Changing Administrator acc password when not known in XP home

[#1]

Hi Guys
Does anybody know how to change the admin account password in xp home when it is not known. There is another account with admin status, but there is no "Local users and groups" in computer management where you would change it in xp pro?

[#2]

one workaround is so download and burn Ophcrack and then boot from that -- it's a password cracker for Windows and works rather well

[#3]

Go to Control panel, administrative tools, computer management, another popup window willl appear select users in Local Users and Groups. Right click on the User and select Set Password.

[#4]

A bit confused as you say XP home then mention XP Pro which is it(it doesnt make any difference in this case)?
If there is no local users and groups then provided you are logged in with an admin account  the use the cmd line by going to start run then type cmd and you will get the command line.
type
net users
this will show all the users so you know the account name(admin may have been renamed)
then type
net user admin newpassword
Replace admin with the correct name and new password with what you wan the password to be
or you can type
net user admin *
it will then ask you for a password
Here endeth todays cmdline lesson

[#5]

IIRC, XP homes default admin password is only accessable via safe mode, and is set to be blank as default, so when you login with this account, it can then be changed.

[#6]

Not true

Quote from: penfold

IIRC, XP homes default admin password is only accessable via safe mode...

Dunno about that - I have my admin account on my home machine to show on the welcome screen - I certainly don't have to boot to safe mode to use it.

[#7]

James
I have installed XP home on a number of machines, and as far as was aware, there is a hidden administrator account automatically created with a blank password.  Of course I may be wrong, it happened before :D, but thats is what I thought.
See this link  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894902/
I think there is a way to get it to display, with TweakUI

[#8]

If xp had a admin account with a blank password by default it would make it the most unsecure software ever.
As described above providing you have an account with admin rights simple use the cmd line and change the password. You dont have to login with the account to change it

[#9]

Its not hidden though, its just not configured to show on the welcome screen. Ctrl+Alt+Delete gives you the option to type the username doesn't it?
You can also go to the Users config via control panel and choose to have the account shown on the welcome screen if you are using it can't you?
All from memory though, not had a chance to check on an XP Home machine yet.

[#10]

Quote

If xp had a admin account with a blank password by default it would make it the most unsecure software ever.

Samuria, I agree with you completely, it makes an Admin account in XP an absolute joke, IIRC, when I have installed XP Home, it does not give you the option to create a password for this account, just lets you set up new ones, with admin rights.

Quote

Its not hidden though, its just not configured to show on the welcome screen. Ctrl+Alt+Delete gives you the option to type the username doesn't it?

james,  I think you are correct there, my bad :-[.  Not used XP home for a while, use Pro on all my systems.