Can't log into Windows XP

Question

My Windows XP laptop won't allow me to log in and claims my password has expired and needs to be reset. Problem is I don't know of any password - previously when I booted the system it went all the way to the desktop without requesting a password.   As this seems to be the only account on the computer (e.g. the administrator account?), I restarted in safe mode and got to some 'lost password wizard, which ironically asked for my current password.   Is there anything I can do - any help is much appreciated!   Martin

ygor · Answer

Misiowiec, See if this link helps: How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your Password Expires

Misiowiec · Answer

That won't work unfortunately, according to Microsoft at least:   'HOW TO: Create and Use a Password Reset Disk for a Computer That Is Not a Domain Member in Windows XP'   http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q321305   'The password reset disk cannot be used to reset the password on another computer.   The password reset disk that you create can only be used with the computer on which it was created. For example, if you have two Windows XP-based computers with the same user names and passwords, a password reset disk that you create on the first computer cannot be used to reset the password on the second computer.'   Any other ideas are appreciated...   Martin

Denny Denham · Answer

Misiowiec,

If you are running Windows XP Home Edition, did you log on as Administrator from Safe Mode, or as a member of the administrator group? If you did not set a password for the administrator it should be null. From Safe Mode press Ctrl-Alt-Delete twice, enter Administrator as the user name and leave the password box blank. If you are able to log on in that fashion you can access your user account and change the password. If you are notified that the null password is not valid (which happens with some systems on which Sysprep was used to install XP) a reinstallation of XP may be required.

golden_goose · Answer

If you can log in safe mode TRY:

Windows requires a logon password but you don’t have one.
Ordinarily, a user who has no logon password assigned can log on simply by clicking his or her name on the Welcome screen. In some cases, clicking the name displays a request for a password, and nothing you type (even just pressing Enter) satisfies the request. New security features in Windows XP prevent users who don’t have a password from logging on in certain situations. (This is done to prevent someone who knows your account name from logging on via a network or the Internet, for example—but it can affect local logons as well.) One of those situations can occur when auditing is enabled.

If you have the winxp pro run "secpol.msc"

You can solve the problem by disabling auditing (and setting the CrashOnAuditFail value to 0 if you have changed it), but a much better solution is to assign a logon password—even a short one—to each user. To do that, visit User Accounts in Control Panel.

In win xp home use regedit and find CrashOnAuditFail (LSA) and change the value

Hope this will help you

tdgarci · Answer

I have had this same issue. Except it occured after using the CD that came with my Dell on an old gateway that I had. (i took xp home off of my dell and installed xp pro)  The install went ok with one error, then i came to the setup screen to create users.  I created one called root and with no password.  At the login screen I clicked on root and it requested a password.  I booted in safe mode and clicked on administrator which requested a password that I never created.  I thought that I might have something to do with a 'dell specific' cd, but it should not have installed at all if that was the case.  I haven't tried to reinstall xp home, not sure if this will fix it.  Any words on this issue.

Misiowiec · Answer

Unfortunately I found no way around the problem and ended up formatting the harddrive - I hope you fare better!

Windows General

Can't log into Windows XP

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