laptop now requesting a password

humaxf1

Hi folks,

I have been asked to look at a laptop which now requires a password to enter Windows (XP PRO SP3) A password has never been set from day one!

The user shut it down last week during which it applied 1,2,3,4 of 5 updates. Upon switching it on the next day, it took for ever to get to the user login screen (about 3 mins). It's about 3 months old so "bit rot" should't have kicked in yet!

Anyhow, it is NOW prompting for a password. When you type something in for the password & press enter, the screen background goes black and a dialog message titled Logon Message, the system cannot log you on now because the domain TOSHIBA02 is not available appears . The computer name is TOSHIBA02 too... This laptop has always been on workgroup.

I tried a password blanker boot disk, but no joy...bit of a misnomer really! I'm at a brickwall atm.

Before anyone asks, no matter which mode I try <normal - safe>, it prompts for a password so I can't enter Windows in any form!

Any ideas. TIA

cpu-dude

humaxf1 wrote: »

Hi folks,

I have been asked to look at a laptop which now requires a password to enter Windows (XP PRO SP3) A password has never been set from day one!

The user shut it down last week during which it applied 1,2,3,4 of 5 updates. Upon switching it on the next day, it took for ever to get to the user login screen (about 3 mins). It's about 3 months old so "bit rot" should't have kicked in yet!

Anyhow, it is NOW prompting for a password. When you type something in for the password & press enter, the screen background goes black and a dialog message titled Logon Message, the system cannot log you on now because the domain TOSHIBA02 is not available appears . The computer name is TOSHIBA02 too... This laptop has always been on workgroup.

I tried a password blanker boot disk, but no joy...bit of a misnomer really! I'm at a brickwall atm.

Before anyone asks, no matter which mode I try <normal - safe>, it prompts for a password so I can't enter Windows in any form!

Any ideas. TIA

You are trying to log onto a domain (not a workgroup) which is not available (probably because your not connected to it).

Just select the option to log onto "this computer".

Fysh

I'm struggling to understand how a machine that was previously configured as a standalone system within a workgroup has now paired itself to a domain and acquired account settings from that domain. I would be very concerned about proceeding with the machine without clarifying this.

My suggestion would be to get yourself a copy of Hirens boot cd (google it, though I'd advise against doing so at work to be on the safe side), boot into it, find the Active Password Changer Utility, blank the password on the built-in administrator account, then reboot. That'll get you into the machine itself, at which point you should probably check a bunch of details on the machine to see what domain it thinks it's on, what local accounts have existed on it (don't look at their files, just the names). If you feel really paranoid you could use MagicalJellyBean (google it though you should be aware that given its nature it may be flagged as malware) to retrieve the Windows product key and check if it matches the OEM installation key on the sticker (assuming there is one).

Hope this helps.

humaxf1

@ cpu-dude the domain drop down is not present


@ fysh The laptop connects to a network with a SBS2003 and the only link to it is for exchange. Apart from that, it has no other links to the server. It also connects to the Internet via the network.

I think I have a Hirens CD lying around here somewhere. I appreciate your advice, but i'm very doubtful that the password reset will work. I'll give it a lash anyhow and report back.

thx

Rosco_Weird

humaxf1 wrote: »

@ cpu-dude the domain drop down is not present

Do you get a screen like these instead?

mukki

quickest way to fix this

boot into safe mode...
1 shut down
2 press button to turn it on
3 start tapping f8
4 when the menu appears press up arrow to highlight safe mode and press enter


login as adminstrator...
1 when you get to the logon screen.... hold down ctrl and alt and then press the delete button twice, this will bring up old windows logon
2 delete the username and type in administrator leave passord blank and press OK

reset you user password
1 goto start and run and type in control userpasswords2
2in the new window click on the user account and press reset password, press ok and reboot

reboot

humaxf1

mukki wrote: »

quickest way to fix this

boot into safe mode...
1 shut down
2 press button to turn it on
3 start tapping f8
4 when the menu appears press up arrow to highlight safe mode and press enter


login as adminstrator...
1 when you get to the logon screen.... hold down ctrl and alt and then press the delete button twice, this will bring up old windows logon
2 delete the username and type in administrator leave passord blank and press OK

reset you user password
1 goto start and run and type in control userpasswords2
2in the new window click on the user account and press reset password, press ok and reboot

reboot

How can I login as administrator when "something" has kicked in which is now prompting for a password for both administrator and the local user account!!! :rolleyes: A password was NEVER set in the first place for the admin or local user account.

I appreciate everyone's input, but please read what the original post contains.

humaxf1

Rosco_Weird wrote: »

Do you get a screen like these instead?

Yes, I get a screen like this. I did the "ctrl+alt+del x2" keystroke to get to the classic login screen. As I said, there is NO drop down menu to select a domain.

WIZE

Did you try not entering a password and just hitting enter

Capt'n Midnight

humaxf1 wrote:

I appreciate everyone's input, but please read what the original post contains.

password reset disk
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html


if all else fails copy a previous registry from system volume information ( use a linux boot cd ) and when it boots up do a system restore to before the problem, of course backup the existing registry first. Possibly you could get away with just restoring SAM but ymmv

Fysh

Active Password Changer 3.0.420 (it's been in the last 2 Hirens discs I've used, under Password & Registry tools) has always sorted me out on these kind of problems - lets you blank passwords and enable formerly-disabled accounts.

Also, I presume you've tried entering your username as MACHINENAME\USERNAME to ensure that it's not trying to authenticate against whatever domain it thinks it's connected to?

humaxf1

@ BVB yup

@ capt & fysh I'll give them a lash & report back. If I renamed the SAM file to .old, would that make any difference?

thanks for all the input

mukki

sounds like the "Require domain controller authentication" group policy is wrongly ticked




you'll need too [SNIP]


[EDIT]

humaxf1 wrote: »

How can I login as administrator when "something" has kicked in which is now prompting for a password for both administrator and the local user account!!! :rolleyes: A password was NEVER set in the first place for the admin or local user account.

I appreciate everyone's input, but please read what the original post contains.

oooooooh well let that be a warning to people who try to help you

humaxf1

It is quite a simple task to read an OP thread FULLY and carefully. It simply annoys me when people reply willy nilly with "help" that simply does not apply and seem to just glance over the threads

WIZE

Did you manage to fix it .

humaxf1

I tried the Active Password Changer on the Hiren's Boot CD...NO luck there.

TBH, I think I'm just gonna wipe it and start from scratch. It's not a big deal to the user as he has files on a stick and I can sync OUtlook with Exchange on their SBS2003.

I'm not 100% sure of how to do the "copy a previous registry from system volume information" as suggested by capt. Maybe you can chime in there please. Might come in useful in the future.

Thanks to all for your input.

RoadKillTs

Hi,

Follow the guide here
Using the Mini XP image on Hiren's makes this a lot easier.

CCSL

Track down a copy of ERD 2005 from System internals its a bootable custom version of xp
its the easiest of these utils to use. no unix black magic required:rolleyes:

Just boot select the installation to use and run the admin tool to reset account passwords if you have no joy finding it PM me.

As you cant access the machine at all even in safe mode then the normal system state restore wont work. But ERD allows you to do the roll back even if booted from the CD.
Never had a problem like this it couldnt fix yet.

:cool: