Forgot password and safe mode will not boot

[natalielvr]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to help a friend who has an ancient laptop and has forgotten her password.

I tried booting safe mode with command prompt, but it stops at "mup.sys", stalls a second, then just loads the regular login screen. Unfortunately, she also has a password set for Administrator and doesn't know that password either.

As far as she knows, she doesn't have a Windows XP recovery CD.

Please let me know if you can think of any way to fix these issues!

Thanks!

 

[Elizabeth23]

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-tips-to-help-you-reset-a-forgotten-windows-xp-password/

read through above and see if the solutions help, if not you can see if removing the jumper pin will help, you will probably need to look online for a users manual for the location of the jumper pin.

your best bet would be to use a live boot cd ,

 

[aoresteen]

Make sure you have the install key before you re-install XP. If the license sticker is missing from the laptop, pull the hard drive and use a USB drive adapter to mount it on another Windows computer. Then use Magic Jellybean to recover most if not all of the installed apps keys.

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

Most any XP CD will work as a recovery CD. I use Dell & Compaq XP CDs all the time on all kinds of generic PCs..