Windows 7: Asked for credentials on XP Mode but have none

I hope I'm getting this into the correct area.

I am using Windows 7 XP Mode on a host computer with Windows 7 as the OS. I am trying to open my XP Mode to run some older programs. (As a side note, these older programs will not work on Windows 7.) I keep getting asked for my password with the user name showing XPMUser.

The problem is that I never set up a user name or a password. Is there some way to either bypass or work around this barrier?

Any help would be appreciated.

You can't set up XP Mode without password (see this post). Try to remember what password you used when installing XP Mode.

Kari

That is the problem. I can't remember using anything for a password when I set it up. So is there anyway to work around this and maybe set in a new password?

I'm confused: how did you ever get into your XP mode VM before without providing an answer to the password prompt?

If you don't need to provide a password (i.e. you just hit enter and it works), then there is no password set up for the account in the VM - which may be confusing the hell out of the Windows 7 XP Mode extension, causing it to not automate the supply of credentials.

The ony way I could imagine this scenario being possible is if the password was deleted inside the VM at some point.

If you can get into the VM, use the Control Panel to set up a new user password for the XPMode user (choose something that you CAN remember this time ). Then close down the VM. When you next start the VM, the password prompt should include a checkbox that asks if Windows should remember the password/credentials. Make sure this is ticked and supply the correct login details. The next time the VM starts, the saved credentials will be used automatically by Virtual PC. You can check this will happen every time by reviewing the Virtual PC settings for the VM. The settings dialog has an entry about saved credentials.

If you can't start the VM at all because you did in fact provide a password but forgot it, then (sigh) maybe you have to delete the VM and run the XP Mode installer to create a new one. Its called learning and growing. We get stronger for it.