# Forgot XP password?



## mikebrinn (Aug 13, 2002)

Sort of a luxury problem, but have a backup Dell laptop running XP that I didn't use for a long time and I forgot my sign in password, and I was the administrator account. Dell wouldn't help me out (I might be trying to crack a stolen computer). I looked for password crackers and services - $70 to $200 were the prevailing quotes.

Then a friend suggested I boot into safe mode. There is an extra admin account that is not password protected. I was able to go into users and change the password on my account with no problems.


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## Sooky 47 (Nov 6, 2001)

..... Hmmmm - so much for thinking xp is so secure! ha ha !
I found this out when I had put a password on the computer to block my daughter from using it . She turned around and did what you did , and she changed my password so that when I went onto the computer I was blocked ~ I luckily had saved the password info to disk and was able to gain access . It was only later that she told me how she had changed the password! 
Where there is a will there is a way!
Lu


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Yes, by default, most manufacturers ship their computers with the Administrator password blank. It is totally unacceptable to me. They need to tell their customers this when they buy computers. But I think it has to be this way because of the way sysprep works. But they should really inform their customers that they need to set a password on the administrator account when they receive it. Especially if you keep sensitive data on your computer.


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