/ Setting up an Administrative Account

Setting up an Administrative Account

I bought a second hand Dell OptiPlex GX110 tower - I can use it if I log on as user but when I want to download something such as Acrobat Reader it tells me I have no administrator rights. Is there is any way that I can change the administrator to my name instead of the person that had it before me as the administrator? Kat Delong

Of course, the easiest way to do this is to ask the old owner for the password - if this isn’t possible, make sure that there actually is a password on the account first. Try logging in as the administrator, but leave the password blank and see if that gives you access - you’d be surprised how often that works.

Windows XP Security Hole

If you still need a password and are using Windows XP and have the CD, you can probably take advantage of a security hole in that operating system to reset the administrative password. Follow these instructions exactly:

Put the CD in the CD ROM drive. If your computer isn’t configured to boot from CD, you may have to get into the BIOS and reset it.
When you see the Welcome screen, press Enter and then press F8 to accept the licensing agreement.
You will be asked to select your installation (chances are, there is only one) and press R to begin the repair process.
Once it runs, it will reboot automatically - don’t press any key to reboot from CD.
You will now see a highlighted message saying Installing Windows.
You need to watch the lower left hand side of the screen carefully. As soon as you see “Installing Devices”, immediately press F10 - this is the loophole.
You will see a command console. At the prompt, type in: NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter.
You should now have access to all of the accounts in the Control Panel and can change the passwords. If you don’t want a password, type in: control userpasswords2 at the prompt.
Exit out of the command box and let the repair run. You may need to enter the product key to complete the repair. Everything should be intact on your machine and only the password should be reset.

Recovery Software

If you still can’t access the Administrator account, you can purchase recovery software that will either wipe out the passwords completely or recover the lost admin password. Two to try are the Spotmau recovery tool or Password Reset Software. Either one should work in your situation and if there is no other way to access the admin account will probably be worth the money.

Hopefully, you will be able to quickly and easily access the administrator account now. Please let us know if we can help you further.