Inherited PC - Windows XP - how to remove password protected user accounts

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tagoso

30 posts

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#26081 11-Sep-2008 13:32

Hi everyone!

I have inherited an old Compaq PC with Windows XP installed on it. It was an old company machine and looks to be loaded with a number of different user accounts.

I can't get in to any of the accounts as I don't have the passwords - but I don't actually want to 'get into' the accounts - I want to remove them so I can use the PC as a stand alone unit.

Does anyone know how I go about clearing the PC of users and starting fresh? I don't have the original OS discs so didn't want to format the hard drive if at all possible.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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#163770 11-Sep-2008 13:43

If you have an Administrator account just go to Control Panel, User Accounts and delete the other accounts there - do not delete your own!

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wongtop

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#163771 11-Sep-2008 13:45

How to log in as an administrator (as long as someone hasn't set up a password)

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/tips/advanced/adminaccount.mspx

tagoso

30 posts

Geek

#163775 11-Sep-2008 13:59

Someone has set a password for the administrator account.
So I can't even get in past the first login screen.

Any other ideas? Will I have to format the hard drive?

OmniouS

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#163778 11-Sep-2008 14:18

Two options:

1. Use another computer to download this http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ and burn the image to Floppy/CD and boot off it. Instruction are on the site. This utility allows you to set a blank password for any user account on the system.

2. Use another computer to download OPHCrack and burn the image to blank CD. Boot the computer off this disc and most likely it will reveal the passwords for all user accounts within about 2 minutes. If it cannot find the passwords (passwords very long and complex), you can submit the LM hash that is displayed by the program to plain-text.info which will be more successful as their hash tables are not limited to CDROM size

I would suggest option 1 as the download is much smaller. I only try to find original passwords off systems that have encrypted files as you can no longer open them if you lose the original password.

If the computer does not have a working CD drive, you can run both of these utilities off a USB pen drive with a little extra effort.

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tagoso

30 posts

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#163782 11-Sep-2008 14:35

Brilliant! Worked like charm.
Thanks very much for your help.

OmniouS

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#163832 11-Sep-2008 19:31

No worries!

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