Password : locked out?

DragonMD wrote:

> I have recently ( today) become unable to log onto my desktop, my pass
> word will not work. As far as I know no other access to my system,
> possibly a corrupted file?
> Is there any way to fix it without formating the drive and
> re-instaling everything?

When you say "no other access to my system" I assume you mean that you
only have the one user account created. If that is the case, log into
the built-in Administrator account. In XP Home, boot the computer into
Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly tapping the F8 key as the computer is
starting up. This will get you to the right menu. Navigate using your
Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once in Safe Mode, you will
see the normally hidden Administrator account. The default password is
a blank.

In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen,
do Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in
"Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up
Windows.

If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or
have Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the
built-in Administrator account's password to a blank.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Then go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel and set passwords
that you will remember and make other desired changes.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User