locked out of the PC

[eastern wiseguy]

Hi All,

My mate has managed to lock himself out of his pc.He insists that the machine has started to ask for a password...and he equally insists he has never offered one in the first place.The result is they(him and his PC) are staring at each other and neither can resolve the impasse.He is unable to access his desktop...does ANYONE have any ideas? It has been sugggested he "flash" the motherboard?? or "format the drive".He has a lot of sentimental photo's on it and would love to get back in.He is running Windows XP home.

ANY help deeply appreciated

EW ...on behalf of Dave!!:ok: :ok:

[Bo Nalls]

Mine started doing this a short while ago - win xp boots but asks for a password before letting you into the desktop.

Try entering no password ie leave the field blank and then press enter. Worked for me.

Once back into windows you can reset the password via the user accounts function in contol panel.

Best of luck.

[ZH875]

Is it a windows password or a BIOS password that is being asked for.

If it is windows and you can boot from BIOS, there is a UNIX disk which allows you to remove ALL passwords, even SYSTEM ADMIN, and allows you to set whatever you want.

[Massey Man]

if none of the suggestioons people have suggested work and he has to wipe the hard disk, if you download knoppix (version of linux, runs completely from the CD), burn it on a CD and give it to him, he can chuck that in, boot from CD, it will open p and he can get the picture off.

I have had to do a few times before, takes about 5 mins especially if you have a USB drive to put the files on.

If you want knoppix, reply and ill find you a link.

[unclenelli]

When you use WindowsUpdate it can install an update to .Net Framework. Part of this will install another user account (which can safely be deleted for most users).

If your PC is set to auto-logon to your only account with a password, when this installs, it doesn't know which account to use, and will then stop during boot-up at the accounts screen.