Default Admin Password

Question

We have a Dell Dimension purchased in Jan 2002.  Either we set an admin password we can't remember or Dell had a default set when we got the PC with XP pre-loaded.  Does Dell do this?  We've tried every possible password we would have used (except maybe 1 ;-)  If we can't figure it out, any way to reset this without reinstalling XP?  We're trying to use Recovery Console to recover from a bad spyware removal.  Thanks.

Mary G · Answer

The default password is null (blank). Just hit Enter when asked for the password.

craigmcc · Answer

Oh Oh.  This means we've set it to something.  Any way to get around this without reinstalling XP?

Mary G · Answer

You should try the Enter key first. You can enter false passwords without resetting anything. It still might work. Have you tried Safe Mode yet? You'll be able to access the Main Administrator acct in Safe Mode.

You can also Run control userpasswords2 to reset passwords.

craigmcc · Answer

Thanks. Now I've gotten past my password problem; but I still can't fix my root problem, which is I can't get a user pass the login screen and into Windows - Admin or another user. Apparently, something is being loaded in the init which is causing it to immediately logoff users. I've tried going into recovery console but I only get a dos prompt.

Thanks again for your ideas.

jwatt · Answer

craigmcc, Had you run Ad-Aware before this problem happened? If so, this article may apply. The article includes instructions on fixing the problem using the Recovery Console. Jim

cromz · Answer

If you're system is encountering problems with admin password and you tried to used NULL (Blank) as your pass and still it doesnt work. One reason could be your registry is manipulated by another program. :) And there's no way to solve that problem except to do clean OSR.

Windows General

Default Admin Password

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