Cannot Log On WinXP (WinXP SP2)

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My friend runs WinXPSP2 Home Edition and has NEVER set a password to log on his computer. After normal shut-down one night, the next morning he could not log on his computer. It kept asking for user name and password, and there was no window to enter the information. After using Cntl|Alt|Delete a few times the logon windows appear. Even though he never set a password, he has tried every known variety of user name|password and he still cannot log on. The error message says “Make sure your user name and domain is correct.” When he tries to log on with user name Administrator and password as either administrator or password or (blank), he gets an error “Unable to log on because of account restriction.” Also, he has had no luck in Safe Mode or Last Known Good Configuration. Any ideas on how to solve the problem? Will a WinXP repair OS reinstall solve the problem? Would not like to do that unless absolutely necessary! Thanks. Robert

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Has he tried entering his Windows username and leaving the password box blank?

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Yes, Hans. He has tried that with no results.

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After using Cntrl+Alt+Del, did your friend get a window like the attached?
If so, was anything shown in the “Log on to:” field after clicking on ‘Options’?

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Leif, The first window he gets is blue on the left that says WinXP please log on, but no place on the right to enter any text. After cntl|alt|delete two times he gets a window similar to your picture but without the third line that says Log On To……

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What happens when they try Safe Mode or Last Known Good ??

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Doc Watson, The results he gets after safe mode or last known good configuration is always the same as described above.

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Try these: http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/%5B/url%5D and http://lifehacker.com/software/windows/how…word-137980.php%5B/url%5D and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321305%5B/url%5D and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305478%5B/url%5D and http://www.computercraft.com/docs/resetxppassword.shtml%5B/url%5D

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Hi sinjin,
Thanks for the reply, and thanks for all the previous replies from others. Sorry for the delay in answering your questions – I had to check with my friend. I will follow your links, sinjin, and see what they have to offer. Thanks for passing them on to me. I will let you know how things turn out.

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Thanks for all the help, everyone. Nothing seemed to work – we couldn’t even boot from the CD. Finally Dell told us how to get around that issue and we did a complete reinstall of WinXP. Don’t know what caused the original problem since no password was ever set for the OS. It appears like the account was just deleted somehow. Anyway, we’re up and running now. Thanks again.
Robert

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