XP Accounts Gone, Admin Pass Lost, Please Help

[shadowbladex]

Ok here's the deal. I'm working on a friends computer. They seem to have gotten several trogan viruses among others. Well when i boot their pc up and it gets to the screen where you choose which account you want to log into, the accounts aren't there. It just shows the xp logo with the ms flag. I've plugged the HDD into my pc and removed the viruses by scanning it from mine. Problems is the account problem is still there. How can I fix this to show the accounts again. I can't boot into safe mode or safe mode with command prompt. I've also tried using the recovery console with the xp disc but they don't know what their admin password is. Can anyone help please. I'm stumped. Thanks.

[alguzman]

did you try to boot into safe mode? sometimes there is a default administrator password = "admin" you can log onto that doesn't show up in normal mode, then you can create an account to use in normal mode.

If not you can also look at this website
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/. They have a product called NT Access.

good luck

[Strawbs]

WindowsXP hides the accounts after someone tries to tamper with or types in the wrong passwords too many times! if you leave it for an hour or so the accounts may come back all on thier own.

Failing that ...There is a second repair option that will restore the default system files from the install disk without deleting personal data. Boot from the disk and Ignore the first repair option - which is the recovery console - instead choose the one that appears a little further on, this will give a "refresh" install.

[tantone]

FYI, just in case you weren't aware, if you're at the Welcome screen, you can access the good ol' logon window by pressing ctrl-alt-del twice. This is nice if you want to logon as administrator, since it doesn't appear in on the Welcome screen unless you're in safe mode.

[shadowbladex]

ok thanks. i'll try some of these things and see if they work.

[rraehal]

Originally posted by tantone
FYI, just in case you weren't aware, if you're at the Welcome screen, you can access the good ol' logon window by pressing ctrl-alt-del twice. This is nice if you want to logon as administrator, since it doesn't appear in on the Welcome screen unless you're in safe mode.

This is good to know. I always did administrator in safe mode. And used myself as an "admin account" with a normal user for daily activity.

[Bill in SD, CA]

This may help:

[*** deleted link ***]

Bill

[Vernon Frazee]

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