Cannot Remove Administrator Password due to account policy?

sorkku

New Member
Ok. Here's the story. I'll be attending a university soon. On a tour I decided to borrow my grandfather's laptop/ Windows Vista Basic 32 bit...so that I could access the internet. Well.....the Server required That I have a password on the account (Administrator...and the only account). Weird...but hey...whatever....I'll just remove it when I'm done. WRONG! Now I'm back home and When I go to Control Panel>User Accounts> and click "Remove Your Password" I get a box that say's "Windows cannot remove the password. Password and/or account policies require the account to have a password." I've never seen this before. So after many attempts I think to myself...well... since I can't remove it might as well change it to something a bit more relevant to him. WRONG! Every attempt at creating another password is answered with "The password you typed does not meet the password policy requirements. Check the minimum password length, password complexity, and password history requirements." Trust me....I've put in some complicated ****. It is simply not going to let me change it. Does anybody have any advice? At all.....

Ps. Changing and/or removing the password from command prompt displays the exact same error messages. What is it about my account that needs a password? How can I change this?
 

My Computer

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP-Pavilion m9280.uk-a
    CPU
    2.30 gigahertz AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core
    Motherboard
    ASUSTek Computer INC. NARRA3 3.02
    Memory
    3582 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory (4 Gig)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS NVIDIA Geforce GTS450
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition 7.1 Audio (HP drivers)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2408 24.0" (Dual monitor)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 * 1200, 1920 * 1200
    Hard Drives
    3*500 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
    Plus 2x USB (160Gig each) external HDD
    BluRay & DVD Weiters
    HL-DT-ST BD-RE GGW-H20L SCSI CdRom (Bluray RW) Device
    AlViDrv BDDVDROM SCSI CdRom (Blueray) Device
    TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-H653N SCSI CdRom
    Internet Speed
    40 Meg
Try using a system restore on the laptop if it's enabled. In the mean time, I will research this further to see how else I can assist you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    AMD
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP-Pavilion m9280.uk-a
    CPU
    2.30 gigahertz AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core
    Motherboard
    ASUSTek Computer INC. NARRA3 3.02
    Memory
    3582 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory (4 Gig)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS NVIDIA Geforce GTS450
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition 7.1 Audio (HP drivers)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2408 24.0" (Dual monitor)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 * 1200, 1920 * 1200
    Hard Drives
    3*500 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
    Plus 2x USB (160Gig each) external HDD
    BluRay & DVD Weiters
    HL-DT-ST BD-RE GGW-H20L SCSI CdRom (Bluray RW) Device
    AlViDrv BDDVDROM SCSI CdRom (Blueray) Device
    TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-H653N SCSI CdRom
    Internet Speed
    40 Meg
If you plan to make changes to the registry, be sure to make a system restore point, first.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
If you do decide the change the registry, you should also create an ERUNT backup. This is very robust!


erunt.gif
ERUNT - Download here
Why? This ensures we have a valid registry backup. ERUNT (Emergency Recovery Utility NT) allows you to store a complete backup of your registry and restore if needed. Removing modern malware infections often requires making changes to the registry, and a corrupt registry can prevent a system from booting. Compatible with Windows NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista, 32 & 64-bit versions.

  • Download ERUNT
  • Double-click erunt_setup.exe to run.
  • Follow the prompts and install using the default configuration (setup language, install location, shortcuts...).
  • Say No to the portion that asks you to add ERUNT to the start-up folder, if you like you can enable this option later.
    erunt-setup.png
  • Start ERUNT
  • Choose a location for the backup
    The default location C:\WINDOWS\ERDNT\[today's date] is preferred
    erunt.png
  • The first two check boxes are ticked by default (System registry and Current user registry).
  • Press OK
  • When prompted, click YES to create a new folder.
  • Progress bars will show backup status.
  • A confirmation window will popup when complete. Click OK to close.
Richard
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300)
    Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0

    1 x 1Tb (SATA 600)
    Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms
    Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
Please consider that according to your system specs, you have Vista Basic so almost every proposed solution here that requires secpol.msc or gpedit.msc (and several do) can't be done on your system. You can make direct registry changes, but not using these methods (you can use regedit.exe if you know the proper keys to modify, add, or delete but I saw none that provided what you need for this if such a fix exists). Some of the methods in some of the tutorials might work, but I suspect they won't because those settings and controls are being overridden by the security policy (but the one to disable UAC may work if you do so only long enough to remove the password and then enable it again - but I don't know if that will work in the long run or even cause you login problems where you can't login at all with no password or even with the original password and with only one account you may have quite some problem recovering - difficult at least, but hopefully possible). You also really don't want UAC permanently disabled - it's a valuable security tool that helps protect your system.

How do you have your system configured to boot (do you have a welcome screen, do you use CTRL-ALT-DEL, or do you automatically startup)? How many accounts are on the system (still only the one Administrator account)?

One option (a bit of a hassle but that might work) is to create another Administrator account with no password and see it that works (if it allows it to be created without a password and then if you reboot if it allows you to login without a password). If it does, treat the situation as if the old account were corrupt and move everything to the new Admiminstrator account. To do this use http://windows.microsoft.com/en-AU/windows-vista/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile. Then use the new account from now on and delete the old one. Now your account will no longer have a password again. Not elegant, but if the system allows you to create an Administrator account with no password, this might work.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inc. MP061 Inspiron E1705
    CPU
    2.00 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo 64 kilobyte primary memory
    Motherboard
    Board: Dell Inc. 0YD479 Bus Clock: 166 megahertz
    Memory
    2046 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM) [Di
    Sound Card
    SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor (17.2"vis)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi HTS541616J9SA00 [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n SB2411SJGLLRMB, rev SB4OC74P, SMART Status: Healthy
    Case
    Chassis Serial Number: 5YK95C1
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse
    Internet Speed
    1958 Kbps download ; 754.8 Kbps upload
    Other Info
    Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5540A ATA Device [CD-ROM drive]

    Dell AIO Printer A940

    Conexant HDA D110 MDC V.92 Modem

    6TO4 Adapter
    Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
    Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter
    Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
    Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

    Router Linksys / WRT54G -01
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