Windows logon problems

C

crispy1995

New Member
I'm trying to help a friend with a computer problem-- it's running Windows XP Pro on a Gateway. The shell says it originally was running Win-98. When it starts, a logon popup appears with a user and password box. They don't know the password for their main user, and I've typed "administrator" and "owner" with no sucess. When started in Safe Mode, I get the same problem. Any suggestions to start this computer?
 
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There's a quick edit of the system registry that will see that end fast enough. This registry "tweak" will automatically load Windows directly to the desktop. The two changes made are the one additional DWord value along with the change of the value from "0" to "1" as seen here.


[FONT=verdana,arial]Windows includes a feature that allows you to configure the computer to automatically logon to the network, bypassing the Winlogon dialog box.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial]To enable this function you need to add several new values to the key below.
  1. Add a new string value named 'DefaultUserName' and set it to the username you wish to automatically logon as.
  2. Add a new string value named 'DefaultPassword' and set this to the password for the user entered above.
  3. Add a new string value named 'DefaultDomainName' and set this to the domain of the user. Ignore this value if the NT box is not participating in NT Domain security.
  4. Add a new string value named 'AutoAdminLogon' and set it to either '1' to enable auto logon or '0' to disable it.
  5. For Windows 2000 the additional ForceAutoLogon setting must be enabled to stop the tweak from resetting on reboot.
Exit and restart, Windows should not ask for a password and automatically show the desktop of the user.[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial]

Note: The password is stored in registry, which means anyone who has access to the machine has access to the password.
Note: You can bypass this function by holding down the SHIFT key during the boot or logoff process.
[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana,arial]
window_title.gif
statusbar_top.gif
side_left.gif
statusbar_right.gif
statusbar_bottom.gif
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial]Settings:[/FONT][FONT=verdana,arial]System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon][/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial]Name: AutoAdminLogon[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial]Type: REG_SZ (String Value)[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial]Value: (0=disable, 1=enable)[/FONT]
The extract seen here was taken from the free registry guide you could download at one time. A link for that at this time wasn't found while the online page can be seen at http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/13/
 
Your friend would have to then perhaps by reinstalling Windows first to get Windows up and running properly if he can't get to the desktop simply by pressing the enter key with the prompt empty for no assigned user name and password. Without administrative access that would be the option there to see all old information for accounts removed. A reformat of the drive itself would see all traces of 98 gone in that process as well.
 
if he goes into safe mode and los into the administrator cant he remove the password under control panel user acounts?
 
meanman said:
if he goes into safe mode and los into the administrator cant he remove the password under control panel user acounts?
Click to expand...

You missed something. Even when safe mode was selected the same problem of not knowing the password prevented Windows from loading upto the desktop. You need to get there first to open up the control panel.
 
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