Way to disable the Recovery Console Administrator Password

Dejus,

Thanks for the information.

I have a similar problem to this one except that I can't boot into XP to do what this suggests.

I did something dumb (it shouldn't be dumb, but it is) and installed 2000 on another partition of my laptop that already had XP on it. For some reason this hosed my XP partition so that I can't boot into XP anymore. I found out later that you should always install 2000 before XP on dual-boot machines. Unfortunately, the machine was preinstalled with XP so that wasn't a very good option. Anyway, I'd like to try to fix this using the XP Recovery console but I don't know my Administrator password. I don't remember setting it to anything and just hitting Enter doesn't work. Is there anyway that I can get into the Recovery Console to try and fix this problem? Is there a Dell default XP Administrator password?

there is no password. just press enter.

 For the Recovery password problem you can use the floppies to bootup.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q310994

James

 

This worked and I can get into the recovery console but now I don't know what to do. What do I need to do to get my XP partition to boot properly?

If you type  " /?" you will get the console's listing.

What you need may depend on how bad the problem is.

Some of the commands you may need are:

Bootcfg, Diskpart, Fixboot, Fixmbr,Expand.exe

Bootcfg /scan  ,/rebuild will repair the boot.ini file.

Fixmbr repairs the master boot record. Type /? after the command to learn options if any.

Critical files are Ntldr,ntoskrnl.exe, ntdetect.com, boot.ini

http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q307545

Although the Recovery Console prompt looks identical to the command prompt that you’re familiar with from MS-DOS or the Windows XP command interpreter (Cmd.exe), it’s not the same. After logging on to the Recovery Console, your actions are severely limited. You may access files only in the following locations:

The root directory of any volume.
The %SystemRoot% folder and subfolders of the selected Windows XP installation. On a typical clean setup or an upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me, this is usually C:\Windows.
The Recovery Console Cmdcons folder and any subfolders (if you installed the Recovery Console as a startup option).
Files and folders on removable disks, including floppy disks, CDs, and Zip disk

Hope this can help you.

James

Message Edited by golden_goose on 11-07-2002 08:23 PM

@Dejus!

does this solution also work with the home edition?

there is no group policy manager in Windows XP home edition so more than likely no.

To disable the password use regedit.exe

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole

set the securityLevel to 1

 

 

Will this result in my documents folder being lost??

Paul

Hi there

I have a similar problem to this, -can't remember the password (tried every one I might have used!!!), or, DELL have their own factory default one? whatever, I can't proceed with recovery console 'cos the password. enter doesn't work either.  I don't want to lose my data files, -nope I'm not so organised I back up on a regular basis.

How did you fix it in the end?

Look forward to hearing

Paul, Scotland

Not sure I understand your last question ... just follow the recipe in the original posting and that should work ... haven't had any reason to use it for a long time, but it worked on WXP Prof.

Regarding backups: I do scheduled backups with Drive Image (from Powerquest) v5.0 (today you can buy v7.0 which supposedly allows you to backup to USB and Firewire drives directly). The older version runs in DOS and cannot see those "external" drives. It makes an image of the C: drive to the internal D: drive. Subsequently (in Windows) I run the program called synchromagic to synchronize, keep the D: drive content same as an external Firewire drive. Thus, if I need to restore the C: drive (system) I can do it from the D: drive. And if I need to restore the content of the D: drive, I can do it from the external Firewire drive. Please notice the Firewire drive contains the files of the D: drive and not an image of the D:drive. But that's ok since all programs (and registry entries) are on the C: drive.

Hope this helps ...

-Roger.

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Twopeas wrote: I have a similar problem to this, -can't remember the password (tried every one I might have used!!!), or, DELL have their own factory default one? whatever, I can't proceed with recovery console 'cos the password. enter doesn't work either.  I don't want to lose my data files, -nope I'm not so organised I back up on a regular basis.

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As previous Reply says , you can set Auto Logon to Recovery Console by Editing Registry.
I have used this with Load of Console from XP CD & also with Console stored on HD.
DELL don't set a default Administrator password.

Microsoft Windows(R) Recovery Console

" The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality.
Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.

1: C:\WINDOWS

Which Windows Installation would you like to log on to
(To cancel, press ENTER)?  (or type 1 & press Enter to use 1: C:\WINDOWS )

(next you get)
Type Administrator password :           (not User account Computer/Administrator password but default   Administrator password)
                                                            (usually not set so just press Enter key & if not accepeted set Auto Logon to Recovery Console)
-----------------------

To set AUTO Logon to Recovery Console so it doesn't ask for default Administrator password
Use Start > Run & type   regedit   then navigate to HKEY
Set SecurityLevel  DWORD value data is set to 1 in the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Setup\RecoveryConsole
SecurityLevel    1

Message Edited by gryjhnhpe on 11-06-2003 09:05 AM