The Steel Guitar Forum

I just bought a newish Dell computer from a Student here in
WVU. It has his name and demands a password to open. I never used a password on any of my machines, therefore am completely in the dark. There is supposed to be a disk made originally, which has to be used in order to change the name and password. Logic says there must be a way to eliminate the need for a password in this circumstance.

This computer is not on line at this time. I plan to put it on my network once I am able to open it and program it for wireless.

He isn't here, now, for me to contact him.

CEW

This computer has the famous Windows Vista installed.

There are Linux utility programs to do that. You can create a Linux CD (or USB thumb drive) on another computer, which you can use to boot the Vista machine, and reset the password.

For Vista this is the best
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor By Mr. Petter Nordahl-Hagen

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

Follow the instructions and you will be able to reset the password.

// Anders

If the BIOS is password protected ONLY Dell can unlock that and it requires a call to Dell by the registered (with Dell) owner. Dell has an owner transfer procedure but the registered owner must initiate the transfer.

The reason for only Dell being able to reset the BIOS password is because of the large number of stolen laptops.

Clarence, on most machines you can remove the CMOS battery on the motherboard and leave it out for about 5 minutes. (Power off naturally and the plug unplugged as there is still power going to the motherboard even with the computer shut off.)

Leave the battery out for about 5 minutes and then reinstall - make sure of the proper orientation of the battery when you remove it.

This will remove the password for the BIOS if that is where the problem is. As Jack mentioned, Dell is real stickler on this stuff and he may know if this will or will not work on Dell. Works on most stuff because the BIOS is made by another company and not Dell.

Sounds to me though that your problem is with the log in screen password.

Clarence,

You could also try this link. Get to another pc, go to the link below and scroll down to "method 3".

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/10200 ... sword.html

Hope this helps

Keith

What good is a password system that can be so easily bypassed?

Clarence... Don't know for sure about Dell, but on some computers there are 2 or 3 pins near the battery with a 2 pin jumper. If you temporarily move the jumper to the pins marked CP or CPW (for clear password), it will clear a password that is set in the computer's BIOS or CMOS. This will only work if the computer itself is password protected and won't be of much help if the Windows operating system is password protected instead.

Hope this helps...

George

Earnest Bovine wrote:What good is a password system that can be so easily bypassed?

Just a detriment to the casual snoop. There's no such thing as a foolproof password.