"New Owner Password" now being demanded, can't access files.

I'm trying to help a friend whose husband is unable to use his computer now. It was bought refurbished and I believe the dealer configured it to bypass the password. They've always just hit "Enter" on the welcome screen and got access to all their files. Since a few weeks ago the Screen says "New Owner"; a password is demanded and we are stuck there.
Grateful for any advice on getting past this problem so I can recover some files for them.

So your friend has a refurbrished computer that is now requesting a user password before the system will allow them to continue? And your friend wants to reset the new password?


Well, the usual approach is to use a password reset disk. The snag there is that you need to have created the password reset disk in advance.


Can you confirm that you are saying there was a recent time when your friend was able to use the computer without entering a password? In that case you could try a password reset by using system restore. Here is tutorial instructions for password reset : using system restore.


Hope that helps.

Thanks for prompt reply. I confirm, the computer is years old, and no password ever needed until a few weeks ago. It was bought originally with Vista, then upgraded to Windows 7.
So I should first search for a password reset disk? If not found, then Insert Windows 7 CD, choose Repair Your Computer, then System Restore. And hopefully I will find a good restore point.
Great advice, I'll try that tomorrow morning.

Hi iko22, I reset the bios to start up from CD.
Unfortunately can't find a reset password disk.
We do have Disc 1 of the Windows Upgrade, put in drive and tried to start up. But the computer doesn't read the disc, just get a loud repetitive warning bell.
I also tried ISunshare Windows 7 password genius, free trial. Burned the file to DVD but got same reaction, just a loud warning bell.
I have two DVDs labelled Toshiba Recovery 1 and 2, but afraid to try them! Will they put the laptop into factory condition Vista, and erase all the files?

Oh dear, sorry to hear that you got stuck in a somewhat of a blind alley. Never mind about the password disk, we can still recover the files and the laptop computer.


You have a new priority to sort out the motherboard alarm. I suspect the alarm means that the boot manager is unable to find either boot devices.


To sort out the alarm, you need to reach the BIOS again, and locate where you disconneced the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) from the boot sequence. Either you need to put the HDD back into the boot sequence or you need to make the boot sequence start from the DVD/CD Player.


Report back when your done.

Paul Black said:

Hi scottishagate, welcome to Seven Forums,



Can you get into Safe Mode by any chance?

I hope this helps!

Sorry no Safe Mode, can't get past the password screen.

iko22 said:

To sort out the alarm, you need to reach the BIOS again, and locate where you disconnected the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) from the boot sequence. Either you need to put the HDD back into the boot sequence or you need to make the boot sequence start from the DVD/CD Player.

I hadn't disconnected the HDD from the sequence. I just moved DVD/CD to the top, and HDD is second.

Restart the computer and go into the Boot manager and choose the boot device from there. To enter the Boot Manager you normally press the F12 or F2 key when the BIOS splash screen arrives.

Try selecting HDD or CD-ROM. If you select CD-ROM make sure you already have a bootable CD disk in the CD tray.

Thanks, I already been into boot manager via F2. Booting to HDD, the machine starts up Windows and then sticks at the missing password screen. Booting to DVD/CD, with the Windows 7 32bit Upgrade CD already in the drive, I get this warning bell. which you said, means the system isn't recognising the DVD as a bootable disk.
I also downloaded the trial from iSunshare Official Website - Password and Data Recovery Genius for Windows, iPhone, Android and Office "windows password genius", but that's not recognised as bootable either.
We have 2 disks labelled Toshiba Recovery DVD, will they be bootable? I am hesitant too try them, in case they auto revert the laptop to factory settings and we lose all the files on the HDD.