Removing start up password??

I will be honest. I am not that versed in computer lingo or tech. I do have a problem though. My husband purchased a used computer from a company. When turning the computer on, it automatically goes to user name and password request. We have no idea what the previous password or user name is. It is running Windows 2000 professional and I would like to know what I need to do to either get past this or how to change it???
I am unable to burn a disc on my current computer so I cannot download a cd to put in the new computer.
Will I have to purchase something, take it to someone, or should I just give up?????
Please help me.

 

You are probably going to have to get a copy of 2000 and boot from the cd, basically re load windows 2000. Legally i don't know of any way to get past the password.

 

Have you tried Administrator for the username with a blank password?

I haven't been on a Win2k system in a while but the easiest way is to boot into Safe Mode and trying logging in under the Administrator account and changing the password or creating a new user account. Depending on who setup the OS initially, they may or may not have set an Admin password, if they did not this should get you in.

If the above doesn't work then I agree, you will have to locate a Win2k disc and perform a reinstall or my recommendation an upgrade to WinXP.

 

I thought about suggesting safe mode but i figured that once the password is set it prevents anyone without that password from doing anything to the system including safe mode. If you got through to safe mode wouldn't the password box still appear?

 

Yes, it would still show but if there is no Administrator password then you should be able to login and change the password to the account with the unknown password.

 

So if i have the Windows XP disc, I can load this over top of the 2000 and this will reset any passwords??? Like starting fresh???

 

Is this a Windows screen asking for username and password or a Startup screen? If it doesn't look like a regular Windows screen it could be a BIOS password.

 

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

Follow the directions on the webpage and you can reset the password. I used it on a friend's PC after her daughter got clever and locked her out.