Computer problems

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

How do I get access to a computer that I almost never use when I can't remember my password and I have changed my phone number?

 

There has to be a bypass of some kind.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Do you have a 12 year old in the neighborhood?

 

 

just kidding.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

2 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Do you have a 12 year old in the neighborhood?

 

 

just kidding.

Yeah, but she doesn't even know what a computer is.  Cutest Chihuahua - Miniature Pinscher mix you ever saw, friendliest dog on the planet, and my best friend.

 

I aint "just kidding".  She really is!   

[Eyesa Horg]

If you can get in as an "Administrator" you might be able to change the password.

 

Found this on a Google search:

Skip to main content

Microsoft

Community 

 

Sign in to your account

 

 

 

Bring your desktop to life with daily backgrounds!

 

Try the free Bing Wallpaper app! - Get it now 🌅🏞️🌄

 

 

Ask a new question

TA

TammyMayer1

Created on January 14, 2021

I can't remember my windows password on an old computer

I found my old laptop in the closet and wanted to download the hard drive before donating or recycling the computer.  But I cannot remember the windows password.  Is there a way to bypass it?

 This thread is locked. You can vote as helpful, but you cannot reply or subscribe to this thread.

 

I have the same question (1113)

 

Report abuse

 

 

Replies (2) 

Alberto Giura (AlbyTech)

• Volunteer Moderator

Replied on January 14, 2021Report abuse

Hi,

 

Please have a look at this thread regarding support policy for forgotten passwords: Keeping Passwords Secure- Microsoft Policy on Getting Around Passwords

 

Thanks in advance for your understanding

_____

Alberto Giura
Microsoft® MCC - Windows Insider - Article Author

 

 

 

 

3 people found this reply helpful

 

Was this reply helpful?

Yes No

 

 

Bill Smithers

• Volunteer Moderator

Replied on January 14, 2021Report abuse

Actually Microsoft clamped down on Security when Vista came out.

You have posted to the XP forums.

 

This is the Microsoft information for when you forget your XP Password that they used to have online.

Microsoft has pulled the links since Support ended, but the information will still be true.

"How to log on to your Windows XP-based computer if you forget your password or if your password expires"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321305

 

Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional Edition

To log on to a computer as the administrator to reset a password, try the following steps.

1. Log on as an administrator.
   1. Restart the computer.
   2. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE two times, and then type the name of the administrator user account.
      
      Note If you do not know any other administrator user account, try to type Adminstrator in the User name box.
   3. In the Password box, type the administrator password, and then click OK.
      
      Note If you do not know the administrator password, leave it blank, and then click OK.
2. Reset the password.
   1. Click Start, and then click Run.
   2. Type control userpasswords2, and then click OK.
   3. On the Users tab, click the name of the user account that you want to reset the password for, and then click Reset Password.
   4. Type a new password in the New password box, and then type the password again in the Confirm new password box, and then click OK.
   5. Restart the computer, and then try to log on to Windows XP again.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

 

 

Other than the above information, we can not assist you any further with this.

Microsoft forbids any assistance being given in these Forums to help you bypass or "crack" lost or forgotten Passwords.

 

Edited January 17 by Eyesa Horg
Added text

[bgavin]

Windows Home edition has the Administrator account hidden, and without a password.
At the logon screen, hit ALT-CTRL-DEL-DEL to bring up the classic login box.
Type "administrator" in the user account and no password.

 

If that fails, there is a password reset tool available on the internet.

You download the ISO image and either burn it to a CD or a USB thumb drive (use Rufus for USB).
Then boot the newly created tool.

This is fiddly, and gets into the geek arena quickly.

Try the administrator login box first.

 

Edited January 17 by bgavin

[Matthew Duncan]

I was given the task to unlock a laptop in the same condition as Forty Rod’s.  I took it to the local computer shop.  They inserted a thumb drive, pressed a few keys and now the laptop was unlocked..  What I believe they did was boot the computer from the thumb drive, reformat the hard drive and reinstalled the OS.  They warned me that all files, docs nd etc will be gone, they were.

[bgavin]

That shop tech is an idiot, or lazy.
The first thing you do:  Ghost the computer's disk to an image file.
This is done by a competent tech who boots a working operating system from a thumb drive, then images the disk to an external USB drive.

This is how you save all the files.
Most shops won't do this because they are either too stupid or too lazy to invest the time required to do so.
Their standard line is "you should have backed up your data."

 

The first thing to do with a computer problem:  push your chair away from the computer so you can't touch it.
It is not bleeding, nor is it dying on the side of the road, nor does it need CPR.
The LAST thing it needs is an ignorant touch fiddling with it.

Find a tech who is both competent and not too lazy to do the required steps to save your data.
Wiping the disk and reinstalling the operating system is the very last resort.

Edited January 18 by bgavin
added some more

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

There is another consideration.  What is it worth to you?  For example, FBI level forensics can get to it, but maybe you don’t want to pay for that level of service.

 

there is a business about 100yards down the street that will do such recovery for about $150.  You probably have such a thing in your city.

