Hello All

I need your help with the following problem but however I do not know how this topic will be RECEIVED. Please also be keep in mind that I do not wish to get anyone upset, mad or make you feel uneasy. Also this topic may have come in the pass and that I maybe bringing up a touchy subject.

My problem is that I need some help in resetting the local administrator password. I am able to boot into safe mode and login as the administrator with the default password that came with the laptop.

Here is the scenario, I allowed my nephew to play some games and go on the internet (parental controls were in place) and one of the sites he decided to go to had INSTALLED a virus that norton did not pick up in which I was totally surprised. The virus had apparently silently disabled norton, the disk defragmenter, I believe check disk (the only reason why I say this is that it would work the one TIME then worked the next), and apparently had disabled one user and changed the password and changed the p/w on another in other words the administrator account. (if that is possible) never the LESS, it has caused quite of bit of chaos for me to try to fix.

As mentioned above I was able to boot into safe mode and login as the administrator and reset the user passwords because I was unable to login into the administrator account in normal mode.

First, my OS is windows xp home sp2

I have tried to RESEARCH this topic by googling but all the suggestions that I have found doesn't seem to have an affect.

I have tried:

1) Downloaded and installed a add-on for the local account manager to reset the admin p/w. results say it was completed but still can't login
2) tried the "control passwords2" command. again indications of using this command says the change worked but no luck
3)tried looking at the registry that was listed on the microsoft website, but the entries seem to match.
4)even bought a new hd for my laptop, reinstalled the system from the recovery CD that was provided but for some reason I cannot login into the administrator. (to me this doesn't sound right)

After trying to reset the admin p/w and then trying to login I received the following error message at the login screen "Unable to Log you on because of an account restriction"

I am now at a loss of what to do. I was thinking since the recovery CD that came with the laptop with everything working, that installing it on a brand spanking new hd would solve the problem. I don't care in reinstalling software and I always do my backups.

Can anyone help me on this matter.

I tried to be as clear as possible and have not confused anyone.

Any and all questions/comments are welcomed and appreciated

Regards

Kevin




Since you're able to get into safe mode have you tried creating a new account with administrator rights in Safe Mode and then log into that account in Normal mode. If that works you could then adjust the other account settings through users in control panel.