Member Avatar for geeksquad2013

I found a Thinkpad A21M and i cant figure out how to login to the admin to put my user on it

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by digitalocksmith

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Hi — since you "found" that A21M, the first priority is legal and data-safety: if it is not clearly yours, try to return it (owner contact sticker, lost & found, or local police). If you legitimately own the machine, gather proof of ownership before attempting any recovery or repair work.

A quick note on the situation here: and have pointed out common ways people try to regain access. Those routes exist, but they carry risks — data loss, firmware changes, and potential legal issues if the laptop is not yours. Before attempting any bypass, decide whether you only need files (copy the disk elsewhere) or you want full, clean access to the machine.

If you own it and want practical, low-risk steps to proceed:

  1. Locate the serial/asset tag and your proof of ownership.
  2. Remove the hard drive and attach it to another PC with a USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter to back up any files you need.
  3. If you want the laptop usable again, either use the manufacturer recovery media or get an authorized technician to perform firmware/BIOS resets — they will require proof of ownership.
  4. If you cannot prove ownership, turn it in to authorities or the place you found it.

Trying password-cracking tricks on a found machine is not advisable. If you want, say you own it and post the serial and what you tried (without sharing sensitive info) and people here can suggest next safe steps.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

Safe mode.

If the safe mode administrator is password locked you will need a Windows CD.

Member Avatar for digitalocksmith

You found a thinkpad?? ....mmm ok!

You could also use a live CD of a linux distro that you can boot too, and then delete the 'SAM' file in windows system folders that holds the password hashes!

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