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Not The Typical Administrator Password Problem

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by lylsiem

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A week ago I backed up my XP with Ghost. After trying to boot with the new Ghost image, it did not work. I put the XP disk in at startup to repair installation and saw the enter admin password. I tried every known password (did not know that I should have just pressed Enter). I setup my old hard drive again to boot. I then checked on the net for a way to bypass the admin password. I found a site that gave me steps under Dos, which worked but not for installation but before XP starts (NOT THE LOGON PASSWORD). It erased my Admin Password before the XP logon password. Now when I boot up XP flashes the Missing Admin Pass error, beeps then hangs until I manually shut it down. Safemode works. Have tried to FIXBOOT in Dos but does not work. When I used Ghost I also did a Boot Magic program and have tried to get rid of it at Startup but now the XP disk does not load after it says Boot Magic installation missing. It just bypasses the XP disk and gives me OS choice 1 or 2. Number 2 was the copy that does not boot. I have never seen that Admin Pass screen before before XP logon screen.
1. Cant boot from XP disk because of Boot Magic
2. Safemodes work
3. Admin Pass is missing, tries to boot before I click "OK"
4. XP Recovery Console is for SP2, not SP3.
5. Not Looking for a bypass hack
6. I am the owner and admin for my system

Any way to add the main automatic password back to OS?

17 replies

by Former member

Killdisk:
http://www.killdisk.com/
Knowing that you are trying to Ghost back your info means that doing a fresh wipe of the drive will be ok. This will take around 3 to 4 hours to wipe your drive with the one pass method.
When all is wiped there is no going back with this, so i hope you have a back up. Well you have a image anyway. Hope all goes well.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.
If this information is useful, please mark as helpful. Thanks.

by lylsiem

The new Ghost image is on a large hard drive with 2 other partitions. I tried to boot from it and gives me a NTLDR missing at Dos. I did check the MBR and make primary on Ghost. I tried to use the XP disk for repair and tried to repair boot but only reads the new drive as I: and only repairs C: Confusing you yet? I just want to fix the log on before Admin log on screen.

by Former member

When you try and boot from the drive that is giving you this error, do this:

NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM Not Found
If you get an error that NTLDR is not found during bootup,
If you have FAT32 partitions, it is much simpler than with NTFS.
Just boot with a Win98 floppy and copy the NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM files
from the i386 directory to the root of the C:\ drive.
For NTFS:
1.Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
2.At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
3.Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
Typically this will be #1
4.Enter in the administrator password when requested
5.Enter in the following commands (X: is replaced by the actual drive letter that is assigned to the CD ROM drive.
COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C\:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
6.Take out the CD ROM and type exit

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.
If this information is useful, please mark as helpful. Thanks.

by lylsiem

When I tried with the XP disk to repair, it asks for admin pass then I press Enter. It then goes to Dos. Dos recognizes the new drive as I: with XP. Dos likes it when C: is used. How do I make I: into C:?

by ic-it

If initially you cloned your drive, rather than made an image, one of the drives would be marked hidden by default.

While in the RC you could try a fixmbr
then a fixboot
verify the OS by using bootcfg /list
try to add the old with bootcfg /scan
This should show you if the other partition/drive is being seen.

when booting from the XP CD, Choose the second R for a repair.

by harveyb

You could use the recovery / repair option from the XP CD. It sounds like you may have had a corruption to a core system file.

and lastly, and most painfully, you could make the drive a slave in the computer and re-install the Os on another drive and copy over all of your data.

I'd REALLY try option 1 or 2 first

Regards,
Brian

by harveyb

if all is truely lost, look for a small app called Killdisk. (freeware). it will drop ALL File tables and such. This will allow a fast re-image. I use it on our systems and even ZEN Works seems to be easy to remove :)

by lylsiem

I downloaded Tweakui and did the "control userpasswords2" under Run. It now boots after pressing Enter after Boot Magic error, choosing OS (original), then clicking Ok at the "No Administrator Password" section and then logging on to Windows XP. Before it would boot past the "Ok" click option and hang. Will try to use my copied OS with the earlier suggestions as well in the morning. Thanks everyone till later!!

by rob miners

1. Start your computer from the Windows XP CD. To do this, insert the Windows XP CD into your CD drive or DVD drive, and then restart your computer.

2. When you see the "Press any key to boot from CD" message, press any key to start the computer from the Windows XP CD.

3. At the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to start Windows XP Setup.

4. Read the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then press F8.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen to select and format a partition where you want to install Windows XP. At this stage you can select to delete the Primary Partition and any other partitions that may be there. Delete the Primary Partition. Recreate a Primary Partition, exit out and then reGhost.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D

by lylsiem

When my partitioned hard drive with the Ghost image is connected alone, Windows Repair sees it as H: not c: so it wont boot even if I FIXMBR. Can I do a FIXBOOT without wrecking any partitions? There is plenty of room on the H: partition. Dos wants to fix the C: drive which I dont have. I tried to change the letter to C but it wont let me.

by rob miners

1. You backed up your PC with Ghost, what steps did you take to do this.

2. Did you Backup the Drive or a Partition.

3. Did you restore the Image to the right Partition.

by lylsiem

I copied my C: to the first partition on my other hard drive using ghost. I thought I had a backup but apparently not. I copied C: using the master boot option and made an exact copy. I can access it on the drive while in C: XP but cant boot from it. I tried the FIXMBR and FIXBOOT, nothing. When I attach the drive, I made sure there was no jumper on the hard drive, went into BIOS to make sure it was there and to boot from it. Windows XP repair does nothing nor does the Recovery Console. My system just does not recognize the new partition as C: even with the old drive disconnected. I tried an older hard drive and thought of putting a fresh XP on it but the system failed to see it so that didnt work. Its like the twilight zone. I cant copy my copied drive to C: either, no option for this.

by rob miners

the jumper on the other Hard Drive to Master and connect it to the end of the IDE Cable and remove the original Drive that you copied from or jumper it as a Slave.

Keep us informed as to your progress if you require further assistance.

If you think that any of the posts that have been made by all TR Members, have solved or contributed to solving the problem, please Mark them as Helpful so that others may benefit from the outcome. ;) :D

by lylsiem

I tried every variation of jumper and cable setup. I removed the old drive all together and set the new drive as master and tried both cables. One cable said that hardware config was wrong, the other cable gives the NTLDR is missing. The Bios is always checked and configured properly. I tried Recovery and Repair but still no C: drive to repair. Both drives are WD. The old one is 80G, the new one has 3 partitions and is 320G. The first partition has the Ghost copy of XP. The Master setting is no jumper at all for both. Bill Gates is laughing at me.

by rob miners

GB drive partitioned. How big was the Primary partition on the new Drive was it big enough to accommodate the 80GB. I would delete all Partitions on the 320GB and create a single Partition. Connect it Jumpered as a Slave and Ghost the Image again. Then when you are up and running you can resize the Partitions after reconnecting it as Master.

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