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We had an employee leave the company abruptly. He turned in all of his equipment, but none of his passwords.

He had a laptop running XP Professional but only ever logged in locally. When the Windows XP log on comes up, the only username I have to choose from is his. I cannot see a way to access the admin account that XP always creates. Nobody has any idea of what his password was.

Is there a way that I can either access the admin account or hack through his password?

I do not want to just reformat the computer and do a fresh install of XP because we need copies of his files off his computer first.

Thanks for any help.

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Member Avatar for compdoc

you can hit ctrl+alt+del twice and this should bring you to a log on box type Administrator for the user name and leave the password blank

if this does not work then download this cd it's an iso image so you will need powerISO or some software like that to burn the image to a cd and then boot the computer with the cd and follow the directions you will be able to clear the password to get into the computer. I suggest that you read the entire page before using.

Member Avatar for compdoc

you can hit ctrl+alt+del twice and this should bring you to a log on box type Administrator for the user name and leave the password blank

I was trying to edit my original post but for some reason it didnt work anyway in regard to leaving the admin password blank there maybe an admin password that your company used when they installed windows if there is then use it instead of leaving it blank

Member Avatar for EMT147297

HR is going to try to get in touch with the former employee to see if he will give them the password.

I used the ctrl+alt+del twice. We tried Admin, admin, Administrator, and administrator as usernames with no passwords and with a common password. None of them worked. I was not here when the computer was initially set up and the former IT person left no documentation.

Member Avatar for compdoc

well the other cd's mentioned above will definitely work I use the one that I posted almost on a daily basis when a customer brings a computer to me and I forget to get their password its very easy to use all you have to do is just read through it and follow the directions

you will also be able to clear or change the administrator password also with this cd

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