Locked Out of Ancient Laptop

[Palanan]

I need to fire up a venerable laptop to make some final backups, and now I can't get in.

This is pure human failure: When I was working steadily with the laptop I had the system password in my fingertips, and used it several times a day for many years. But now the laptop has been sleeping for a year or two, and I've forgotten part of the password. This is a Dell Inspiron 4000 running Windows 2000 Professional.

I've tried getting in through Safe Mode, but it still wants the password. At this point I'm not sure what to do.

[Grinner]

For clarification, are we talking about a BIOS password or a Windows password?

[Palanan]

I'm assuming this was a Windows password.

[Grinner]

Umm....Does the computer go to the Windows login screen?

[Palanan]

I should say that I'm pretty terrible with computers, so I'm assuming it was the Windows login screen, since I never dug into the BIOS. I was just a regular user doing regular-user kinda things.

[Alent]

At the risk of asking a terrible question, have you tried logging in as administrator with a blank password?

Win2K wasn't locked down very well by default.

[Grinner]

Okay. Assuming you never set a BIOS password or installed any kind of disk encryption software, the password it's asking you for is the Windows password.

To remove this password, you'll need some special software. It usually comes in the form of an operating system contained on a CD from which you boot your computer. The exact one you use depends on how much you want to spend.

I've had success with BootSuite (http://www.spotmau.com/products/package/windows_password_finder.html), made by a company named Spotmau. It costs about $50 at the moment. They also have a cheaper product, Windows Password Finder, for $30 which looks like it should do the job. (Edit: If you decide to go this route, hurry. It looks like their sale ends tomorrow.)

If money is an issue or you would prefer to do it yourself, this (http://www.howtogeek.com/96805/how-to-reset-your-windows-password-without-an-install-cd/) looks promising, but I should add a disclaimer that I've not done it myself.

Naturally, you will need access to a CD burner.

[Alent]

If money is an issue or you would prefer to do it yourself, this (http://www.howtogeek.com/96805/how-to-reset-your-windows-password-without-an-install-cd/) looks promising, but I should add a disclaimer that I've not done it myself.

The Offline NT password and registry editor they use in this article is an industry standard, is free, and it works. I've been using it in my IT business for years, I have yet to find a windows system I can't open with it.

But try logging in as Administrator first. Odds are fairly good that the Administrator account was never disabled or given a password.

[factotum]

I use the Hirens boot CD for stuff like this, which includes the ability to reset the Administrator password and get in that way. It's free, too.

(On a loosely-related note, once you find out just how easy it is to get into a Windows PC when you have physical access to it, you might want to think about full-disk-encrypting your next laptop!).

[Radar]

Assuming the laptop in question has a CD and you only want to copy data from the laptop, then all you need to do is start up an operating system from a bootable CD instead of the HD in the laptop. It doesn't even has to be the same system you have on your laptop as long as it is able to deal with the file system used on the HD. This can be also done with a pendrive depending on the BIOS.

Granted, there are way better answers in this thread already, but this is yet another option to use and a fairly simple one.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Norren
At the risk of asking a terrible question, have you tried logging in as administrator with a blank password?

The admin account was my default account. And I very cleverly gave it a complicated password. :smallfrown:


Originally Posted by Grinner
Naturally, you will need access to a CD burner.

Unfortunately the laptop's own CD drive died some years ago, and I don't have an external. All I have are flash drives.


Originally Posted by Radar
Assuming the laptop in question has a CD and you only want to copy data from the laptop, then all you need to do is start up an operating system from a bootable CD instead of the HD in the laptop.

Is this at all feasible from a flash drive?

[Grinner]

Is this at all feasible from a flash drive?

Yes. The Offline NT Password and Registry Editor and Hiren's Boot CD websites both have options for USB drives.

Edit: Either back up the files on the drive you use or buy a new one. The data on those drives will effectively be erased.

[Manga Shoggoth]

In a simillar manner to one of the other answers, if you have access to a USB/IDE adaptor with the correct connector you can remove the hard drive from the laptop, plug it in to the adaptor, then read it from another PC.

[factotum]

Is this at all feasible from a flash drive?

It depends, actually. The ability to boot from a flash drive is offered by the BIOS of the laptop, and it's entirely possible yours won't have the option if it's old enough. (I have a laptop from 2007 that won't boot from USB, for instance).

[Alent]

The admin account was my default account. And I very cleverly gave it a complicated password. :smallfrown:?

The named account "Administrator"? You didn't customize it any? That makes things harder :smallfrown:


Unfortunately the laptop's own CD drive died some years ago, and I don't have an external. All I have are flash drives.

...

Is this at all feasible from a flash drive?

I'm pretty sure that model doesn't support boot from USB, but I could be wrong. Check the BIOS screen to see if there's a choose boot device option like F12 or F11, but there probably will just be F2 for Setup. If there's just F2 for setup, put your USB thumbdrive in, reboot, and check the list of boot devices in the BIOS. If it doesn't give you the option to place the USB drive as a boot device, you won't be able to use the USB stick.

Next longshot: is there any chance it's old enough to still have a floppy drive? A Win98 boot disk would let you explore it with command prompt.

If it doesn't have a floppy, you're down to plugging the drive up to another computer or replacing the CD drive.

[noparlpf]

You might be able to find a USB password cracker but I don't know if I would trust it not to include malware. You may as well get a SATA-USB adapter ($5-15) and plug the hard drive in to another computer or get an external CD drive ($20-30) and boot from a live CD.

Hang on...I feel like I remember 2000 was basically unsecured if you booted in safe mode. But that might have been because people forgot to put passwords on the admin accounts, whereas you did. I forget, I was like 9 last time I used 2000.