How do I remove the start-up password?

"Tom" wrote in message
...

Since I'm the only person who uses this laptop (Windows XP Business
Edition) I would like to just turn it on and have it start Windows without
prompting me for a password. Right now the password is null but I have
to click on "Go" (or whatever the prompt is) without entering anything.

I am the only user as well as the administrator.

Thanks, Tom

Hi Tom,

By "Business Edition", I assume you mean XP Professional Edition. That is
what I'm using, Service Pack 3.

How to enable autologon in Windows XP Professional:
• Click Start, click Run, type or paste next line and press Enter key:
control userpasswords2
• Checkmark Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
• Click your User Name
• UN-check Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
• Click OK.
An "Automatically Log On" dialog should appear.
• If you have a password, enter it twice, or if not, leave blank.
• click OK.
(Use your new found freedom wisely!

FWIW. --Richard

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...

Go to START | RUN. Type in:

control userpasswords2

In the resulting window, uncheck the box that requires users to log-in and
note the exact spelling of the principle users name. In the next window,
type in that users name in place of "Administrator". If required, then
put in the user's password. Now when you startup, you will still see the
word "Welcome" but the computer will go directly to your desktop when all
startup programs are complete.

Hi Bruce,

That method sounds a little risky, since passwords are case-sensitive, and a
typing error might make the computer try to autologon with an apparently non
existent user account, and resultant error. With accounts with no password
set, the following method does not require any typing:

How to enable autologon in Windows XP Professional:
• Click Start, click Run, type or paste next line and press Enter key:
control userpasswords2
• Checkmark Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
• Click your User Name
• UN-check Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
• Click OK.
An "Automatically Log On" dialog should appear.
• If you have a password, enter it twice, or if not, leave blank.
• click OK.
(Use your new found freedom wisely!

FWIW. --Richard

"John John - MVP" wrote in message
...

In oder to be able to Autologon the account must be password protected,
I'm not sure why the system even let you configure the unprotected account
for Autologon.


Hi John, (Hi John,

That is not quite right. If the user name has a password, the Autologon
setup dialog should not let you configure it without entering a password;
I just tried it with a non-password account and it works fine like this:

How to enable autologon in Windows XP Professional:
• Click Start, click Run, type or paste next line and press Enter key:
control userpasswords2
• Checkmark Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
• Click your User Name
• UN-check Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
• Click OK.
An "Automatically Log On" dialog should appear.
• If you have a password, enter it twice, or if not, leave blank.
• click OK.
(Use your new found freedom wisely!

FWIW. --Richard

"Tom" wrote in message
...
John John - MVP wrote:
John John - MVP wrote:
Tom wrote:
Bruce Hagen wrote:

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Since I'm the only person who uses this laptop (Windows XP Business
Edition) I would like to just turn it on and have it start Windows
without prompting me for a password. Right now the password is
null but I have to click on "Go" (or whatever the prompt is)
without entering anything.

I am the only user as well as the administrator.

Thanks, Tom



Go to START | RUN. Type in:

control userpasswords2

In the resulting window, uncheck the box that requires users to log-in
and note the exact spelling of the principle users name. In the next
window, type in that users name in place of "Administrator". If
required, then put in the user's password. Now when you startup, you
will still see the word "Welcome" but the computer will go directly
to your desktop when all startup programs are complete.

Bruce, I did exactly what you said and I'm locked out of Windows.
When I attempt to log on I get the following error message:

The system could not log you on. Make sure your user name and domain
are correct. Then type your password again. Letters in passwords must
be typed using the exact case.

Then I can not go any further. All windows will let me do is shut
down.

In oder to be able to Autologon the account must be password protected,
I'm not sure why the system even let you configure the unprotected
account for Autologon.

At the logon screen try hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del *twice* and see if you can
logon normally, if you can't try loging on to Safe Mode.

PS: Booting to the Last Known Good Configuration might get you out of
this predicament, try that before Safe Mode.

John

When I reboot and press F8 the menu that comes up only presents two
choices: Windows XP and IBM Recovery. As far as I know, the latter will
get me in to IBM Rescue and Recovery. And since I haven't saved my
current C drive to an external drive since I began the setup process three
days ago, I don't think I can use IBM Recovery.

I also tried Ctrl+Alt+Del *twice* and I might as well have peen pushing on
the Page Down key. It totally ignored me.

Tom

Hi again Tom,

During POST (Power On Self Test) some computers use F8 for a boot menu,
which is possibly what happened in your case. Try choosing Windows XP and
immediately press F8 again to get the Windows Advanced menu. Instead of F8,
during startup, see if Alt+Ctrl+Enter gets you to the menu where Safe Mode
is an option. Pressing Alt+Ctrl+Delete at the user logon twice should get
you manual logon where you can type Administrator as the user, and leave
password blank unless you have established a password for the default
Administrator account. When you got the "system could not log you on"
message, did you only have a password box, so you could not enter a
different user name?

HTH. (Hope This Helps.
--Richard

I have the same/similar problem...I have windows xp home edition, i'm stuck
at the logon prompt and i can't type anything in the password box, nor change
my user name- all i can do is shut down.Pressing ctrl/alt/del (twice) doesn't
do anything, nor does holding down 'shift' at startup. I can get to safe
mode but it takes me to the same exact screen that i see in regular mode
(with the same issue). I can get to recovery console if i boot up from my
recovery disk...problem is, i don't know what to do next once i get to
c:\windows. (it accepted my system administrator password, so i'm thinking i
must have an admin and a guest account.) Anyway, now what do I do? I have
never edited a registry. Basically I just want to logon to my pc. help!

SuzyQ wrote:
I have the same/similar problem...I have windows xp home edition, i'm stuck
at the logon prompt and i can't type anything in the password box, nor change
my user name- all i can do is shut down.Pressing ctrl/alt/del (twice) doesn't
do anything, nor does holding down 'shift' at startup. I can get to safe
mode but it takes me to the same exact screen that i see in regular mode
(with the same issue). I can get to recovery console if i boot up from my
recovery disk...problem is, i don't know what to do next once i get to
c:\windows. (it accepted my system administrator password, so i'm thinking i
must have an admin and a guest account.) Anyway, now what do I do? I have
never edited a registry. Basically I just want to logon to my pc. help!
Try this:
Start-run-Control User passwords2
Then un click users must enter name and password

how do i get to start? the only thing i can get to is c:\windows
(the command prompt in the recovery console)

"john" wrote:

SuzyQ wrote:
I have the same/similar problem...I have windows xp home edition, i'm stuck
at the logon prompt and i can't type anything in the password box, nor change
my user name- all i can do is shut down.Pressing ctrl/alt/del (twice) doesn't
do anything, nor does holding down 'shift' at startup. I can get to safe
mode but it takes me to the same exact screen that i see in regular mode
(with the same issue). I can get to recovery console if i boot up from my
recovery disk...problem is, i don't know what to do next once i get to
c:\windows. (it accepted my system administrator password, so i'm thinking i
must have an admin and a guest account.) Anyway, now what do I do? I have
never edited a registry. Basically I just want to logon to my pc. help!
Try this:
Start-run-Control User passwords2
Then un click users must enter name and password

something else.....this all started after kaspersky detected a keylogger and
crashed, so i reinstalled kaspersky,rescanned my pc, did their recommended
fixes, and rebooted. then the logon problem started. per Google results, a
few others have said they think kaspersky (or malware) quarantined some logon
files... and to do a restore of userinit.exe by going to d: cd I386
EXPAND USERINIT.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 but i'm afraid to try that. Can
anyone confirm if this sounds right/safe to try?

well being ever so impatient, i went ahead and expanded userinit.exe, and it
didn't make a difference. so i am back to square one; i still can't bypass
the logon screen. if anyone can help.....i'd be much obliged.

"SuzyQ" wrote in message
...
I have the same/similar problem...I have windows xp home edition, i'm stuck
at the logon prompt and i can't type anything in the password box, nor change
my user name- all i can do is shut down.Pressing ctrl/alt/del (twice) doesn't
do anything, nor does holding down 'shift' at startup. I can get to safe
mode but it takes me to the same exact screen that i see in regular mode
(with the same issue). I can get to recovery console if i boot up from my
recovery disk...problem is, i don't know what to do next once i get to
c:\windows. (it accepted my system administrator password, so i'm thinking i
must have an admin and a guest account.) Anyway, now what do I do? I have
never edited a registry. Basically I just want to logon to my pc. help!

As soon and you start your computer, start tapping the F8 key until you get a menu screen.
Then using the arrow keys, select the "Safe Mode" and press the Enter key.
You should then get a log-on window with "Administrator" at an optional logon.
(With Windows Home Edition this is the only way to get to the "true administrator" account)
When you select the Administrator logon and windows loads in the SAFE MODE,
go to the Control Panel - Users and make sure your account does not have a password.
Then go to START - RUN and type in
control userpasswords2
Choose the option that users do not need to used the logon screen.
After the next button, type in 'your user name' where the word "Administrator" is shown
Do not enter any passwords and finish the window.

When you then choose START- SHUTDOWN - RESTART, you should not get the logon window.

On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 18:45:01 -0700, SuzyQ
wrote:

well being ever so impatient, i went ahead and expanded userinit.exe, and it
didn't make a difference. so i am back to square one; i still can't bypass
the logon screen. if anyone can help.....i'd be much obliged.


Please quote enough of the message you're responding to to put your
reply into context (as I did above). Many newsgroup participants (me,
for example) don't save already-read messages and a message without a
quote is likely to be completely unintelligible to many people.

