Unable to logon using Administrator password

Berne

I have a strange logon issue which just cropped up in windows xp. I have
always logged on automatically with the admin user and did not setup a
password. Just recently the logon screen started to display however when I
choose the admin it starts to load windows but then comes back to the user
selection screen with the message "saving you settings". There are no other
users which I can select to launch windows. If I use CTL+ALT+DEL I am
presented with a pop up requiring the password. If I enter any value other
then blank I get a password incorrect error message. When I leave blank and
press enter the same thing happens, windows starts to load and then comes
back to the logon screen with the message that the settings for the admin are
being saved. Starting in safe mode is no different, accepts the blank,
nothing else and won't start windows. If I start up in safe mode with
command prompt I am presented with a password entry to which I just press
enter and receive the C:/WINDOWS prompt, but can't seem to find a way to
change the windows admin password back to blank and reset the auto logon
value. To make matters worse I did not create password backups.

Seems to me there are now 2 passwords which are in effect, the original
blank and something else. The blank seems to work on the disk but will not
work in windows. Is this possible? Any ideas how I can fix short of
reinstalling the OS? Will reinstalling even work?

Mark L. Ferguson

From the prompt, type:
LOGON

If no help, use system restore:

HOW TO Start System Restore Tool from Command Prompt (Q304449):
http://support.microsoft.com/support.../q304/4/49.asp
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Mark L. Ferguson

"Berne" <Berne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4585C273-47CA-4B55-B7FA-869EE2652E58@microsoft.com...
> I have a strange logon issue which just cropped up in windows xp. I have
> always logged on automatically with the admin user and did not setup a
> password. Just recently the logon screen started to display however when
> I
> choose the admin it starts to load windows but then comes back to the user
> selection screen with the message "saving you settings". There are no
> other
> users which I can select to launch windows. If I use CTL+ALT+DEL I am
> presented with a pop up requiring the password. If I enter any value
> other
> then blank I get a password incorrect error message. When I leave blank
> and
> press enter the same thing happens, windows starts to load and then comes
> back to the logon screen with the message that the settings for the admin
> are
> being saved. Starting in safe mode is no different, accepts the blank,
> nothing else and won't start windows. If I start up in safe mode with
> command prompt I am presented with a password entry to which I just press
> enter and receive the C:/WINDOWS prompt, but can't seem to find a way to
> change the windows admin password back to blank and reset the auto logon
> value. To make matters worse I did not create password backups.
>
> Seems to me there are now 2 passwords which are in effect, the original
> blank and something else. The blank seems to work on the disk but will
> not
> work in windows. Is this possible? Any ideas how I can fix short of
> reinstalling the OS? Will reinstalling even work?

Berne

In Safe Mode with Command Prompt, issuing the LOGON command just returns a
list of the drives into which I wish to access, 2 options for the D drive and
1 option for the C drive which is C:\WINDOWS. I select windows and am
prompted for the password, which is blank. This returns me to the C:\WINDOWS
prompt, which is where I started. I followed your link to the restore page
however cannot execute the command %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
as am receiving an Invalid command type /? for help message.

"Mark L. Ferguson" wrote:

> From the prompt, type:
> LOGON
>
> If no help, use system restore:
>
> HOW TO Start System Restore Tool from Command Prompt (Q304449):
> http://support.microsoft.com/support.../q304/4/49.asp
> --
> click the Ratings button. Voting helps the web interface.
> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm see ''rate a post''
> Mark L. Ferguson
>
> "Berne" <Berne@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:4585C273-47CA-4B55-B7FA-869EE2652E58@microsoft.com...
> > I have a strange logon issue which just cropped up in windows xp. I have
> > always logged on automatically with the admin user and did not setup a
> > password. Just recently the logon screen started to display however when
> > I
> > choose the admin it starts to load windows but then comes back to the user
> > selection screen with the message "saving you settings". There are no
> > other
> > users which I can select to launch windows. If I use CTL+ALT+DEL I am
> > presented with a pop up requiring the password. If I enter any value
> > other
> > then blank I get a password incorrect error message. When I leave blank
> > and
> > press enter the same thing happens, windows starts to load and then comes
> > back to the logon screen with the message that the settings for the admin
> > are
> > being saved. Starting in safe mode is no different, accepts the blank,
> > nothing else and won't start windows. If I start up in safe mode with
> > command prompt I am presented with a password entry to which I just press
> > enter and receive the C:/WINDOWS prompt, but can't seem to find a way to
> > change the windows admin password back to blank and reset the auto logon
> > value. To make matters worse I did not create password backups.
> >
> > Seems to me there are now 2 passwords which are in effect, the original
> > blank and something else. The blank seems to work on the disk but will
> > not
> > work in windows. Is this possible? Any ideas how I can fix short of
> > reinstalling the OS? Will reinstalling even work?
>