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#1
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Users/Passwords disappear
I have WindowsXP Home Edition. I have had it automatically install
updates and upgrades since I got the computer 4 years ago and never had a problem until last month. This problem (with slight variations) has happened 3 times now. 1) After using computer as usual and shutting down properly, I later turned it on again. I was previously not using the Welcome (user acct) screen, but this time it came up. My password did not work. After trying whatever I could, I reinstalled Windows, losing lots of info, but was back using my computer again. When I reinstalled, I simply hit enter for the one user acct it required me to make, so there was no password. 2) Two weeks later, same thing happened again, only this time, the Welcome screen had no user accts listed and my only option on the whole screen was to shut down the computer! Talking to a knowledgeable person on the phone, I was advised to Ctrl-Alt-Del twice on that screen and sure enough, up popped a logon to windows box, where I simply hit enter (no password from #1 above, remember) and I was in. I noticed a new update to XP had just been installed, so I did a restore back to 2 days before that update and restarted my computer. It came up without the welcome screen as it was supposed to. 3) Another two weeks go by, it's now 11/19/05, and it happens yet again!!! Only THIS time, when I tap ctrl/alt/del twice and my user name comes up, the blank password doesn't work. I attempt Safe Mode, Repair, etc., to no avail. My only option was to again reinstall WinXP, again losing all my information. After this reinstall, I downloaded every update available from Microsoft for the OS in case it was an update causing this, it would happen immediately before I reinstalled all my programs etc. After all the updates, it still works fine. Does anyone know what is causing this behavior? My research has led me to believe that it could be an interrupted download/install of a Windows XP update. Some updates apparently need access to files protected by passwords (even blank ones) and the update will temporarily remove it, install its own password, then reinstall your password when complete -- however, if this process in interrupted, the update password remains, which, of course, you don't know! This could be the case since my ISP does exhibit very brief (few seconds to couple minutes) but frequent outages. If this is the probable cause, is there any way to completely download an update, get off-line, and then install without accessing the internet, for a clean install without the possibility of an outage interrupting it....?? Or is this something someone has found the answer to and I'm way off.....???? Help?!!! Thanks ! |
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#2
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Users/Passwords disappear
I forgot to mention that I also did a check of my hard drive to be sure
something isn't being written to a bad sector. It checked out just fine. I checked for viruses, spyware, adware, etc, and there were none. The only other thing these three incidents have in common is that I ran AdAware and/or Spybot in one of the last two sessions before the problem. Spybot used to pick up something about Windows Firewall but doesn't do that anymore. |
#3
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Users/Passwords disappear
Hi there..
I'm facing the same problem here - welcome screen without user account listed!! I have been using my laptop for almost 2 years now and this has never happened before.. I never use the welcome sceen and never set a password for my user account too.. This problem has just happened to me this afternoon. I shutted down my laptop properly before i went to school, i later turned it on again, a black screen appeared asking me to choose to "start windows normally" or "start windows in safe mode". I had chosen "start windows normally", but my computer couldn't load windows and it restarted and asked me to choose the previously asked options. This time i had chosen "start windows in safe mode" instead. With "start windows in safe mode" option, my computer was able to load windows. However, it brought me to a welcome screen without user account listed!! To shut down my computer was the only option.. Then i tried to press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice, then i got a pop-up windows with my user name asking me to enter the password. I really have no idea for this as i never set a password for my computer. Somehow, I still tried some of my regularly used passwords.. yet, i still couldn't log on my account. My problem still has not been solved till now, as i do not want to reinstall my computer (i didn't backup my files!). Could anyone tell me instead of reinstalling my computer, what else can i to do to tackle this problem? Many thanks... "dst218" wrote: I have WindowsXP Home Edition. I have had it automatically install updates and upgrades since I got the computer 4 years ago and never had a problem until last month. This problem (with slight variations) has happened 3 times now. 1) After using computer as usual and shutting down properly, I later turned it on again. I was previously not using the Welcome (user acct) screen, but this time it came up. My password did not work. After trying whatever I could, I reinstalled Windows, losing lots of info, but was back using my computer again. When I reinstalled, I simply hit enter for the one user acct it required me to make, so there was no password. 