windows 2000 professional, password problems

I'm pretty new with computers, I have windows 98 on my home computer, and I just bouoght a lap top from a pawn shop. It has windows 2000 professional installed on it, when I turn it on it loads windows and comes up with a user's name and ask me for the password? Of coarse I don't know what that password is! It's a IBM think pad, I ran the numbers on it and it's a pretty new unit, all it has in it right now is a disk drive, but I can buy a cd drive for it. what is the best way for me to get around this problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time!

Randy

 

Hopefully, you got the Windows program disks with the computer. If so, you should start over with a clean install in your name. Can you just hit enter at the prompt, or are you locked out completely? Win2k is fairly secure when it comes to passwords, I'm afraid there's no hack for it that I know of (or we could give if we did).

 

One possibility (that will work if the original setup was poorly done). Try logging on using Administrator as the user name and a blank password. If you get on, you can set up a user account to suit yourself with the password of your choice - including a blank.

If that fails, try administrator and Administrator and ADMINISTRATOR as passwords. One of them may work.

2K passwords are case sensitive so you would have to duplicate what was originally in there. Usernames are not. Administrator is the default username for the main admin account and it may have been left that way.

If you do get on, be careful how you set up your user account since the default is to have the password expire after a certain period of time and to force you to pick a new one.

If none of the above works, then your best bet is a new 2K install on the laptop - or some other OS of your choice. The NT based ones (NT/2K/XP) have much more serious password protection than any of the 9x/ME systems.

 

same

Thanks guy's for trying to help, but unfortunately they didn't work! If I bought the cd/dvd drive that plugs in could I just load my windows 98 in it over the top of the 2000, or do I have to uninstall the 2000 first? or should I buy the 2000 and install it, Is it better than the 98? Thanks again!

Randy

 

Administrator Password Problems

This is not a reply I'm afraid but an additional question to the original. I have the same problem as the Laptop guy, Randy, in that I do not have a log-in password, and I have read the replies. What I don't understand is how you can install Windows 2000 again if you can't log in. As far as I can tell you can't do anything without logging in.
Is there a way round this?

 

Randy -

. 2K is lots better in some ways. More stable. More secure (as you have found out). Functions much better on a large network. OTOH, 98 is a good OS and will deal with games that 2K can't. Also takes less of all sorts of resources. If you are working with a home system and are happy with your 98 PC, you will probably do better to just put 98 on the laptop.

Your best bet if you want to re-do the 2K install is to use the 2K CD on your 98 system to make a set of install floppys (takes 5 I think) and then boot the laptop with them and install 2K.

Unlike an install of 98 over an existing copy, you will lose all registry settings and everything. It will be a clean copy of 2K.

If you want to put 98 on it instead, you will need to Fdisk and format the hard drive. This can be a problem if the drive is formatted NTFS since Fdisk usually doesn't understand how to deal with it. If so, a utility that shipped for NT 3.51 will do the trick and you should use it before trying to Fdisk and format. Just download Delpart.exe from here and put it on a floppy.

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MadamsA - see the part above about making and using a set of boot floppys.

Normally you can use the 2K CD if your PC will boot from a CD but I am not positive you can do another install if there is an existing one and you don't have the admin password. With the floppys I know you can.

 

I have had to install Win2k over a previous install because of a password mixup. I was able to boot from the 2k CD, and chose install 2k. The install left my old files on the hard drive, though they were not installed into 2k itself - they were just kind of lost. Reinstalling each piece of software worked just fine. Also, my original log-in folder (from the previous install) is still present, I just boot to my new settings by default.

 

Info.

Thanks for all your help guy's!

Randy