VISTA Password

OK-I just purchased a new computer that has Vista installed. I added another
user to the login in screen. When I turn on the computer it is now asking me
for a password.....I don't remember setting a password for the administrator
account. Is there a way to get this reset? After hours of frustration and
on the phone w/microsoft I am still locked out..........

Have you tried leaving the password field blank? If you did not set up your
account to use a password, then you should not have to enter one.

--
Jane, not plain 64 bit enabled :-)
Batteries not included. Braincell on vacation ;-)
"Marie" <Marie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news15C0289-4D28-4762-A43B-163EE05EBC47@microsoft.com...
> OK-I just purchased a new computer that has Vista installed. I added
> another
> user to the login in screen. When I turn on the computer it is now asking
> me
> for a password.....I don't remember setting a password for the
> administrator
> account. Is there a way to get this reset? After hours of frustration
> and
> on the phone w/microsoft I am still locked out..........

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:59:49 +1100, "Jane C"

>Have you tried leaving the password field blank? If you did not set up your
>account to use a password, then you should not have to enter one.

Some instrallations use the weak password "password", and gloss over
this by automatically entering it for you.

This works sometimes, but not all of the time.

For example, the PC may boost straight into the user account when
powered up, but if it is allowed to suspend, you're presented with a
password prompt that has the word "password" pre-entered in grey - yet
pressing Enter on this enters a blank password that fails.

For another example, a PC may log straight into the account when
booted up as long as it is the only user account, but if an extra user
account is created (as you did now, or as .NET used to do to XP as a
side-effect of installing the .NET Framework) then you get the welcome
screen - and have to login using a pwd you didn't know you had.

This is passwords at their most asinine - a duhfault password that's
weak enough to brute-force in under a second, but enough of a nuisance
to stop the PC's owner from using the system.



>--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -
Saws are too hard to use.
Be easier to use!
>--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -

But how do i get the password on my own PC when installing programs is
protected by the same password. So downloading a password recovery tool isn't
working to...

"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" wrote:

> On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:59:49 +1100, "Jane C"
>
> >Have you tried leaving the password field blank? If you did not set up your
> >account to use a password, then you should not have to enter one.
>
> Some instrallations use the weak password "password", and gloss over
> this by automatically entering it for you.
>
> This works sometimes, but not all of the time.
>
> For example, the PC may boost straight into the user account when
> powered up, but if it is allowed to suspend, you're presented with a
> password prompt that has the word "password" pre-entered in grey - yet
> pressing Enter on this enters a blank password that fails.
>
> For another example, a PC may log straight into the account when
> booted up as long as it is the only user account, but if an extra user
> account is created (as you did now, or as .NET used to do to XP as a
> side-effect of installing the .NET Framework) then you get the welcome
> screen - and have to login using a pwd you didn't know you had.
>
> This is passwords at their most asinine - a duhfault password that's
> weak enough to brute-force in under a second, but enough of a nuisance
> to stop the PC's owner from using the system.
>
>
>
> >--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -
> Saws are too hard to use.
> Be easier to use!
> >--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -
>

On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 02:15:23 -0700, Paasie

>But how do i get the password on my own PC when installing programs is
>protected by the same password. So downloading a password recovery tool isn't
>working to...

You just have to know your password - or get it from whatever entity
imposed it on your behalf.

That's just one of the ways that passwords suck - collect them all!

http://cquirke.mvps.org/pwdssuck.htm



>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
"If I'd known it was harmless, I'd have
killed it myself" (PKD)
>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Passwords don´t suck, as long as the system isn´t starting a life on it´s
own. And as we all know, Windows somethings does things on it´s own without
even the people of MS itself always knows when or how...

"cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)" wrote:

> On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 02:15:23 -0700, Paasie
>
> >But how do i get the password on my own PC when installing programs is
> >protected by the same password. So downloading a password recovery tool isn't
> >working to...
>
> You just have to know your password - or get it from whatever entity
> imposed it on your behalf.
>
> That's just one of the ways that passwords suck - collect them all!
>
> http://cquirke.mvps.org/pwdssuck.htm
>
>
>
> >-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
> "If I'd known it was harmless, I'd have
> killed it myself" (PKD)
> >-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
>

On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:56:15 -0700, Paasie

>Passwords don´t suck, as long as the system isn´t starting a life on it´s
>own. And as we all know, Windows somethings does things on it´s own without
>even the people of MS itself always knows when or how...

Heh... passwords (or more specifically, user-remembered passwords) do
inherently suc.. er, have limitations, and most password
implimentations (especially "optional" passwords aren't too hot.

Yep, one of the problems is where passwords are pre-set before you get
the system, and are poorly documented (often for large values of
"poorly"). For example, the NGO that gets a donation of 20 PCs that
are all BIOS-passworded on boot, and no-one knows the password.


A variation is the typical "optional password" logic that goes:
- if password is blank, then acts as "no password"
- to change the password, first enter existing password

See the problem? The only "options" here are to have a password
that's too strong for interlopers to guess, or suffer the risk of DoS
by any interloper who "changes the password".


Now combine that with a mentality that subtitutes security for safety.

IOW, instead of excluding dangerous facilities that a particular
installation may not want to use at all, they are "secured" by an
"optional" password.


Here's a good example of that; hidden admin shares in XP Pro.

If the account password is blank, these are not exposed to networks.
But any non-blank password will expose these to any network where F&PS
is bound and where firewall permits F&PS to pass through.

Tasks don't run unless account password is not blank (or, in XP SP1
and later, you set the Task to run only when logged in).

So folks are obliged to have a non-blank password if they want Tasks
to run in XP Pro Gold. What to do? Choose a trivial password, hide
it via Autologon, disable the Welcome Screen on screensaver etc., and
thus carry on as if you still had no password (which is what you
really wanted in the first place).

And you have an ADSL router that does both the gateway to the Internet
and your LAN switching, so F&PS is enabled and permitted through the
firewall. If you used ISP sware to dumb the router down to Bridge pass
through, you're waving those admin shares at the world.

Admin shares may be hidden, but to software, the names are well-known
and they work just fine. Your account password may be too difficult
for you to remember, yeat easy enough for an automated attack to crack
in a second or few. See the problem?


The basic password problem is, you're pitting humans against machines
on a battlefield far best suited to the machines.



>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Trsut me, I won't make a mistake!
>-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

I have the same problem. I am completely locked out of my administrator
account. I've tried leaving the password blank and tried the obvious like
"password" with and without upper case. Bottom line is I don't know my
password and am not going to remember it now. I've tried everything I can
remember using in the past 10 years!! How do I reset the administrator's
password in Vista. Please just helpful responses, not scenarios that aren't
helpful in this case. Thanks so much.

"Marie" wrote:

Try the 'NTpassword' reset as described at
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/. This program now has Vista support.
It works from a bootable CD (or floppy) and gives you a command menu from
which you can reset your passwords. I have not personally tried this on
Vista but I have successfully used it several times on XP. It may sound a
bit technical at first but if you follow the instructions carefully there
should not be a problem. The only alternative that I know is re-installing
the OS.

Mike Bernstein

"cheryl f" <cheryl f@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5FC14BEC-0C71-43A5-AA05-571D7C735AF1@xxxxxx

I tried absolutely everything many times over; all the suggestions made here
by other users. The bottom line is I had to start from scratch. yes, I
could not load any programs onto my computer because it asked for the
password to do so. So I took the very long and painful way. The GOOD NEWS
is that I am in and everything is working great now.

I went into my BIOS and changed it to read from my disk drive first. Then I
booted from the Windows Vista disk. Reloaded everything and I good as new.
Yes, it's ridiculous that I had to do this, but the only way I could get
back into my computer. Good luck!

"Marie" wrote: