn't been mentioned in this thread until that point. The OP doesn't have a Win7 key, and considering that they're planning to donate this very old laptop, I'm going to guess that they're not interested in buying one, even if one could be found from a legitimate source.
Lupita1425
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July 21st, 2021 23:00
A forced restart, which may resolve an unresponsive or blank display and does not remove any saved information A factory data reset, which ses menus to reset and remove any saved information An external factory data reset, which uses hardware keys to reset and remove any saved information.
NinjaDucky
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July 26th, 2021 20:00
@U2CAMEB4ME-
@jphughanis correct. I don't have a Win 7 key nor can afford one anyway. The Dell Desktop came with Win7 so that key is not viable for another device as far as I know.
But- honestly- I don't think Win 7 OR Win10 would even work on this laptop- it's 13-14 years old now and has limited space 128 or 256MB I think?- so likely not really worth it to try to get Win10 on there anyway. Might be good for Linux maybe.
Gave up on trying to get Windows to install (tried and it still asked for a password), so NUKING the drive right now.
jphughan
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July 26th, 2021 20:00
@NinjaDucky Another option you could consider is NeverWare CloudReady, which essentially turns old laptops into a Chromebook. But I really don't understand how you keep getting stuck at a password prompt. You just need to boot the WinXP installation media, then at the first step after it finishes loading drivers, press Enter to install Windows. Do not choose to repair your existing Windows installation. When you get to the section asking where you want to install Windows, choose to delete the existing partition. Then choose to format the newly freed up space as NTFS (Quick), and you're finished. Windows Setup won't ask you for a password to an installation that doesn't exist anymore, and you don't need to use any special erasure tools to achieve that outcome.