Logging on to a laptop with out the password - Question

[bigwakes]

Did you try to turn off Num lock? I'm on a laptop at work and that thing gets me all the time. Make sure the light with a box around a "1" is not lit. I'm sure you tried that, but took me a while to figure it out the first time.

[BryanP]

This for the win. It will recover most Windows passwords. The Offline NT Password Editor works too, but there's a higher likelihood of it FUBARing your registry.

I've used it for years with no problems. But then I've pretty much limited my use to password recovery only. If you start directly editing other registry entries with it, then yeah, you may have problems.

[Guest bluecanary25]

KahrMan... stretching here....

Did you get a message that no boot device found, press F1 to Retry?

did you burn the iso to a DVD disk and not a CD? older optical drives do not see DVDs, therfore cannot boot from one.

before ya'll slaughter me, I have not tried to burn these iso's to DVD so don't know fer sure if can be done. If burned to CD, should have worked.....

Edited November 30, 2010 by bluecanary25
hate looking stupid and pretty

[KahrMan]

Did you try to turn off Num lock? I'm on a laptop at work and that thing gets me all the time. Make sure the light with a box around a "1" is not lit. I'm sure you tried that, but took me a while to figure it out the first time.

I did go back and check that. Wish that had been the problem but unfortunately it was not.

KahrMan... stretching here....

Did you get a message that no boot device found, press F1 to Retry?

did you burn the iso to a DVD disk and not a CD? older optical drives do not see DVDs, therfore cannot boot from one.

before ya'll slaughter me, I have not tried to burn these iso's to DVD so don't know fer sure if can be done. If burned to CD, should have worked.....

It was a cd. I told the laptop to boot off the cd and it just booted up off the hard drive.

[lunarpowered]

KahrMan, I've shipped you a LiveCD per your PM.

[analog_kidd]

Did you just burn the .ISO file to the CD? If you look at the CD in a working PC, and all you see is the one .ISO file, then you burned it incorrectly. You should see several files on the CD. You need to use another application that reads the .ISO file and extracts the information contained inside the file, copying that data to the disk.

Google search "Burn .ISO to CD" to find a free utility to do the extraction and burn. I think ImgBurn or ISO Recorder are two free options. If you already have Nero, Easy CD Creator or another CD burning application, you may already have the tools you need. Most major CD burning software can do it.

[Westwindmike]

I was given a computer that was password protected. I just took the CMOS battery out for about 15 minutes and when I put it back in, the password log in was gone. Might work for you too.

Mike

[Oh Shoot]

Did you just burn the .ISO file to the CD? If you look at the CD in a working PC, and all you see is the one .ISO file, then you burned it incorrectly. You should see several files on the CD. You need to use another application that reads the .ISO file and extracts the information contained inside the file, copying that data to the disk. ..

Yeah, that was my guess as to prob.

That or puter BIOS was not set to boot from CD drive first.

- OS

[Oh Shoot]

I was given a computer that was password protected. I just took the CMOS battery out for about 15 minutes and when I put it back in, the password log in was gone. Might work for you too.

Mike

Might. Used to pretty much universally work, I think most now are stored in non-volatile writable CMOS or some chip or other.

- OS

[KahrMan]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Did you just burn the .ISO file to the CD? If you look at the CD in a working PC, and all you see is the one .ISO file, then you burned it incorrectly. You should see several files on the CD. You need to use another application that reads the .ISO file and extracts the information contained inside the file, copying that data to the disk.

Google search "Burn .ISO to CD" to find a free utility to do the extraction and burn. I think ImgBurn or ISO Recorder are two free options. If you already have Nero, Easy CD Creator or another CD burning application, you may already have the tools you need. Most major CD burning software can do it.

This very well could be my problem. Lunapowered made me a cd, verified it works and put it i the mail to me. Hopefully that will work. I am pretty good on a mac but really feel like an idiot when it comes to pc's. I really appreciate all the help guys.

Thanks

[Guest bluecanary25]

Ummmm.... a thunk. Sometimes, even after setting BIOS to boot from CD, it still boots from HDD.

KarhMan, try booting the laptop and before Winderz starts, look for message of press Fx key to get into Setup or Boot Menu - do the boot menu.

Select the optical drive (with the appropriate CD already in the tray). Found some Dells and Lenovos that refuse to accept bios setting boot from optical drive... YMMV.

rotsa ruck

[dunndw]

If you cant get into it give me a shout...I carry various "tools" for this very thing. If it's a quick fix, it'll be your Christmas present this year :-)

[KahrMan]

Thanks Danny. If the cd does not work I will send you a pm.

[JeffL]

Comcast just came out to move my internet to my new apartment a couple hours ago. You can bring the laptop by if you'd like and I'll have a look at it for you.

[Oh Shoot]

..... I am pretty good on a mac but really feel like an idiot when it comes to pc's...

Well, in fairness to PC's, .ISO images for burning are also used on Macs.

I believe most Apple OS's have a part of the system disk utility to do it, but you still need to know how. as I don't think it fires up automagically.

- OS

[KahrMan]

Well, in fairness to PC's, .ISO images for burning are also used on Macs.

I believe most Apple OS's have a part of the system disk utility to do it, but you still need to know how. as I don't think it fires up automagically.

- OS

Well I have never had this problem with a Mac. Of course, I have never forgotten my password unlike my wife...