Hi, I am trying to restore a friend’s computer. I thought at first it was just a problem with the mouse and keyboard (see other post). However, I have since determined that I can not get XP to load in any fashion. I can access the hard drive if I connect it to another machine as the slave drive. I can also load the Recovery Console. But, I am at an impasse. I have blanked the administrator password several times, but I think I have a situation that is described in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 308402. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get passed this password. I have used several password changing utilities and all say that the password has been blanked, but the Recovery Console does not think so!
I can get to partitions. I have never played around with partitions. I have always been able to do a repair install. I do not have that option given to me. I have seen someplace where one can install XP in a new partition to repair the system that way. But, would this not destroy the data that is currently saved on that disk?
This a Dell Dimension 8200 running XP Home Edition SP3.
Thanks.