My roommate sold me a computer and said to reformat the drive, but when I enter setup, it only offers safe mode with command prompt. the windows on this computer is locked with a password. how do i boot up and get to a prompt to reformat? its an HP with Windows XP.
2007-09-29 08:22:34 · 7 answers · asked by scabbo 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
u have to set ur pc bios to boot from cd first ... then boot from the install disk and delete partitions ..
2007-09-29 08:25:54 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you would rather not go through all the discomfort of reformatting and reinstalling windows gust reset the passwords with Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
then log on as a user with administrator privileges and create new accounts and delete his.
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/
Forgot your NT admin password?
Reinstall? Oh no... But not any more...
This is a utility to (re)set the password of any user that has a valid (local) account on your NT system.
You do not need to know the old password to set a new one.
It works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer and boot off a floppy disk or CD.
Will detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts!
It is also an almost fully functional registry editor.
download the program create the boot CD and put it in the drive and start the machine, just follow the prompts through the default settings, then get to your account and have it reset the password for you, and if its locked out from trying to much it can unlock it also,
quick and easy, and safe, Ive used it many times
good luck
TV
2007-10-02 23:43:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A possibly helpful link is
http://www.bootdisk.com/
Newer computers may be different, but some old ones lost the administrator password when one repositioned a jumper setting on the motherboard and left it that way for several seconds before restoring it to the previous position (from pins 1 and 2 to pins 2 and 3, for example). Jumpers are the small clips on the backs of hard drives and optical drives that let you set a drive to master, slave, or cable select status.
It might also help to try unplugging the computer, removing the CMOS battery, and leaving the battery out for a while before putting it back in. I'm guessing the Windows password is stored on the hard drive, though.
If all else fails, swapping out the hard drive may be an option.
Good luck.
2007-09-29 15:35:36 · answer #3 · answered by night_train_to_memphis 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you cant reformat a drive from within that drive. thats like picking up the board you're standing on. you need a bootable floppy, cd, or flash drive. flash drives don't always work, so i recommend the others. you need to put command.com and fdisk.exe on the disk (using another computer) and then put it in the computer you want to reformat. you might have to configure your bios by pushing f12 or delete or something when it says just when you start it(b4 windows starts). an alternative is to use the gparted livecd
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
you download this with another pc, burn it, stick it in the cd drive and reboot. you might also have to do the bios stuff with this too but it is easier.
2007-09-29 15:31:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to boot the Operating System Installation disk. It will ask you if you want to delete the current partition(s). Say "yes", then. Then create new partition, format and install operating system.
Bert
2007-09-29 15:28:42 · answer #5 · answered by Bert C 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just get a system disk from another computer, and boot to DOS.
2007-09-29 15:26:11 · answer #6 · answered by Stuart 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
use start up disk or bootable disk
2007-09-29 15:26:48 · answer #7 · answered by Rode|ette ۩ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