Im trying to fix an error on a friends computer.  He is 77 yrs. old and had never used a password to get into windows before.  He was at Staples talking to someone about Norton and purchased 360. He installed it and it told him his PC was weak and prompted him to the " Control panel" , "User accounts" "Passwords" He says that he tried to enter in a password and it was not accepted so he chose a different one and got the same messege. This went on for about a dozen attempts then the computer froze.  He flipped the switch on the power strip and then restarted his computer.  Now when his Windows XP Prof. begins to load the " Windows log-on" screen appears with " administraitor" in the USERNAME space and a flashing cursor in the password space.  He used to be able to leave it blank and press ok. That isnt working now. It says he needs to re enter his password.    We called HP,  Microsoft, Norton.  They all say they cannot reset it but a third party can thru software.  I found a site LostPasswords.com and purchased a windows key to create a bootable cd.  That is all done  but there is no instruction on how to use it if you cannot get into windows first.  They have no live Tech Sup.  only email and have not heard back from them.     Is there a way i can get into DOS before I get to windows log on screen and access the D: drive to use reboot disk?  Please help im pulling hair out on this one.  Two days and 9 hours on this already...help help help

Thank you!if you need to get to dos find another working computer and make a windows BOOT disk, I believe there is one on this site that will work for all versions of windows, throw the boot disk in and it should work, if it doesn't find the disk then you might have to go into the bios, most computers you press the delete key when you first turn the computer on, and make it so it looks for floppy disks or in the a: drive on startup. From the boot disk you should be able to get into dos prompt and run whatever you need. Best of luck.  search for a program called Ewido
it come with a utility for reseting passwords on anything before XP service pack2this is a windows user password?
go into safemode by pressing f8 till it BEEPS at startup..
log in as administrator by default unless he set one their will be no administrator password
this account would be different then a administrator account in non safe-mode.
log in ,goto users and remove the password on the account in question.. Quote from: 3ddy on February 12, 2008, 06:54:36 AM

search for a program called Ewido
it come with a utility for reseting passwords on anything before XP service pack2