XP SP2 set passwords, cant log on

I am trying to help my friend who was running XP SP1 with multi-users and no passwords. 2 weeks after he installed SP2 his computer starts asking for passwords. We have been trying to create an XP boot disk or cd to get to a command prompt and copy off his files before we run the restore CD, but have been unsucessful so far.

Any advice????

NT Offline Password and Registry Editor Floppy/CD <--- change admin password and then access to everything is created. It'd be better to use the passwords (this is a good idea) than not. So once admin access is possible, set passwords for each account that can be remembered and voila, problem solved :D.

I had found that on the web, and spent hours trying to get it to work. It tells me that since the password is blank, it cannot be changed.

And this may be a stupid question but have you tried logging in with Administrator and <blank> as the password?

I have tried using the user name, blank, password, admin, administrator, all in a variety of caps and mixed combinations.

Did you rename the administrator account? That could cause problems logging in.

Is this XP Home or Professional?

XP home

no other changes have neen made

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode? IIRC, Home defaults to the Administrator as the log in in Safe Mode (press the F8 key during bootup (after POST but before Windows starts). If this works, then change and set a password on one of your regular users. Then reboot into regular mode and see if you can log in.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by hubidaddy
I have tried using the user name, blank, password, admin, administrator, all in a variety of caps and mixed combinations.

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Mabye I'm misunderstanding you?

You typed

Username: Administrator
Password: blank

????

Or you just typed

Username: Administrator
Passowrd:

for the password, don't enter anthing. When it says the password is blank, it is not the word "blank"... there is NO password to change. So, just press enter after you type ther username.

There's every chance that I'm wrong - but did he/she not say that the administrator account was *already* asking for a password? Or perhaps he hasn't actually seen the (real) admin account yet and needs to pull the safe mode trick to even try? I was under the impression that he/she had been trying to log in as admin all along and couldn't b/c he needed a password...

I ended up viewing a file with restore console called setupact.log. it had several hundred entries of a failed install of SP2. I finally borrowed a 2.5" laptop drive adapter and installed it in my wifes XP machine, pulled off the important files and ran the restore cd.

Microsoft admitted after a 2 hour phone call that this has been known to occur with SP2 install if user acount passwords are not set prior to installation.

thanks to all who lent thier thoughts.