 Technical
Questions
 Question:
Windows XP (Home Edition or Professional) asks for a password, but
there is no password assigned to the user account. What's the
problem?
 Answer:
This usually happens after SP2 update or Windows security update on
PCs with a single user account or a user account without a user
password. In this situation the operating system may ask for a
password for the user account. Apparently windows update assigns
passwords to all accounts and changes the local security policy. We
suggest to restart your computer in the "Last Known Good
Configuration" (press F8 during computer boot process and
select "Last Known Good Configuration" from boot menu). If
this action does not solve the problem you can restore to the
previous windows state with Recovery (it is a complicated
procedure). In using any of the above ways do not forget to
disconnect your computer from the network / internet.
Follow the instructions below to restore Windows XP previous
state using Recovery Console:
- Reset Administrator's password (you can do it with our
Active@ Password Changer).
- Start Windows XP using the Recovery Console (Logon as
Administrator with empty password);
If you did not install Recovery Console you can run it from
Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM.
To run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or
the Windows XP CD-ROM, follow these steps:
- Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk
drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive,
and restart the computer.
- If prompted, select any appropriate options required to
start the computer from the CD-ROM drive.
- When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press
R to start the Recovery Console.
- At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following
commands, pressing ENTER after each command:
md tmp
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\tmp\system.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\windows\tmp\software.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\windows\tmp\sam.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\windows\tmp\security.bak
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\windows\tmp\default.bak
delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\default
copy c:\windows\repair\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\repair\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\repair\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\repair\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\repair\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
- Insert Active@ Password Changer bootable disk (floppy or
CD). Type "exit" to quit Recovery Console. Your computer
will restart.
- Restart computer with Active@ Password Changer bootable disk
and reset the "Administrator" password again.
- Remove any bootable disk and restart computer in Safe
Mode. (To do this just press F8 during computer boot
process).
- Logon as Administrator with empty password.
- Start Windows Explorer.
- On the Tools menu, click Folder options.
- Select the View tab.
- Under Hidden files and folders, select Show hidden
files and folders, and select to clear the Hide protected
operating system files (recommended) check box.
- Select "Yes" when the dialog box is displayed to
confirm that you want to display these files to be shown.
- Double-click the drive where you installed Windows XP to
display a list of the folders.
- Open the "System Volume Information" folder. This
folder contains one or more _restore {GUID} folders such as
"C:\System Volume
Information\_restore{FE84CB8B-5896-46B1-8C9E-210A2B0D370D}".
NOTE: You may receive the following
error message: "C:\System Volume Information is not
accessible. Access is denied."
If you receive this message, follow these steps:
- Right-click the "System Volume Information" folder,
and then select "Sharing and Security".
- Select the Security tab.
- Select Add, and then add "Administrator" account.
Select OK, and OK again.
- Double-click the "System Volume Information" folder
in the root folder to open it.
- It is critical that you open a folder that was NOT
CREATED at the CURRENT TIME. You may view folder details in
the View menu to see when the folders were created. There may be
one or more folders starting with "RPx" under this
folder. These are restore points. (for example RP1, RP2 or
RP3...) These registry file backups from System Restore. As you
used the registry file created by the setup program, it does not
know that these restore points exist and are available. A new
folder is created with a new GUID under "System Volume
Information" and a restore point is created that includes a
copy of the registry files that were copied during part one.
Therefore, it is important not to use the most current folder,
especially if the time stamp on the folder is the same as the
current time.
- Open one of these folders to locate the "Snapshot"
subfolder. The following path is an example of a folder path to
the Snapshot folder: "C:\System Volume
Information\_restore{FE84CB8B-5896-46B1-8C9E-210A2B0D370D}\RP2\Snapshot"
- From the "Snapshot" folder, copy the following files
to the "C:\Windows\Tmp" folder:
- _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT
- _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY
- _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
- _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM
- _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM
- Rename the files in the "C:\Windows\Tmp"
folder using the following commands:
Rename _REGISTRY_USER_.DEFAULT to DEFAULT
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SECURITY to SECURITY
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE to SOFTWARE
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SYSTEM to SYSTEM
Rename _REGISTRY_MACHINE_SAM to SAM
The registry files that were copied to the "C:\Windows\Tmp"
folder are moved to make sure that the files are available under
Recovery Console. Use these files to replace the registry files
currently in the "C:\Windows\System32\Config" folder. By
default, Recovery Console has limited folder access and cannot copy
files from the System Volume folder.
19. Start computer in "Recovery
Console" mode again.
20. At the command prompt, type the
following commands, pressing ENTER after each command:
del c:\windows\system32\config\sam
del c:\windows\system32\config\security
del c:\windows\system32\config\software
del c:\windows\system32\config\default
del c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\tmp\software c:\windows\system32\config\software
copy c:\windows\tmp\system c:\windows\system32\config\system
copy c:\windows\tmp\sam c:\windows\system32\config\sam
copy c:\windows\tmp\security c:\windows\system32\config\security
copy c:\windows\tmp\default c:\windows\system32\config\default
21. Type exit to quit the Recovery
Console.
22. If you do not remember your
previous "administrator" or other user with administrative rights
passwords, use Active@ Password Changer bootable disk to reset them.
23. Restore previous Operating System
state:
- Logon as usual.
- Click Start, and then click All Programs.
- Click Accessories, and then click System Tools.
- Click System Restore, and then click Restore
to a previous Restore Point. When you finish this procedure, the
system returns to a state very close to the state before the
problem occurred.
24. Do not forget to
create additional user account and assign passwords to all your
accounts after restoring the system.
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