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Did you receive the system restore disk that originally came with the computer?

If you did, boot with it and restore the laptop to its original condition.

If not, you have four options.

1) Contact the person you purchased it from. If you can not get in contact with them, report them on Craigslist.

2) Search Microsoft for instructions on how to reset the administrator password.

3) Buy another copy of WinXP, if you can find one, and do a wipe/fresh install of the OS. Note, you will need to obtain drivers for the motherboard at the very minimum and most likely the graphics adapter. Be prepared for a long, hard, restoration.

4) Put it back up for sale on Craigslist. ;)

1. If it usses the Welcome Screen, hit Ctrl + Alt + Delete twice. This brings up the logon screen. Put administrator for user and leave password blank. If that password hasn't been reset it will either logon or give a message about an account restriction or something. If it gives the message about an account restriction, reboot into safe mode of Windows XP by hitting the F8 button as soon as you see the BIOS splash screen at startup. It should list the administrator account in the welcome screen there. Click on it and it will logon. Once it is up to desktop, go into the users from control panel and create a new user with admin/full rights. You can then reboot and logon. Then delete the old user from the user's area in control panel.

2. Go to another PC with internet access and a CD burner. Download the .iso image from here and make a CD from it. This is a bootable CD that will aloow you to edit passwords in Windows.
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/