Restore?

smiileysa

New Member
I have a question concerning what Restore actually restores! The problem: a buddy of mine that is not very bright decided one day to, for unknown reasons, change his user password. He has a hp pavilion dv9260us with vista ultimate. So, he really screwed it up! Now when vista boots up it comes up with his original user name, john, the old or new password does not work. And when I went to Startup Repair with the F8 key, when it indicates to log into an account, it comes up with three: Administrator, Guest, and 'password', which was his original password for his john user account, and no password will work to get into that account. Both the Administrater and Guest accounts are disabled. Even though I am barely passable as a computer repairman, I am trying to fix it for him. I have used 6 or 7 boot up programs to either delete and/or change his password, but none work. So I tried the Restore function several times, but get no resolution, same problem. So, my first question is, should the Restore have reset the user and password function to a previous date also? Like recopying the SAM file in System32? And if it should have, any ideas on why it didn't?
And then any ideas on how to correct this. I do not want to reinstall from the recovery partition because a few years back he took a class at a local collage and his professor installed Microsoft Office for him and I don't want to lose that for him since we don't have the registration key.
Thanks for all help and thoughts on this.
 

My Computer

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
richc46, yes, I know that a restore will not affect the currently installed programs, etc. I was refering to a reinstall that wipe out all. Part of what I was inferring was that it appears there are several locations that users and passwords are stored besides just SAM in System32, and two WinLogon entries in the Registry. Also, as I stated in first post, I did several Restore points which I thought would resolve a login password problem, but it did not. That is why I was basically ask why it did not when it should have.
 

My Computer

Yes, I understand your problem. I gave you a previously created thread to be sure that you understood the correct method to change your password. We are not free to give out much more information in this area due to security concerns.
 

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
Thanks, I understand your point about security.
Now, some more thoughts: If you are familiar with it, there is a ubuntu linux live program that will run off the CD without installation. I can access the C: drive with it and the thought has occurred to me that maybe I could rename the System32/SAM file and then maybe it would boot on into Windows or maybe rewrite itself on bootup and let me into Windows. Any thoughts on that? Also, there is a linux program called wine that emulates Windows but in order to use it I think I would have to install linux on a separate partition and then install wine in order for it to work. But with wine I could run regedit and hopefully correct the entries in the Registry. Any thoughts? Thanks!
 

My Computer

I am not familar with Wine, but have suggested to many that Ubuntu can be used to save documents from Windows that cannot boot. Without having tried what you suggest, I think that there is a very good possiblity that it may work.
 

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
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