Lost Admin Password

I've got a Dell running WinXP Home (therefore no install CD to boot from) that someone has added an administrator password to. The only way I can login is with a user account that is limited. I've tried using System Restore but it requires an administrator. I've tried 'control userpasswords2'; same thing. I'm about ready to reinstall from the supersecret Dell hidden partition. Is there a better option?

 

Yes, there are password cracking tools available that work well and are free. Let me check around or perhaps someone else will post before I get back. Should be no need to reinstall.

 

Did you boot into Safe Mode and try the default Administrator account? Many people don't bother to set a password for this account.

If that doesn't work, try this:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

 

I tried this already. They apparently set the password here.

I'll give this a try.

 

I tried the boot disk mentioned below and it didn't help.

I booted into Safe Mode and still couldn't do anything with the Administrator account, but I created another account with administrator privileges. I used this to login, used 'control userpasswords2' to reset Administrator password and tried to login. I get a message that says 'Unable to log you on because of an account restriction." I do have administrator privileges now with the new account, but what kind of restrictions could there be on Administrator and where can I change them?

 

hi Greywood1862,

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290109

Techsent

 

Download the ophcrack livecd for XP, burn the .iso as an image, boot the computer off the burned disc and it should crack all the user passwords for you...

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

 

This explains everything. Thanks!