Computer locked

[metguru]

ok...a family member logged on the computer earlier today, and a window poped up that said 'Computer Locked, only admin can login'. When I tried to type in the admin username and password, the fields were disabled, so I couldn't type anything in. I have no idea why this happened, and was wondering if everything is OK with the computer. I couldn't do anything else on the computer, so I just hit the power button and it shut down properly. When I logged back on, everything seemed to be normal. Is this ok to happen?

[phunction]

I assume it's a windows box?

Maybe you had the screensaver on, protected with a password?

[morganlefay]

I had this once..... 2003 server

APC powerchute installed????

I attributed it to a memory leak....from a service using the admin account...

Hasnt happened since I removed the APC software

MLF

[metguru]

yes, its a windows box, but no, there aren't any passwords on the accounts.

no, I don't have APC powerchute.
So you think its a memory leak? Is there anyway to find out what program might have caused it?

[morganlefay]

XP home???

Any software or service running as administrator???

Whats the point of having user accounts...with no passwords.....

Are they limited accounts....or is everyone admin??

MLF

[nihil]

Hmmmm,

Did they try to enter a password. What you describe is what I would expect if you had set a limit on failed logon attempts, normally with a password.

Another possibility might be if they had somehow corrupted the user ID? that might be expected if the password was blank.

Of course, I am referring to using the "classical" logon rather than the symbols.

I would be inclined to leave it and monitor the situation.

[phishphreek]

Maybe they pressed the windows start button on the keyboard along with L to lock it?

Or, check to see if they set a screensaver and checked off prompt for password after a certain time.

If it asks for a password and there is none set, then just pressing "enter" *should* get you past that.

[Tiger Shark]

Some of you need to go back to suspicion school....

Sounds to me like it could be a pop-up phish!!!! Fields disabled or not... Some people will still type the credentials and they can still be transmitted.

Just a suspicious old fart thinking...

[metguru]

Originally posted here by phishphreek80
Maybe they pressed the windows start button on the keyboard along with L to lock it?

Or, check to see if they set a screensaver and checked off prompt for password after a certain time.

If it asks for a password and there is none set, then just pressing "enter" *should* get you past that.

thats exactly what happened, except i couldn't get past it. I just tried it in my username, and It let me change the username and password, but when It came up initially, it wouldn't let me change anything.

[Clp727]

This same exact thing happens within our domain. It only has happened on our XP machines so far ( have XP Pro and 2000 Pro clients). The username and password fields are "grayed out" (disabled) and the computer has to be rebooted before a user can log in. It doesn't happen that often, but it has happened enough that we Googled for a cause and solution. Nothing was found thus far to solve this issue for us. All of our users do have a password, and the computers will lock once the screensaver runs.