Although I'd like to help if I could, I have no idea what you're
talking about.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

ok I did the f8 thing, I see:
safe mode
safe mode with networking
safe mode with command prompt
enable boot logging
enable vga mode
last known good configuration
directory services restore mode (windows domain controllers only)
debugging mode
disable automatic restart on system failure
start windows normally
reboot
return to os choices menu

i've selected all of them one by one and still don't see "administrator" as
an option in the logon window...it displays my user name "suzanne" and i
can't type a password. if i press / click enter it just says it can't log me
on.


"Richard in AZ" wrote:


"SuzyQ" wrote in message
...
I have the same/similar problem...I have windows xp home edition, i'm stuck
at the logon prompt and i can't type anything in the password box, nor change
my user name- all i can do is shut down.Pressing ctrl/alt/del (twice) doesn't
do anything, nor does holding down 'shift' at startup. I can get to safe
mode but it takes me to the same exact screen that i see in regular mode
(with the same issue). I can get to recovery console if i boot up from my
recovery disk...problem is, i don't know what to do next once i get to
c:\windows. (it accepted my system administrator password, so i'm thinking i
must have an admin and a guest account.) Anyway, now what do I do? I have
never edited a registry. Basically I just want to logon to my pc. help!

As soon and you start your computer, start tapping the F8 key until you get a menu screen.
Then using the arrow keys, select the "Safe Mode" and press the Enter key.
You should then get a log-on window with "Administrator" at an optional logon.
(With Windows Home Edition this is the only way to get to the "true administrator" account)
When you select the Administrator logon and windows loads in the SAFE MODE,
go to the Control Panel - Users and make sure your account does not have a password.
Then go to START - RUN and type in
control userpasswords2
Choose the option that users do not need to used the logon screen.
After the next button, type in 'your user name' where the word "Administrator" is shown
Do not enter any passwords and finish the window.

When you then choose START- SHUTDOWN - RESTART, you should not get the logon window.

sorry about that, i've never posted before. i'm probably messing up this
thread...if i need to repost a new thread please let me know.

if not, here's my dilemma:
i'm stuck at the logon prompt, can't change my username (suzanne) or type in
a password. clicking 'ok' gives me an error message to make sure my
username/pw are correct. when i go into safe mode, i get the same thing- no
option to choose an administrator account, and ctrl/alt/del (twice) doesn't
do anything. The only time i can actually enter the administrator password
(null) is when i use my recovery cd and choose repair. but then i get to the
c:\windows prompt and don't know what to do next.

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:

On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 18:45:01 -0700, SuzyQ
wrote:

well being ever so impatient, i went ahead and expanded userinit.exe, and it
didn't make a difference. so i am back to square one; i still can't bypass
the logon screen. if anyone can help.....i'd be much obliged.


Please quote enough of the message you're responding to to put your
reply into context (as I did above). Many newsgroup participants (me,
for example) don't save already-read messages and a message without a
quote is likely to be completely unintelligible to many people.

Although I'd like to help if I could, I have no idea what you're
talking about.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 09:02:01 -0700, SuzyQ
wrote:

sorry about that,


OK, thanks for correcting the error.


i've never posted before. i'm probably messing up this
thread...if i need to repost a new thread please let me know.


No, you should *never* start a new thread--not unless the original one
is *very* old.

And by the way, this isn't a web-based forum; it's a newsgroup. You
are using the awful web interface to participate in this
newsgroup--it's the slowest, clunkiest, most error-prone method of
using the newsgroups there is. Do yourself a favor and switch to a
newsreader, such as Outlook Express, which comes with Windows XP, or
Windows Mail, which comes with Vista. See
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/ou...snewreader.htm





if not, here's my dilemma:
i'm stuck at the logon prompt, can't change my username (suzanne) or type in
a password. clicking 'ok' gives me an error message to make sure my
username/pw are correct. when i go into safe mode, i get the same thing- no
option to choose an administrator account, and ctrl/alt/del (twice) doesn't
do anything. The only time i can actually enter the administrator password
(null) is when i use my recovery cd and choose repair. but then i get to the
c:\windows prompt and don't know what to do next.


Start | Run, type "control userpasswords2" Select the account you want
to logon to automatically. Then uncheck the box "Users must enter a
user name and password to use this computer."

Or do the same thing with TweakUI.



"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:

On Sat, 3 Oct 2009 18:45:01 -0700, SuzyQ
wrote:

well being ever so impatient, i went ahead and expanded userinit.exe, and it
didn't make a difference. so i am back to square one; i still can't bypass
the logon screen. if anyone can help.....i'd be much obliged.


Please quote enough of the message you're responding to to put your
reply into context (as I did above). Many newsgroup participants (me,
for example) don't save already-read messages and a message without a
quote is likely to be completely unintelligible to many people.

Although I'd like to help if I could, I have no idea what you're
talking about.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup