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Windows 2000 - Can't Log On - Strange case

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by sbovino

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I am assisting a user who had automcatically logged on the a 2000 workstation with no prompt for password or user. Recently he lost power and when he rebooted the system insists on asking for an admin user and password from a domain. I say this because there is box to check to if you wish to connect via modem. I spent today trying all the fixes, including changing the machine level passwords(using a host of utilities), booting in safe mode etc. No matter what i do the system is looking to log in to a newtwork and will not give me access to the local machine. Everything I have read seems to suggest that I should at least be able to log on to the local machine. We are trying to avod re-installing but it may come to that. Any ideas about what I am dealing with here? Can I somehow disbale the policies that direct the computer to log on to a domain? This is a home system that at one point was emplyed in an network environment. Thanks for any help and insight.

10 replies

by hal 9000

[i]This is a home system that at one point was emplyed in an network environment.[/i]

It sounds as if it was connected to a Domain with both Active Directory and Group Policies applied. Now when the power failed the machine defaulted to it's Network Startup Mode and since it will be impossible to get the required User Name/Password your best bet is to backup all the data including E-Mail and whatever else is on this system and then wipe the HDD with a utility like Boot & Nuke available here

http://tinyurl.com/4rfur

And then perform a Clean Install of the OS and required Software. It will be far less painful in the long run as you do not know how the original system was configered and therefore you have no way of working around the set rules.

Col

by jdclyde

Have only had the most basic in AD classes, but can't you make a local account, and just tell it NOT to log into the domain?

by sbovino

The problem is there is no DOMAIN. THis is a pc that is used at home. It has worked for over two years until a power outage caused this problem. Apparently, the pc thinks it is trying to log on to a network and so far nothing I have tried will get me into the local machine. i have been able to use a number of utilities to change the local machine passwords but that is not changing anything. Unless someone has a brilliant suggestion it looks like it is re-install time. While I am not opposed to that I would love to solve this from a technological standpoint. But time is money. Thanks.

by hal 9000

If the created a Local Account you should be able to do this but from the description given here the IT Department setup some remote bypassing of the Domain and when they had a power failure this was whipped out so the machine seems to have reverted back to the Domain Login configuration.

When you don't know what's been done previously it's easier to just Blow Away the Install and start from Scratch and setup the way that it's needed rather than try to work out what was done to allow remote login when no longer connected to the Domain.

Col

by jdclyde

"When in doubt, format". B-)

The way to "Fix" any Windows system,
[i]
format c:\

by sbovino

Thanks for the replies. I am going to try a repair install and if that fails I will do the full monty. Thanks for all the help. I will post back on the status of the repair install.

Steve

by hal 9000

As a Repair Install will not affect the System Registry where the problem is most likely situated so maybe if you attack it as a Corrupted Registry and follow the directions here

http://tinyurl.com/4y24g

You just may have some better success.

I'm not sure but I'm fairly sure that doing a Repair Install is not going to be of any help.

Col

by sgt_shultz

It is pretty easy to crack the administrators password with windows 2000.
Have you tried installing and using the recovery console. try administrator with a blank password there. or else download one of the free programs to 'recover' the admin password

by dawgit

Have you checked the BIOS? When you turn on the machine, go to the BIOS set-up. YOu'll find the Boot order there. It could be that that was never changed (sinse the computer was taken off the net) and the OS was controling the boot all that time. With something like a power failure, that will change, and will revert to the BIOS set up. You should have a choice as to the boot order, ie: first boot drive. (I recomend #1-flopy, #2-CD, #3-HD) (There is also 'boot from network' as a choice. It did on some of the older NT work stations come as default. You might need to change that.) If the BIOS is looking for a network boot, you'll go crazy looking for a fix in the OS. (that used to be more of a problem in the NT machines) -d

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