2) Two weeks later, same thing happened again, only this time, the Welcome screen had no user accts listed and my only option on the whole screen was to shut down the computer! Talking to a knowledgeable person on the phone, I was advised to Ctrl-Alt-Del twice on that screen and sure enough, up popped a logon to windows box, where I simply hit enter (no password from #1 above, remember) and I was in. I noticed a new update to XP had just been installed, so I did a restore back to 2 days before that update and restarted my computer. It came up without the welcome screen as it was supposed to. 3) Another two weeks go by, it's now 11/19/05, and it happens yet again!!! Only THIS time, when I tap ctrl/alt/del twice and my user name comes up, the blank password doesn't work. I attempt Safe Mode, Repair, etc., to no avail. My only option was to again reinstall WinXP, again losing all my information. After this reinstall, I downloaded every update available from Microsoft for the OS in case it was an update causing this, it would happen immediately before I reinstalled all my programs etc. After all the updates, it still works fine. Does anyone know what is causing this behavior? My research has led me to believe that it could be an interrupted download/install of a Windows XP update. Some updates apparently need access to files protected by passwords (even blank ones) and the update will temporarily remove it, install its own password, then reinstall your password when complete -- however, if this process in interrupted, the update password remains, which, of course, you don't know! This could be the case since my ISP does exhibit very brief (few seconds to couple minutes) but frequent outages. If this is the probable cause, is there any way to completely download an update, get off-line, and then install without accessing the internet, for a clean install without the possibility of an outage interrupting it....?? Or is this something someone has found the answer to and I'm way off.....???? Help?!!! Thanks ! |
#4
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Users/Passwords disappear
i am having a problem
when i turn on my computer it comes 2 a blank screen that says password how do i get this 2 go away so it comes up to the windows log in screen. my husband was messin around with the computer and now it does this. please help me "dst218" wrote: I forgot to mention that I also did a check of my hard drive to be sure something isn't being written to a bad sector. It checked out just fine. I checked for viruses, spyware, adware, etc, and there were none. The only other thing these three incidents have in common is that I ran AdAware and/or Spybot in one of the last two sessions before the problem. Spybot used to pick up something about Windows Firewall but doesn't do that anymore. |
#5
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Users/Passwords disappear
dst218 wrote: I have WindowsXP Home Edition. I have had it automatically install updates and upgrades since I got the computer 4 years ago and never had a problem until last month. This problem (with slight variations) has happened 3 times now. 1) After using computer as usual and shutting down properly, I later turned it on again. I was previously not using the Welcome (user acct) screen, but this time it came up. My password did not work. After trying whatever I could, I reinstalled Windows, losing lots of info, but was back using my computer again. When I reinstalled, I simply hit enter for the one user acct it required me to make, so there was no password. 2) Two weeks later, same thing happened again, only this time, the Welcome screen had no user accts listed and my only option on the whole screen was to shut down the computer! Talking to a knowledgeable person on the phone, I was advised to Ctrl-Alt-Del twice on that screen and sure enough, up popped a logon to windows box, where I simply hit enter (no password from #1 above, remember) and I was in. I noticed a new update to XP had just been installed, so I did a restore back to 2 days before that update and restarted my computer. It came up without the welcome screen as it was supposed to. 3) Another two weeks go by, it's now 11/19/05, and it happens yet again!!! Only THIS time, when I tap ctrl/alt/del twice and my user name comes up, the blank password doesn't work. I attempt Safe Mode, Repair, etc., to no avail. My only option was to again reinstall WinXP, again losing all my information. After this reinstall, I downloaded every update available from Microsoft for the OS in case it was an update causing this, it would happen immediately before I reinstalled all my programs etc. After all the updates, it still works fine. Does anyone know what is causing this behavior? My research has led me to believe that it could be an interrupted download/install of a Windows XP update. Some updates apparently need access to files protected by passwords (even blank ones) and the update will temporarily remove it, install its own password, then reinstall your password when complete -- however, if this process in interrupted, the update password remains, which, of course, you don't know! This could be the case since my ISP does exhibit very brief (few seconds to couple minutes) but frequent outages. If this is the probable cause, is there any way to completely download an update, get off-line, and then install without accessing the internet, for a clean install without the possibility of an outage interrupting it....?? Or is this something someone has found the answer to and I'm way off.....???? Help?!!! Thanks ! I cannot help you with the cause of your problem but there are utilities that allow you to reset passwords on NT class (NT, W2K, XP) operating systems. Go to http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ and download the boot disk, this will enable you to reset any system password on an NT class operating system |
#6
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Users/Passwords disappear
