Resolved Java prevents programs running, demands admin password when there is none

My friend, who I can't interact with except over the Internet, has a laptop (Dell Inspiron 1520, about 5 years old, with Win7 Home Premium 32-bit) which for no reason, after a Windows Update, pops up with a Java password dialog box requiring an Administrator's password, when up till now no password has been necessary, there is no record of one, and he has not had this problem before. He can run Windows Live Mail and Firefox, but no other programs, not even System Restore, even from the command line, without the password request dialog box demanding the Administrator's password. We've tried all the possible passwords he has on record (none for that), and even tried no password at all, but nothing is accepted.

We've tried going into Safe Mode and uninstalling Java, but that Java password dialog box is active even in Safe Mode!!! We've tried booting from a Windows 7 Recovery Disk and running System Restore but *none* of the many restore points works. We are about to try an in-place Windows upgrade restore, but I'm afraid it will require an administrator's password and prevent the restore from working.

Obviously, I can't see what the laptop is doing and neither I nor my friend is experienced with working in the DOS environment. In addition, the few DOS commands I'm familiar with and want to use, such as ren or del "c:\program files\java" will work. They get an unknown command or some similar response.

Can anyone help with this problem?

 

Resolved!

Update:

Lucky break!

On the Windows login screen (not in any way connected to the Java password dialog box) is the offer to change the administrative password. I had been bypassing this, assuming that we didn't know what the correct password was. However, with no other options and as an absolute last ditch wild guess, I entered nothing in that "Password" entry box, and entered a new password into the two boxes below that, making sure to keep a record of it. Voila!! Windows accepted the new password and booted into the desktop normally, and everything that had been on hold fell into place. Windows Updates resumed and System Restore worked again! And Java updated itself without any complaints.

BTW, Java is needed for some program or other on the PC, so I couldn't uninstall it. But for safety, it is disabled in the browsers.

Thanks!

Frank D

 

Arie, thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately, even though we got back into Windows, Windows Live Mail refused to run, which is a show stopper, and so we did a restore from a backup. Problem solved. Sorry for not thinking of this sooner.

Frank