posted on March 29, 2002 01:30:49 PM new
I am trying to help my brother that is being driven crazy by his computer. He likes to see what different areas will do, and I am afraid he has tweaked something wrong. He has a HP Pavillion with Windows NT. It is acting up and when he tries to adjust settings to fix it, it won't let him in to that area because he isn't the "Administrator". He says he never appointed an "Administrator". How does he disconnect this? Is it part of the Hewlett Packard or part of his Windows NT? He has a built in HP support system, but can only type with two fingers, and they have basically told him to just shut it off and turn it on again. Right. He's done that a million times. The phone support is long distance not a toll free number. It should be covered under warranty as they got it in December, but the long distance charges could really mount up. Any help?
posted on March 29, 2002 04:48:09 PM new
I have looked all over the Microsoft Windows site and can find nothing that pertains to deleting an "Administrator" that was never chosen. My brother says he has reinstalled Windows NT and that doesn't change anything. Any help?
posted on March 29, 2002 05:24:58 PM new
When the computer was brand new at the HP factory, they installed the Windows NT OS there. To install the system, a Administrator Account had to created first. That account has a password.
So ...
In order to access the areas that you need to fix, you MUST log on as the Adminsitrator.
You need the password for that.
If you do not have the password for that AND the HP factory installed your NT, then call up HP and ask for the Administrator password for your pc. Be sure to have the model, serial number, receipt, etc. ready before calling.
Once you have the Administrator password, boot up your computer. At the NT login screen, put the account name Administrator and then put the password in the password field. Remember that these login info are usually case-sensitive.
posted on March 29, 2002 05:26:43 PM new
If your brother totally FORMATTED your hard drive and then reinstalled Windows NT AND you still can't fix it or understand what is going on -- GO PAY FOR A TECHNICIAN!
posted on March 29, 2002 05:33:30 PM new
HIS computer!! He's not touching mine! Borillar, your suggestions make sense to me. I forwarded this link to him. If he can't get it to work with your suggestion, I am sure he can take it where he bought it. It has to be under warranty. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
posted on March 29, 2002 08:42:43 PM new
Did it work when he bought it?
If it did them he must have put in the password some where along the way!
Just remember what it was.
He reloaded windows: Did he just rerun it or did he do a disc format before he did it?
If not try again but do a total format before reinstalling!
And one other thing! Did he happen to get into the BIO'S if he did he may have changed a setting there!
[ edited by dadofstickboy on Mar 29, 2002 08:46 PM ]
posted on March 29, 2002 09:05:35 PM new
What would happen if he did a quick restore?
Call your tech support of your ISP and maybe they can help you. Mine are great, I think I know them all by first names.
aren't computers fun. I had webtv before this, although I couldn't do image listings it was a lot easier than this thing. I could sit on my couch or in bed, turn it on and watch it over my 27 inch TV. When this goes I will go back. Oh and by the way no worry about virus's.
posted on March 29, 2002 10:01:23 PM new
Just reboot. When the window asking for administrator password comes up click the left button without entering anything in the password box. It should let him right in....unless he'd inadvertently entered a password previously.
If he had put in a password (left box click won't let him in) reboot again but this time get the setup screen by pressing 'delete'. In the setup he can change the password or enter no password to eliminate the requiremet.
There doesn't seem to be a way to stop the password request box from coming up during loading. It's a minor irritant.
posted on March 29, 2002 11:52:02 PM new
I've been running Windows NT for about 5 years on my desktop. When Windows NT is first installed, there is always an Administrator account which is created during the installation process. If the OS was installed by the manufacturer of the computer then the password for the Administrator account should have been included with the computer. If not it must be available from the people who installed it.
By default the Adminstrator account has full access to all properties on the computer. A typical installation of NT will have one Adminstrator account and one or more user accounts. The access rights for the user accounts are set by the Adminstrator account.
My own installation of NT is set up with one user account which I use for day to day computer use. I rarely use the Adminstrator account unless I am installing hardware or software on the computer. This prevents accidently making system changes during day-to-day use (which is probably a good thing).
If you attempt to reinstall NT over an existing copy, the OS will not normally be reinstalled. You can add software components from the installation disks but the original OS will still remain installed on the computer. The only way I know of to actually reinstall NT is to do a low-level format of the harddrive from the BIOS to completely clean the disk of any existing files and partitions.
Another option available from the installation disks is to "repair" an existing installation of NT. This will allow you to replace damaged or corrupted files from various parts of the OS. I do NOT recommend trying to do this unless you REALLY know what your doing. Once while attempting to "repair" my own installation of NT I accidently overwrote the password file for the computer completely locking myself out of all accounts on the computer. Unfortunately I had sensitive data that I couldn't afford to lose on the existing disk and couldn't reformat it from the BIOS...
If you or someone you know likes to "tweak" the operating system I would urge them to make sure they right down the existing configuration before making any changes so that the system can alway be "tweaked" back to a working state... :
posted on March 30, 2002 09:18:03 AM new
If it is like Win2000 then he should log in as the Administrator. It is the default account and cannot be deleted. If he has never messed with that account then the default settings:
Logon: Administrator
Password: administrator
At least that is what it was for WIN2000 which is based on NT
