The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104233   Message #2131747
Posted By: JohnInKansas
23-Aug-07 - 03:48 AM
Thread Name: BS: How to get rid of my password???
Subject: RE: BS: How to get rid of my password???
If you're running WinXP, Win2K, WinNT, or Vista, the password is encrypted in a file that you CANNOT GET TO or delete/modify or otherwise affect without essentially destroying the OS. Your BIOS doesnt' know the password and screwing around there is only gonna get you deeper in muck and mire. It is possible to "corrupt" the password file(s) so that nobody can get in if you mess around long enough.

Microsoft policy about lost or forgotten passwords (KB289126)may give you some help with understanding your situation. You obviously don't care what their "policy" is, but the article may help you understand what you're fighting.

You may be able to create a new user, with administrator authority, who uses an "Enter" as a password. (This is essentially having no password for that user, and if the user is "another administrator" (s)he should be able to anything necessary without re-entering a complex password. There is no problem with having more than one Administrator, each with a separate password. At the least, you might give a new administrator a much simpler password than what you're using now(?).

In most systems, Win or otherwise, since an Administrator can create a new Administrator - or a new user with Administrator authority, or elevate an existing (non Administrator) user to Admin authority, the normal procedure is to create a new Administrator with no password. (You'll have to spell "Administrator" differently so that the username is unique, but using eg. your own name would work)

Once you've confirmed that the NEW ADMINISTRATOR actually can do everything an Administrator is supposed to be able to do, you should be able to delete the old Administrator who used a password. If you don't have to log on under the old name to do "Administrator stuff" it probably doesn't matter much whether you delete it, or jut let it lie dormant. You should be able to do all this using "Administration Tools" provided within the OS without resorting to BIOS manipulations.

All clear? - If so come back and explain it to me.

John