1st August 2002
If you use Windows XP, then you know that security has become a big issue in this operating system. So what happens if you forget your login password? Well, you have two options that may save you. Option one would be that you could create a Password Reset Disk. Option two would be that you would have to log in as Administrator and reset your own password. For option one, I would refer you to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q321305 for instructions on how to make a Password Reset Disk. Option two depends on how your Windows XP machine is connected to your network. If your Windows XP machine is a standalone machine, you need to boot the PC into Safe Mode; you do this by pressing F8 while the computer is booting. Where it says "To begin, click your user name" click Administrator, put in the password, and click Enter. If there is no password, just click Enter without typing anything in the password field. From there you just need to click Start \ Control Panel \ User Accounts and click the user account that holds the password you want to change. You have the choice to Change Password or Remove Password; both will help you achieve your goal of logging in so that choice is up to you. If your Windows XP machine is part of a domain then it would depend on where your user account is stored. If your account is stored on the server then you will need a Domain Administrator to clear your password. If your account is stored on the local machine then you follow almost the same steps as above, the only major difference is how you log on. Just boot up regularly and log in as administrator. From here you can follow the same steps as above or just click Start \ Run \ Compmgmt.msc and click OK. From the Computer Management console you can expand Local Users and Computers and choose the Users folder. Right-click your user account, choose Set Password and fill out the appropriate boxes. Also, as a side note, option two is the same set of steps you would use to reset your password on a Windows 2000 system.