Admin password not accepted

Question

I'm trying to fix a hal.dll problem on a dell dimension running XP Pro.  When i try to get into the Recovery Console I'm informed my admin password is wrong.  I've tried what I had written down as the admin password and every other password I ever remember using.  Any suggestion on what to do next?    This all went down while upgrading to Symantec Norton 360, if that is relevent.   Thanks, Jim

dunedin · Answer

The Admin password you are asked for here is not your User Account password. It is any passwaord which you set when installing XP.

Try just pressing ENTER

armenite wrote:

This all went down while upgrading to Symantec Norton 360, if that is relevent.

Thanks, Jim

Can`t say I`m surprised at that :smileysad:

Do yourself and your machine a favour and get rid of Norton. There are plenty good free antivirus and firewalls around

armenite · Answer

Thanks, I did try just hitting enter pretty early in this process and got the same response.  I just found an old posting of yours that pointed here: http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=305   Is this a reasonable next step?   Thanks, Jim

dunedin · Answer

I don`t think that method will help you. It is only meant as a solution when you have forgotten your User Account passwords.

I think you may have fallen foul of the Dell sysprep. Dell uses Sysprep to preinstall Windows on a computer. Sysprep sets a password other than the default blank

You will need to do something like this
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q308402

armenite · Answer

Thanks for your help.

dunedin · Answer

You are very welcome :smileyhappy:

madampoo · Answer

have a inspiron  1545. when turned on would not accept any! password. called tech support, for 90 minutes he so-called tried to solve. hung up in disgust and charged $239.00 fixed problem myself by trying all f keys. f12 (diagnosis) solved problem and never will deal with that 4 letter dirty word DELL again

Windows General

Admin password not accepted

Was this post helpful?