Re: Can't log in

From: Jim (jsb@fcny.org)
Date: 07/26/02 

From: "Jim" <jsb@fcny.org>
Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 06:42:53 -0700

>-----Original Message-----
>"Jim" <jsb@fcny.org> wrote in message
>news:1d0c01c23446$83ad8f60$3aef2ecf@TKMSFTNGXA09...
>> I clicked "domain" instead of "workgroup" somewhere, not
>> knowing what I was doing and now it seems to want a
>> password to let me login when I boot. Only I'd never
set
>>
>> Other than removing my hard drive or doing a parallel
>> intallation, what can I do?
>
>With Windows 2000 there is always a login ID and
password, you just aren't
>sure what it is. [Also I'm not aware of a password for
the machine as a
>whole in Windows 2000... Windows 2000 passwords to the
best of my knowledge
>are always associated with a login ID. You're positive
you're running
>Windows 2000?]
I most certanly am. But I may not be describing things
correctly. If there's always an id and password, then the
password had been the null string for I never typed one.
Perhaps by a password for the machine as a whole, I meant
a password for the domain. I don't understand domains so
I'm not sure what the password I added was a password for.
But neither of the 2 accounts on the machine had ever
required typing in a password.

>Anyways, the login ID is often administrator, unless you
chose something
>else. At the login screen, you should be able to click
the button to reveal
>additional options, which should allow you to change it
from domain back to
>workgroup. This is the first thing I would do... try
logging into the local
>workstation instead of the domain with the login ID
administrator and trying
>any password you might have chosen when you installed
Windows. [The Windows
>2000 install forces you to choose a password for the
administrator account.]

The only options is offers is "Login using dialup
connection" and when I choose it I'm told there are no
connections available to all users and that I must login
first.

>That fix password boot disk and parallel windows install
is always the first
>suggestion made in this newsgroup, but I'm not sure it's
always the easiest.
>

The fix password boot disk will not boot on my machine.
It goes into an infinite loop of "hdd interrupt lost."
I have now installed a parallel WIN2000 on my disk. I
tried using one of the tips from jsiinc suggesting I
replace my original screen saver with cmd.exe, then boot
the old installation and wait for the screensaver. I did
that but no screen saver has come up. Instead it tries to
connect me every so often and gives me the cannot login
error message I know so well. Incidently, the parallel
installation accepted it when I left the admin password
blank on install, so, yes, it prompts for one, but doesn't
require one.

>You say you don't want to move the hard drive to another
computer
>temporarily. If the C: drive is NOT formatted in NTFS,

Alas, it is NTFS!

you can do try the
>steps below by booting using a DOS boot floppy disk
instead, like one
>created on a Windows 98 machine]
>http://groups.google.com/groups?
q=windows+2000+password+forgot+OR+forgotten+
>reset&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=%23aFcIUT%24%
24GA.92%40cppssbbsa02.mi
>crosoft.com&rnum=8
>
>[excerpt copied below]
>1. Connect the harddisk (forgotten Administrator
password) as slave to
>another computer (with W2k).
>2. Boot-up as normal then goto Windows
>3. Change to the directory %systemroot%\system32\config\
and rename the
>SAM.* files to something else.
>4. Reconnect back the harddisk to your machine.
>5. Login as administrator, without password.
>[Without the SAM files (the account database), you can
Login as
>"Administrator" with a blank password.]
>
>There are other good ways to do this. To find them,
search this newsgroup
>for the word "password." Also try searching
www.jsiinc.com for the same.
>
>For example, I found these suggestions and others by
searching Google groups
>for "windows-2000 password reset forgot OR forgotten" at
the link below:
>http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859
1&safe=off&q=windows+2
>000+password+forgot+OR+forgotten+reset
>
>[If the URLs above are wrapped to the next line, you
can't just click on
>them... you'll need to carefully copy and paste each line
of the URL into
>the address box at the top of your web browser, e.g.
Internet Explorer.]
>
There's also a trick using the scheduler with a parallel
install that I've yet to try, as well as a boot disk for
dosthat understand NTFS. The former looks a little
complicated so I've been hoping for something less error
prone. The latter seems to be source code so I will have
to compile it on some other machine.

I am open to any other suggestions anyone out there may
have.

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