Are XP questions allowed?

[Rockrz]

Are XP questions allowed?

I just need some advice about what to do with this lady's older PC I'm trying to help her get running nice again.

It kept asking for a password when you boot up and you'd not put anything in and just hit enter and it would boot.

Silly me find some instructions on how to make that go away, and either the instructions were wrong or I did something wrong cause now it won't boot!

It says something to the effect of password error and the only option it shows is to shut down.

I found an article at How to Get Past the Windows Login Password | eHow.com about some prog to get past this. Anybody know if this is good advice?

I'm just trying to get the thing back to booting so I can install things like Defraggler, CCleaner, and Acronis to try and help her out a little.

If anybody has any ideas, please let me know.

 

[Rockrz]

OK, I just remembered that the "name" of the computer is "owner" instead of Adminstrator which is the user name that was shown on the screen at start up.... so, it's no wonder it would not let me in, but I did finally get in using "owner" without putting in any password.

So, anybody know how to make it NOT show this screen at start up?

 

[Rockrz]

Well, that's the problem... it keeps showing "Administrator" at start up and there is no account in this name, so I have to type in Owner and not add a password, and it boots just fine.

This is gonna confuse the little 'ol lady, and it's confusing me on how to get rid of this!

Anybody got any ideas on removing the entire password screen?
I've already been in DOS and no PW set there,

 

[DavidE]

You might try using TweakUI.
Windows XP downloads - Microsoft Windows

From what i remember TweakUI has options to adjust how the logon works...
Maybe this will be your easiest solution if it does what you want !?

I used TweakUI in my XP days and never had problems with it.
It's a great utility for XP

If you can't find options to work for you, let me know and I'll fire up an XP box and take a look...

Here's a thread about TweakUI if you're interested
Tweak UI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[tlarseth]

You might try using TweakUI.
Windows XP downloads - Microsoft Windows

From what i remember TweakUI has options to adjust how the logon works...
Maybe this will be your easiest solution if it does what you want !?

I used TweakUI in my XP days and never had problems with it.
It's a great utility for XP

If you can't find options to work for you, let me know and I'll fire up an XP box and take a look...

Here's a thread about TweakUI if you're interested
Tweak UI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here is step by step to do it manually. Also, tweak UI has this option in it too.

 

[Rockrz]

OK thanks for enduring the XP questions... I was surprised to see now XP section since there's still alot of people using this and it was the primary OS that people migrated from when going to Win 7.

I know, I know... but not everybody has the bucks to buy a new PC and some are just casual computer users anyway and they wouldn't want to switch until their XP machine blew up er something.

Anyway, I'll follow these leads to see if I can get rid of this login at start up.

Thanks!

 

[DavidE]

Hey, it's not enduring...
I still help friends, family, etc. that are using XP for whatever reason.
That's why i keep an XP setup - in case i need to troubleshoot and find an answer...
If i can help more, just let me know.

 

[Rockrz]

OK, might need to ... you know how tinkering with old computers is, thanks!

 

[DavidE]

you know how tinkering with old computers is

Oh yea !

Just post here, or PM/VM me if you need to.
I'm not online as much as many others here, but i will reply asap...

 

[LADYPINKtomato1]

My Windows XP Sp3 all updates.. is my all time favorite,well almost like my right arm , I'll keep it until it is about
to die a slow deat , .all of my graphics, tags, photos, signatures made by friends here, music, videos.. are on this pc .

I am looking at a new desktop.. still trying to decide what I want and can afford all in one, I would love to have
Windows 8, touch screen, with a big screen, that runs really fast( big GHz ) a huge amt. of storage, Microsoft Word
on it, I'll add most of the other programs I want and use daily.
I do not create documents .. if so SkyDrive gives that, along with 3 or 4 others, to me FREE.

 

[Rockrz]

Well, apparently this was a computer used at a business as they had several networks, and users both with passwords.

I deleted as much as I could and... you guessed it... I cannot even logon at all.

