XP installation cancellation - any idea?

Well, this is a real mess. OK, I'm pretty lost here, and not exactly certain how I'm going to get out of this mess.

Basically, a relative got a virus or something, and their password (sam file) was compromised. I decided to take the XP installation CD and reset the password (using makeuseof(dot)com/tag/recover-your-windows-xp-administrator-password-with-the-installation-disk/).

Basically I kept proceeding until I would find the 'press R to repair' message. Unfortunately, it would seem that never happened. Eventually there was a prompt of a partition to overwrite (I chose the main) and a format option (I chose don't format).

Once I got to the install screen (labtestproject(dot)com/screenshot/windows_xp/pages/013_install_device.html) I decided to take the CD out, and power down.

Right now I can think of only one option to save the important documents: take out the hard drive, and scan it for files.

Any suggestions on how I can exit this installation, and remove the admin password?

 

Boot in a live cd using a puppy linux or similar distro and salvage the files. there is a utility that can let you have the password as well. i think it's called chntpw. a security software to crack xp password. try murga linux forum and find it there. https://www.winhelp.us/recover-files-using-puppy-linux.html

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ows-password-with-the-linux-system-rescue-cd/