Forgot Administrator password

[dejola]

Here's my tale of woe. I'm trying to help my friend. Her daughter, months ago, set up her then new HP Pavillion dv1000 (actually dv1519US) notebook computer running Windows XP Home Edition. She made jerself the Administrator but gave her mother, the computer's owner, only a limited user account. She then gave her mother the computer. The mother, my friend, uses the computer infrequently. Recently she was unable to get online wirelessly and asked for my help.

I am typing this on the subject computer.

I was able to get my friend online, but when I sought to install a couple of applications and uninstall a couple of others I discovered that my friend did not have administrator privileges. So I tried to logon using the daughter's user account but found that neither my friend or her daughter could remember the daughter's password.

They could not find the recovery disks. I contacted HP and purchased the recovery disks. Today I received two disks in the mail.  One is the Operating System CD. The other is the Application and Driver Recovery DVD.

I wanted to restore the computer to its original configuration, wiping out everything and starting anew.

I put the Operating System CD in the tray and booted the computer. The Press any key to change boot order message appeared and I hit a key. A message appeared that said something like Checking computer's hardware configuration, and then...nothing.

I am unable to get the Operating System CD to go any further. I tried going to My Computer and clicking on the 😧 drive to acess the CD, but when I did I got a message telling me that I need administrator privileges.

I'm stumped.

Can anyone help? Please!

Thanks.

John

johnandjanet@gmail.com

[VicountGoatlips · Accepted solution]

If this were a desktop, I would suggest removing the battery - letting the beast sit for a minute or so - and then reinsert the battery.  That has cleared admin passwords for me. 

The other option might be to boot the system in safe mode. I have found in the past with XP that if User "A" is set up as an admin and User "B"has limited access that there is usually a third master Admin account that never shows up unless the safe mode is used.  From there you should be able to remove any password protection.

If that doesn't work, try  http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=36&sid=89c1f6732c064ff878879b9c9e6f2f28 . I havefound most solutions are usually posted in just a few minutes. Just tell them that Hagar the Horrible's alter ego sent you.

[KazooTom]

Since you already have the restore cd set and are willing to rebuild the computer then go ahead an do that. The operating system cd should be a bootable CD. simply put it in the drive and start the computer. Let it go through the boot sequence without interruption. It should boot from the CD. then simply follow the instructions on the screen (mostly sit back and watch).

[dejola]

The "secret" Administrator method did the trick. I booted the computer in Safe Mode. When I did there was a third user logon named simply Administrator, which was not password protected.

I logged on using that account and then went right into Control Panel and User Accounts and created a password for that Administrator account. I shut down and rebooted normally. Logged on again using the "secret" Administrator account and was able to change my friend's user account from Limited to Administrato. While I was at it I deleted the daughter's account.

Thanksamundo. Life is good!

[CherylG]

I don't understand the reasoning behind creating a password? It may not have been such a good idea to create a password for the Administrator account.

If you forget it or are nowhere near the next time trouble strikes, no one can access that acct.

[Morpheous416]

There isn't any real reason to ever have a login password.  It not only keeps YOU out of your own computer.. but it can tie down personal files, photos.. etc should something go wrong.

[OzzieFrank]

I cannot believeyou people are running vista??? the operating system tells you you cannot add programs unless you are logged in as an administrater with a password.Unfortunatley that is why I am here as my grandson knows his password but it does not work!!!!!. Also no matter what I try it is impossible to remove the password for some reason it is completely locked to the motherboard. For some reason there appears to be a password locked in the BIOS which may have been put there by an upset HP COMPAQ emplyee as Windows Vista Home Premium was preloaded  and as you cannot access the BIOS you cannot remove it.

[Annyyu22]

The technique to recover a lost xp password are among the more advanced Windows XP Tips and Tricks. In some cases, recovering from a lost password can be very easy though.

For completeness' sake we start with the simplest tips that can help you regain access to a locked account. But even if you find yourself in a more complex situation, please read on. You'll find out what to do.

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1)Turn off your computer then press F8 keep doing it when you see a black screen it will tell you to go in to safe mode push that one puss enter again and then it will give you some codes just egnore the codes then when you have your login screen push "Ctrl and Alt" and delete push those botton at the same time do it again and again before you  see another screen come up. it will tell you to type in your user name, and password will the username type in Administrator and for the password don't put nothing on it, okay push enter there as you go.

[linseyloean]

search engine always is our good friend. Google search:

HP Pavillion Notebook Password Recovery on Windows XP

to get your exact suggestions from search results!

[banglelee]

Solution 1 Reset HP laptop password by another user account with administrator privilege.

Solution 2 Reset HP laptop password with Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor.

Solution 3 Reset HP password with professional password recovery tool.

In fact, there are some simple methods can reset/recover HP Windows administrator Password then you can access as administrator without password or with new password. Such as Windows Password Rescuer, you also can use it to add a new user with administrator privilege to your Windows without login.

See these relate article: How to recover Windows 7/vista/xp administrator password.

                                            How to reset HP Windows password.