Windows Lost WinXP Pro username/password

On of my best mates came to me the other day with the laptop she uses at Uni. She told me she had forgotten her login username and password (it was auto-sign in, then she turned it off without remembering what the user and pass were.

I seriously don't know how she's done this other than being blonde. Is there any way I can get into Windows without the login/pass? Or another way around it?

Reinstalling most definitely a last resort. I asked her if it was okay to do this, and she said that most of her uni work is on it (not backed up in some other format). Gah! I suppose I could copy her hard disk onto one of mine, and extract the files - then install. However, this would mean buying some kind of laptop Hdd -> IDE connector, but I'd prefer to get this done without having to buy anything/open up her laptop (hate laptops!).

Anyhoo, thanks for any replies
Theo.

 

What OS is it? If its XP you could make a password recovery disk on another XP machine and follow these simple instructions.

 

It's Windows XP Pro. I'm not sure whether the recovery disk would work or not... I'll give it a try as soon as I find a floppy drive though. The problem I see is that the password saved on the disk will be relevant only to my computer/user account. The account on the laptop isn't mine, so the username and password will both be different to that on the disk.

*goes off to look for a floppy drive*

 

If I read it correctly, you enter your username as usual, then click the green button to login. But as you have no password it asks you for a password recovery disk which resets it, allowing you to type in a new one.

 

Sounds to me like you make the recovery disc before the fact else anyone could quite easily break into a system.
My favorite weapon of choice is Winternals ERD recovery disc for resetting passwords. There is also a Linux disc you can use but I have had mixed results with that ie trashed one system.

 

That Wininternels ERD is too expensive for the normal person yes there is a linux bootdisk that will reset it for you but you have to be able to read the instructions which most non-techie people seem unable to do. I did post the link on bit-tech before but can't be asked to search for it. So if you do a search then you should be able to find the link.

 

Thanks for the help guys, I'm downloading the linux disk image right this minute. I'll let you know of any progress

 

Sorted, fixed and finalized. Thanks guys, your help was much appreciated