Login Problem Win 7 Home Premium - Locked Out

[Toasty]

Got a neighbors laptop this afternoon that has locked her out of Windows 7.

Someone tried creating and using a Windows password reset disk, and was unsuccessful. Only works if you -previously- created the disk.

Administrator account is -not- activated and there is no button or prompt to login as a different user. Differs from XP as you could Ctrl-Alt-Delete 2X and get a prompt. Not so here.

Have used a password brute force to recover and it reports nothing for this account.

Another utility to blank the password was run and I still can not login.

Both password utilities reported the account as "Melanie" but on the login screen it says "MelanieElizabeth".

The first utility says NT Password for the Administrator account is empty. I know the Administrator can be turned "on" from within from another User that has Admin privelages. Is there a way to "activate" the Administrator account without being "in" the system?

Or, is there a way to create a User Account from the outside?

BTW: Safe Mode does the same thing. No prompt to switch user there either.

Toast

EDIT: Another item worth mentioning. The first password tool lists the accounts and asks you to choose which User account to work with by entering it in hex (which it lists) or by the Name, in this case Melanie. Either way it is entered it says it is not a valid account. Huh? You just listed it for me, but it's not valid?

Very odd.

[yyonline]

Re: Login Problem Win 7 Home Premium - Locked Out

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...ble-winre.html

You can enable the built-in admin account from a recovery console (boot from Windows dvd.) It says to download a file to the desktop, but you can always pull the HD and hook it up to another PC to add the file, or use a USB drive, though I'm not 100% sure if the recovery console gives you access to USB drives.

It also gives you directions for editing the registry to enable the administrator account by booting from the windows dvd and editing the registry.

If it's a system with no Windows dvd, just a recovery partition, try a generic Windows 7 disc, it may allow you to boot into Windows recovery. If that doesn't work, you can pull the hard drive temporarily install it in another system, and follow the same directions to manually edit the problem PC's registry on another PC.

Once you enable the administrator account, you should be able to reset that user's password.

Good luck!

[seanc]

Re: Login Problem Win 7 Home Premium - Locked Out

NTPass should do it.
Just blank the password using * .
Sometimes setting another password doesn't actually work, for some obscure reason. Blanking usually works.

[shovenose]

Re: Login Problem Win 7 Home Premium - Locked Out

Find the free download for erd commander 2003 or 2005 (dont remember which), then use the locksmith utlity

[Flababa]

Re: Login Problem Win 7 Home Premium - Locked Out

I've used http://www.pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/ in the past. Maybe it'll work for you?

I've had bad luck running it when packaged with other software, but had no issues when using it standalone.

[Toasty]

Re: Login Problem Win 7 Home Premium - Locked Out

Blanking does not work. Tried that already. See first post.

I'm not sure of W7, but does it allow you to use a nickname for the login screen?

I do not understand why it has one name for the account and presents another for the login.

Toast

[Flababa]

Re: Login Problem Win 7 Home Premium - Locked Out

You mentioned blanking, but not the software / version you used. Also note that in the FAQ for this software, there are a few things that could cause it to not work properly. Improper shutdown, random code glitches (poor NTFS support), etc.

There is also an option to lock / unlock accounts. Have you tried that on the administrator account?

There are a few different software sets out there that do the same thing. Was asking to be thorough.

And yes, it seems that you are able to create an account, then change the "display" name that will show on the login screen and start menu. The original account name stays the same.

If I get a chance tonight, I'll burn a copy of the software and put a password on my laptop. It'll be Win7 Ultimate 32-bit.

[Toasty]

Re: Login Problem Win 7 Home Premium - Locked Out

Solved!

Flababa's solution worked. The 2nd software I used was LoginNow. It offered the same Linux prompts, but did not recognize the account. Your solution did and was 56mb smaller. Admin and user account now at login. I'm going to re-hide the admin as it should not be openly accessible.

Thanks very much for the assist!

Toast

[shovenose]

Re: Login Problem Win 7 Home Premium - Locked Out

i know this is off topic, but say "flababa" out loud-its really funny