Hi my name is Natasha and I ve locked myself out of my Administrator account on Vista Home Premium 32bit dell inspirion 1525.
The administrator account I usual use for backup but had to change the password due to reasons people have to change there passwords. I think my problem is I changed the Admin Password through the User Account. I know I am using the right password but it says its incorrect. I believe from what I ve learnt that this is the fault.... that or changing passwords at 3 am is bad idea . My User account has only basic permissions.

Listed below are the solutions Ive tried.
checked the accounts on my computer throught control panel. there are 4 : 1 admin (locked out)
2 dell admin (cant access) found out under users in control panel( think this is the one i changed years ago.
3 system ( try to access ) with How to gain access to system account the most powerful account in Windows. « Alien Eyes. didnt work , cmd prompted.
4 user account ( crap access)
from reading help pages and forums tried to access main account under f8 but turns out I changed the basis password for factory account years ago
tried to repair under f8 , tried to restore ,
tried booting up from cds but cant get past admin password , tired f12

At this awhile , wont say how long and cant afford repair.
if anyone one can help it would be much appreciated , even the right link .

My Regards
Natasha84

If you can figure out how to get to it on a laptop, you could remove the battery from the CMOS for a minute and reinsert it. I think that might change the password setup.

Thank you for getting back to me. I got this articule off Dell
Documentation
hopeful it works but it requires taking the laptop apart , my parther is going to do it, quiet frankly I think he is looking forward to it :-(. I will let you know how it goes.

Natasha84

Let us know if it works.

Update: My partner got to the cell battery no problem , but didnt know about Bios system or password. He didnt read that part, used this for help
Documentation

It seems he had to make usb file on his laptop to put on mine. When my Dell booted up it was in the blue screen and asked for admin password from 4 days after it was bought. so trying get pass that now. Its not blank and I dont think its factory password. Getting the paperwork from when software was installed and see if its on that .... heres hoping.

If anyone else has ideas for this problem it be great !
My Regards
Natasha 84

Is the BIOS unavailable after reinstalling the battery?

The coin battery was taken out and my partner said the time, date where reset , system password and HDD was unlock but there was still a Admin password, 8 characters long and then a chime.The BIOS was gone he had to download it online on to USB for me.
The thing is my user account is still there and my info , just been looking over it .

Does that mean you're still locked out of the Administrator account so the whole exercise was for nothing?

Update: well I F8 and F11(cant remember which one worked) and this time it let me boot up from the Operation Vista CD. I dont know if I did it wrong last time or wiping out the BIOS allowed me to boot up from the CD without it asking for Admin password this time, so Wither 3 it might not have been a waste!

So got Vista all new on my laptop with Admin controls back !!!! So Thanks Wither 3 and Richc64. I just have to install all the Drivers and Utilites now, not to mention downloading all my online software and updates !@ richc64 I will be hanging on to that software you recommend it will come in handy but when I tried to backup it wouldnt let me, kept asking for Admin password :-( . My main user account will have full permission from now on!

Now I might open another Thread , I am not sure. But my Memory on my main Hardrive and recovery is been taken up with old files from my last windows , I going through them but not sure what I should recover and is ok to delete. There is also a old file from the last wipe I did Years ago! Lots of backup and usb password recoveries from now on.