Edited January 18 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984

[Rip Snorter]

You can probably just pull the hard drive - keep if you may need contents or destroy if you don't. Laptops have gotten pretty inexpensive.

[Texas Lizard]

4 hours ago, Rip Snorter said:

You can probably just pull the hard drive -

That is what I did....Then took it to the range and used for target practice....Took the pieces home that I could find dropping off in different trash cans....

 

Texas Lizard

[Rip Snorter]

2 minutes ago, Texas Lizard said:

That is what I did....Then took it to the range and used for target practice....Took the pieces home that I could find dropping off in different trash cans....

 

Texas Lizard

Still have a few, haven't trashed them yet.   Maybe  big magnet.

[John Kloehr]

Sledge hammer and add it to the e-waste pile.

 

Some time back. had a failure of a MacBook. Bought an external box, pulled the drive and installed it in "the box.", connected it to a new MacBook with a fresh OS. A couple of hours later, I had all my files, music, and photos back. Over the next couple days I ran into and recovered a few more things. My encrypted passwords file (I had the master password) took a bit of work.

 

Since then, I implemented automated backups. Had another computer fail on me late last year, took a couple "special" commands to get access, but have all the files from it.

 

For that computer, replacing the power supply required a lot of work, it was less work to figure out all possible disk drive locations and drill holes from the back to put at least three holes in any drive. It is now in my e-waste pile. While this extra computer was handy, it was not valuable enough to replace.

 

I am a serious geek/nerd/expert when it comes to computers. I could recover data from all but an encrypted drive as long as it still worked. Most shops, especially for PCs, can not go beyond re-imaging a drive. Recovering personal files due to a lost password is way above their pay grade. While I do feel some criticism is due for "bulldoze and pave" to fix any number of other software problems, consider if you are willing to pay in the $100 range for your computer to just work again, or another $1,000 for saving your accessible data, or $10,000 for your otherwise lost data.

 

If your data is worth $1,000, then why not have a backup in the first place? Then repave the drive yourself and put your files back yourself or pay the $1,000 to have it done for you. I just want to note the skills required at anything above geek-squad level command far more than geek-squad prices.

[Rip Snorter]

3 minutes ago, John Kloehr said:

Sledge hammer and add it to the e-waste pile.

 

Some time back. had a failure of a MacBook. Bought an external box, pulled the drive and installed it in "the box.", connected it to a new MacBook with a fresh OS. A couple of hours later, I had all my files, music, and photos back. Over the next couple days I ran into and recovered a few more things. My encrypted passwords file (I had the master password) took a bit of work.

 

Since then, I implemented automated backups. Had another computer fail on me late last year, took a couple "special" commands to get access, but have all the files from it.

 

For that computer, replacing the power supply required a lot of work, it was less work to figure out all possible disk drive locations and drill holes from the back to put at least three holes in any drive. It is now in my e-waste pile. While this extra computer was handy, it was not valuable enough to replace.

 

I am a serious geek/nerd/expert when it comes to computers. I could recover data from all but an encrypted drive as long as it still worked. Most shops, especially for PCs, can not go beyond re-imaging a drive. Recovering personal files due to a lost password is way above their pay grade. While I do feel some criticism is due for "bulldoze and pave" to fix any number of other software problems, consider if you are willing to pay in the $100 range for your computer to just work again, or another $1,000 for saving your accessible data, or $10,000 for your otherwise lost data.

 

If your data is worth $1,000, then why not have a backup in the first place? Then repave the drive yourself and put your files back yourself or pay the $1,000 to have it done for you. I just want to note the skills required at anything above geek-squad level command far more than geek-squad prices.

I use WD Passports small and so far, a good option.

[bgavin]

Syncredible 8.3 is a perfect tool for syncing your data to other discs or folders.
The price is very modest and my conversations with the author inspire great confidence.

He and I use the same development platform to write our code.

One-way sync to a second drive protects against accidental deletion on the source drive.
For example, I shoot a lot of pro photo work.
Somewhere along the line most of my 2019 photos got "lost" on my server.
Network shares are instantly and fully erased, no recycle bin is supported.
An easy mouse click of DELETE instead of MOVE can kill an entire folder structure.

 

If you do a one-way Sync it only syncs files that have changed, not files that are deleted.
This results in some clutter on the destination drive, as it contains multiple copies if you have moved them around on the source disk.

 

As noted above, WD Passports are an excellent solution for offline backup.

Another solution is creating daily Differential backups.

This method creates separate backups of target files that have changed.

It protects against file deletion and protection from malware encryption if properly set up with restrictive Windows permissions.

 

Edited January 19 by bgavin

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

23 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

There is another consideration.  What is it worth to you?  For example, FBI level forensics can get to it, but maybe you don’t want to pay for that level of service.

 

there is a business about 100yards down the street that will do such recovery for about $150.  You probably have such a thing in your city.

My daughter only gave $175.00 for this "factory refurbished" lap top.  All of the info on it is duplicated on my iMac desk top.

[bgavin]

F8