jess wrote: i am having a problem when i turn on my computer it comes 2 a blank screen that says password how do i get this 2 go away so it comes up to the windows log in screen. my husband was messin around with the computer and now it does this. please help me "dst218" wrote: I forgot to mention that I also did a check of my hard drive to be sure something isn't being written to a bad sector. It checked out just fine. I checked for viruses, spyware, adware, etc, and there were none. The only other thing these three incidents have in common is that I ran AdAware and/or Spybot in one of the last two sessions before the problem. Spybot used to pick up something about Windows Firewall but doesn't do that anymore. It sounds like your husband set a BIOS password, get him to remove the password. If he cannot rember what he set it to then you will have to reset the BIOS. This is usually done by turning the computer off, removing the battery on the mother board, setting a jumper to the short out setting, waiting a few minutes, reseting the jumper, reinstalling the battery and restarting. Do a Google search for remove bios password . |
#7
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Users/Passwords disappear
Hi GreenieLeBrun,
I tried what you had suggested and I had successfully run the files to reset my system password. However, when it run to Step 3, there was a problem hinder me to carry on the process, as following: ===== chntpw Edit User Info & Passwords ==== Cannot find usernames in registry! (is this a SAM-hive?) I would appreciate if you could tell me what can i do to tackle this problem.. Many thanks... I cannot help you with the cause of your problem but there are utilities that allow you to reset passwords on NT class (NT, W2K, XP) operating systems. Go to http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ and download the boot disk, this will enable you to reset any system password on an NT class operating system |
#8
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Users/Passwords disappear
Bluemoon1383 wrote: Hi GreenieLeBrun, I tried what you had suggested and I had successfully run the files to reset my system password. However, when it run to Step 3, there was a problem hinder me to carry on the process, as following: ===== chntpw Edit User Info & Passwords ==== Cannot find usernames in registry! (is this a SAM-hive?) I would appreciate if you could tell me what can i do to tackle this problem.. Many thanks... I cannot help you with the cause of your problem but there are utilities that allow you to reset passwords on NT class (NT, W2K, XP) operating systems. Go to http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ and download the boot disk, this will enable you to reset any system password on an NT class operating system Have you tried logging in as Administrator? If you are using XP Home then the password should be blank, if XP Pro use the password changer disk to set the password to blank (the pw changer would also work for XP Home if you set a password there. If you can get in as Administrator back up your files, address books etc. If this does not work have a look at Ultimate Boot CD for Windows http://www.ubcd4win.com/ .This is a selfbooting CD that has cd burning software included in it, you may be able to use it to burn your files to a CD. You may be able to do a repair install, as it is a note book see the documentation that came with the machine to see if this is possible. BEWARE this may not work on your machine, it will depend on the what the manufacturer supplied. Some companies only provide you the the ability to return your machine to the factory default, if that is in case in your situation you will loose ALL your files. These link may be of assistance. How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;315341 How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm |
#9
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Users/Passwords disappear
I am the one who originally posted here. I did try logging in as
Administrator and I have XP Home. It would not accept no password, blank password, etc. One of the three times this happened, I was able to log in with my account (which IS the administrator account too) by ctrl-alt-del 3 times to get to a password screen; otherwise, the password input area is not there, although it says put in a password -- no user accounts listed. The other 2 times passwords of any type were not accepted. I honestly believe that this is a result of changed passwords during the install process and when the process is interrupted, the original passwords are not put back by Microsoft's update process. My ISP blanks out for a few seconds here and there. Here is what I now do. I have the updates downloaded but not installed. When I'm ready to install, I disable my internet connection and do the installation. I have also directed Outlook, Word, music program, etc., to store ALL email, documents, music files, etc., to a folder directly on my C: drive that I call "mine" or "backup" or whatever, just nothing like "My Documents". Thus if this should happen again, a reinstall of Windows will not wipe it out. (It worked the last time.) I would still have to do the windows reinstall and reinstall all software programs, but my personal data is intact. The last time I reinstalled, I was advised not to reinstall drivers or software until I had downloaded and installed ALL updates from Microsoft. That took a lot of time because there were lots of updates, but after all that, I installed my drivers and restarted the machine. Seems to work fine. Then I installed all my software and redirected their data to the folder I described in the previous paragraph. In using my computer the other night, something happened and I lost my wallpaper to a blue screen and when I tried to put the wallpaper back, it was already selected, but still the blue background. So before turning the computer off, I went back to a previous restore point. It comes up fine now again, but I wasn't taking any chances. I honestly and truly believe this is an install problem with Microsoft updates, as each time it cropped up the day after an update installed. Hopefully, they will find the problem and fix it. |
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