Xp Password Lockout

[rock]

Hi,

We have just installed XP pro on a laptop on drive D: keeping 98se on

C: but something strange has happened.

It installed fine but as far as I can recall it didn't ask for a

password for the admin yet it has come up with the normal opening

screen asking for a password.

If it had asked I would have given it the one I tried but I tried

every one I use, and heaven knows there are many, and nothing works.

The panel says 'The specified domain doesn't exist or cannot be

contacted". Conact your administrator.

What domain ? I am thre Administrator.

I can't seem to get in anywhere, so how on earth do I get over this

problem.

Thanks

rock

[FthrJACK]

have you tried NOT putting a password in?

people tend to skip the admin password setting by accidentaly clicking ok when it asks for one, windows then carrys on installing, which is a bit stupid of MS in my opinion, it should stop and warn you or not allow you to click ok at all till a pass is entered.

[soykya]

i also have the same problem with the pssword lockout. So far, the only advice I've heard it that I'm supposed to reinstall windows. I haven't gotten around to it yet though.

[LS_Dragons]

I agree with FtherJACK - your password is probably "blank" (which means just hit enter with no *** showing up in the password box). Sometimes - it is helpful to tab into the password box and hit DELETE to make sure it is indeed empty. If that is not the case - read this article:

http://www.ntsecurity.net/Articles/Index.c...?ArticleID=9527

also - refer to this:

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - Q318026

Passwords Are Unexpectedly Assigned to User Accounts After You Upgrade to Windows XP

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Microsoft Windows XP Professional

SYMPTOMS

When you upgrade or install Microsoft Windows XP, passwords may be assigned to user accounts that previously had no password or you did not assign passwords to any user accounts during the installation process. As a result, you cannot log on to the computer.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if Windows XP Setup does not complete properly. Setup assigns temporary passwords to user accounts during the upgrade process, and is supposed to remove the passwords when Setup is complete. The temporary passwords are written to the Setupact.log file that is located in the folder in which Windows is installed.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, retrieve the password from the Setupact.log file, and then use the password to log on to the computer. You must search the Setupact.log file for the following line, where Username is the name of the user account and xxxxxxxxxxxxx is the password for that account:

Random password for Username is xxxxxxxxxxxxx

To do this, use one of the following methods, as appropriate to your situation.

Windows XP Is Installed on a FAT32 Partition

To retrieve the password from the Setupact.log file if Windows XP is installed on a FAT32 partition, follow these steps:

Insert a Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) startup disk or a Microsoft Windows 98 Startup disk into the computer's floppy disk drive, and then restart the computer.

NOTE: If you do not have a Windows Me or Windows 98 Startup disk, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q186300 How to Create a Windows 98 Startup Disk from MS-DOS

Q267287 How to Create a Startup Disk in Windows Me

Type the following line at the command prompt, and then press ENTER, where drive is the drive on which Windows is installed.

edit drive:\windows\setupact.log

Locate the following line, where Username is the name of the user account and xxxxxxxxxxxxx is the password for that account:

Random password for Username is xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Make a note of the password exactly as it appears in the Setupact.log file, and then quit the text editor.

Restart the computer, and then log on to the computer with the user account by using the password that you retrieved.

After you are logged on to the computer, reset the password for the user account by using User Accounts in Control Panel.

Windows XP Is Installed on a NTFS Partition

To retrieve the password from the Setupact.log file if Windows XP is installed on an NTFS partition, follow these steps:

Configure the computer to start from the CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive. For more information about how to do this, please see the computer's documentation or contact the computer manufacturer.

Insert the Windows XP compact disc (CD) into the computer's CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.

When the Press any key to boot from CD message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD.

When the Welcome to Setup screen is displayed, press the R key to start the Recovery Console.

Select the installation that you need to access from the Recovery Console.

You are prompted for the Administrator password. If the Administrator password is set to use a blank password, just press ENTER.

At the command prompt, type the following line and then press ENTER:

type setupact.log

Locate the following line, where Username is the name of the user account and xxxxxxxxxxxxx is the password for that account:

Random password for Username is xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Make a note of the password exactly as it appears in the Setupact.log file.

Type exit at the command prompt, and then press ENTER to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.

Log on to the computer with the user account by using the password that you retrieved.

After you are logged on to the computer, reset the password for the user account by using User Accounts in Control Panel.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...;EN-US;Q318026&