I have a friend who bought a used HP laptop from Best Buy that had been
returned and he does not know the User Password to be able to sign in.
Previous owner apparently had established one.
There must be a simple way to resolve this problem where he can delete the
current unknown User Password? Can you boot to Safemode and delete User
Password while in Safemode?
On Sat, 6 Sep 2008 13:36:40 -0400, "ColTom2"
<noemailaddress@nomail.com> wrote:
>Hi:
>
> I have a friend who bought a used HP laptop from Best Buy that had been
>returned and he does not know the User Password to be able to sign in.
>Previous owner apparently had established one.
Tell the friend to take it back and have the situation corrected.
> There must be a simple way to resolve this problem where he can delete the
>current unknown User Password? Can you boot to Safemode and delete User
>Password while in Safemode?
>
> Any assistance and/or fix will be appreciated.
>
>ColTom2
>
"Paul Montgomery" <i.m.nonnymous@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote in message
news:i8g5c4p7q4bj95s0e3ufkv90cs2aj7h1hk@4ax.com...
On Sat, 6 Sep 2008 13:36:40 -0400, "ColTom2"
<noemailaddress@nomail.com> wrote:
>Hi:
>
> I have a friend who bought a used HP laptop from Best Buy that had been
>returned and he does not know the User Password to be able to sign in.
>Previous owner apparently had established one.
Tell the friend to take it back and have the situation corrected.
> There must be a simple way to resolve this problem where he can delete
> the
>current unknown User Password? Can you boot to Safemode and delete User
>Password while in Safemode?
>
> Any assistance and/or fix will be appreciated.
>
>ColTom2
>
You can use Method Three in this tutorial to reset the password. Since
it is a used laptop, then I would strongly recommend doing a clean
reinstall of Vista to make sure that there is only what you install on
it.
ColTom2;829794 Wrote:
> Hi:
>
> I have a friend who bought a used HP laptop from Best Buy that had been
> returned and he does not know the User Password to be able to sign in.
> Previous owner apparently had established one.
>
> There must be a simple way to resolve this problem where he can delete
> the
> current unknown User Password? Can you boot to Safemode and delete User
> Password while in Safemode?
>
> Any assistance and/or fix will be appreciated.
>
> ColTom2
--
Brink
*There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask
them.*
'*VISTA FORUMS*' (http://www.vistax64.com)
*Please post feedback to help others.*
ColTom2 wrote:
> Hi:
>
> I have a friend who bought a used HP laptop from Best Buy that had been
> returned and he does not know the User Password to be able to sign in.
> Previous owner apparently had established one.
>
If the person or business from whom your friend purchased the
computer cannot give your friend the password, I would also strongly
suggest that your friend check with local law enforcement agencies to
ensure the laptop isn't stolen and he hasn't inadvertently purchased
stolen property.
> There must be a simple way to resolve this problem where he can delete the
> current unknown User Password? Can you boot to Safemode and delete User
> Password while in Safemode?
>
> Any assistance and/or fix will be appreciated.
>
> ColTom2
>
>
Simply log in using the built-in Administrator account (which
cannot be deleted) and modify the desired account(s) and use Start > Run
> "control userpasswords2" to modify the desired account(s). Failing
that, Linux-based password cracking utilities abound on the Internet,
freely available to anyone who can use Google.
However, with second-hand computers, especially if acquired from
strangers but perhaps even if acquired from a family member, your
friend's wisest course of action would probably be to format the hard
drives and start fresh. He doesn't want to get in trouble because the
original owner may have filled the hard drive with kiddie ****, or have
problems because the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or
other malware. Because Best Buy didn't reformat the hard drive and
return that laptop to its original ex-factory condition before
re-selling it, your friend should also seriously wonder what else is
wrong with it.
Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered
the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)
The laptop was formerly a new laptop that someone had apparently used for
a short period and returned to Best Buy. It was a "used" in this sense.
I just got an email from him saying that his nephew came by his house and
resolved the problem in less than 10 minutes. He did not describe what his
nephew did, but apparently it was not as complicated as some have indicated.
Thanks,
ColTom2
"ColTom2" <noemailaddress@nomail.com> wrote in message
news:uV9qfcEEJHA.4824@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
Hi:
I have a friend who bought a used HP laptop from Best Buy that had been
returned and he does not know the User Password to be able to sign in.
Previous owner apparently had established one.
There must be a simple way to resolve this problem where he can delete the
current unknown User Password? Can you boot to Safemode and delete User
Password while in Safemode?
Login Password 
Linear Mode