TweakIU didn't do what it said which was allow automatic logon by putting in the known username / password... because when logging on it asked for which network to logon to and TweakIU only allowed you to put in the username / password and not an option to name which network to logon to.

So, any ideas of how to get past windows logon? I've already looked in DOS and there are no passwords set there at all.

 

[Rockrz]

Skrew it... I'm just gonna take the lazy way out and re-load Windows!

I tried some things from that URL I originally posted but since this we a corporate computer that was given to this lady that had several password protected networks, it looks like there may have been some encryption involved.

Luck for me I have some OE Win XP Professional discs that I had bought, and since this is what this PC had on it, I'll use the code on the COA and hopefully it will activate via the internet.

I found some drivers too for the Dell Optiplex 210L at
Download Dell OptiPlex 210L Desktop PC Windows XP-Vista Drivers

so, hopefully all ends well...

 

[Rockrz]

Well, now when the Windows install disc gets to starting to install when it says to press ENTER for install, Press R for Windows Recovery or press F3 to quit... it acts like it does not recognize the keyboard... yes, it is plugged in and it recognized it before, but no matter what option I select it does nothing.

Any ideas how to get past that?

 

[Rockrz]

Huh... never mind... I tried it for the third time and it's installing now.

I thought I was gonna have to break out with the cuttin torch there for a moment!

OK, sorry to bug you guys...

 

[tlarseth]

It is no problem, I always recommend when buying a used computer to remove the partitions from the previous users, create new partitions, and install a fresh copy of windows. This will save a lot of headaches in the future.

I sale a lot of used computers, and when my clients get one, those steps have already been done, I have it where when they turn it on, it is at the welcome to windows now lets set it up screen. Just like if they bought it new from the factory.

Also, for XP here is a better place to get questions answered, some of us are pretty well knowledgeable with XP, but this is a Windows 7 forums..

 

[Rockrz]

Groovy man, thanks for the link!

I've about got this one whipped... I installed my backup 10k hard drive (it's only 70 gigs so it's not too good for Win 7 which is what my main PC is, so I'll get me a newer 10K drive later)

Just installed service pack 3, and now it's downloading about 116 updates, so it'll all be up to snuff here shortly.

It's only got 2 gigs of Ram, so I'm gonna up that to 4 so between that and a gently used 10k hard drive, this will be a decent machine for the lady that's going to be using it.

My second machine is XP pro and I just had it rebuilt with a new mobo and a quad 4 AMD drive and it's plenty fast. I'm going to rig it up as a second work machine so I can do anything on it that I can do on my Win 7 machine, including using Windows Live Mail which has actually worked out good for me.

I'm way happy with Win 7 and will be looking around to buy a couple of OE Win 7 Pro 64 bit copies to have on hand. I've got 4 copies of XP Pro just cause...

If anyone sees any deals better than Amazon for $136 for OE Win 7 Pro 64 bit... help a brutha out and lemme know! I guess I'm getting all geeky with it in my old age as I start collecting computer stuff...

 

[DavidE]

Newegg sometimes has Win 7 on sale, but you have to be a subscriber to their Promo emails to use some of the Promo Codes.

At the moment Win 7 Pro SP1 64 Bit OEM is 119.99 with a Promo Code for subscribers.

 

[tlarseth]

Newegg sometimes has Win 7 on sale, but you have to be a subscriber to their Promo emails to use some of the Promo Codes.

At the moment Win 7 Pro SP1 64 Bit OEM is 119.99 with a Promo Code for subscribers.

It also depends on your membership type as well, for Newegg Business accounts, Windows 7 pro is $89 for 1-5 copies, and $69 for more than 5 copies bought at one time, with a promo code.

 

[Rockrz]

OK, so what does it cost to have a "Newegg Business account"?

This reminds me of Sam's Club where you have to pay them to be a customer.
It's probably OK if you use it alot, otherwise it's too costly in most cases.

 

[tlarseth]

It doesn't cost anything, you just have to have an EIN, or Tax ID Number.