Lost Password

[hotdice118]

Hello,
I 've been trying to get an old computer of mine I used in high school up
and going for a local day service for Adult with develmental disablies. When
I boot it up it asks for a password which I never did set a password for it.
I asked other family members if they had made a password and no one seems to
remember. I've been doing research on the internet about it and I found your
webpage. Ive tryed hit cancel or the little x botton and it will remove the
login box and have it wallpaper but thats as far as it will go. However the
username it says it HP Authorized Customer. Isnt there a key I can push
during startup to get to a systems setup page?? If you can help me I would
really appericate it. Also if we can get this password thing fix it also pops
up an error Encmontr. It you could tell me what that is all about that be
really great. Thank you.

 

[Jeff Richards]

If you don't know the history of the machine the preferred procedure is to
wipe the disk and install a new system.

EncMontr is a simple www browser. If it is trying to run then that suggests
that you are starting a pre-installation version of the operating system.
The user name suggests the same thing. If you don't have the instructions
for getting this system up and running then, again, the best thing to do is
to wipe it and start with a fresh install.

The magic key to get into system setup is dependant on the particular
hardware (actually, the BIOS). F1 and ESC are common, but the manufacturer's
www site should have full technical details for the particular machine. But
getting into system setup won't allow you to do anything useful with respect
to getting the OS to run properly.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"hotdice118" <u39848@uwe> wrote in message news:7c9e7c231443e@uwe...
> Hello,
> I 've been trying to get an old computer of mine I used in high school up
> and going for a local day service for Adult with develmental disablies.
> When
> I boot it up it asks for a password which I never did set a password for
> it.
> I asked other family members if they had made a password and no one seems
> to
> remember. I've been doing research on the internet about it and I found
> your
> webpage. Ive tryed hit cancel or the little x botton and it will remove
> the
> login box and have it wallpaper but thats as far as it will go. However
> the
> username it says it HP Authorized Customer. Isnt there a key I can push
> during startup to get to a systems setup page?? If you can help me I would
> really appericate it. Also if we can get this password thing fix it also
> pops
> up an error Encmontr. It you could tell me what that is all about that be
> really great. Thank you.
>

 

[Bob Harris]

From a web search on the subject, several hits suggested that removing the
*.PWL file associated with the user as a means of blanking out the password.
If necessary, boot the PC from a DOS floppy and change directories until you
find this file (likely in C:\windows\), then delete it. See for example:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Windows-95-98-1061/Password-reset.htm
http://club.cdfreaks.com/f3/reset-win98-logon-password-87472/
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/computing/kb/kb0099.html
http://www.softstack.com/password/pwl_files.html
http://ludit.kuleuven.be/internet/kotnet/savepasw.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/152104


"hotdice118" <u39848@uwe> wrote in message news:7c9e7c231443e@uwe...
> Hello,
> I 've been trying to get an old computer of mine I used in high school up
> and going for a local day service for Adult with develmental disablies.
> When
> I boot it up it asks for a password which I never did set a password for
> it.
> I asked other family members if they had made a password and no one seems
> to
> remember. I've been doing research on the internet about it and I found
> your
> webpage. Ive tryed hit cancel or the little x botton and it will remove
> the
> login box and have it wallpaper but thats as far as it will go. However
> the
> username it says it HP Authorized Customer. Isnt there a key I can push
> during startup to get to a systems setup page?? If you can help me I would
> really appericate it. Also if we can get this password thing fix it also
> pops
> up an error Encmontr. It you could tell me what that is all about that be
> really great. Thank you.
>