pomeranian

I have a Dell Inspiron 3500 laptop. I set a difficult password some time back to keep my students from hacking my #$"t. Now months later, I don´t know what it is. How can I do a clean install and start from scratch without logging in a password. Can it be done.

Thanks

Pomeranian

MooseMan3000

Yes, it's possible. You might not have to do a clean install, however.

First, where is the password set? Is it a password before you can get to BIOS, or is it a password to log on to Windows? If it's the latter, which version of Windows are you running?

If you have Windows XP, getting around a password is frightfully easy. First things first. Go here and follow the instructions for Windows Password Recovery. If that fails, make your way down the list to each of the options in turn. I've used loginrecovery.com, the Offline NT Password and Registry Editor, and EBCD all to do the same thing. They all work.

If the password is set in BIOS, however, it might be a little harder to get around. Some motherboards have a CMOS reset button or jumper, but in a laptop that would be much harder to get at. You might be able to boot from a Windows CD, but I'm not sure. Any ideas on this anyone?

pomeranian

Hey guy, thanks so much for the information. I wasn't able to acquire the access to the Windows Password Recovery you mentioned, but I did load the Windows XP Mirror disk and it did allow me to log in only as an ADMINISTRATOR and with a "blank" password. I was able to then go into the Administor and other XP system accounts and change and remove the password protections. I was absolutely amazed how easy it was as you mentioned. Scary indeed. I thank you very much for your assistance in helping me to solve this problem.

Cheers,

Pomeranian