PC fettling and repairs thread

[Grant Fondo]

There's an account, with a password that's not known. I get the account login screen when I power it up.

I bet hardly anything on t'internet works on Vista?

 

[lazybloke]

Bought secondhand.

There are various tools you can download and boot into, to reset passwords . Tends to work for unencrypted drives only.

Trinity Rescue or Hiren's Boot CD were two i've used.

You'll need to download one of them on a working computer, and find instructions how to make it bootable, either on a Cd, Dvd or usb stick.

(Back in thr days of windows 2000, the reset tool was small enough to fit on a floppy disk)

 

[classic33]

I bet hardly anything on t'internet works on Vista?

Older hardware, A0 printer and A3 scanner, will.
To be used as a standalone, if I get it running for me.

Gets warm fast, which may be an indication an internal clean might help.

 

[DCBassman]

If the install key is still.on the case somewhere, and legible, it might be easier to download the iso of the Vista version and just re-install. However, if it has the drivers you need for thr printer and scanner, then the reset is the way to go.

 

[Dadam]

Any suggestions on how to get past the account log in on Windows Vista. Or access the administrators account, to bypass the login screen, then make changes from there.

If the drive isn't encrypted (unlikely with Vista era PCs) there's probably some way in via booting from safe mode and accessing command prompt. It's a long time since I messed around with stuff that old but no doubt there's plenty of info out there. There's probably no point though; as long as you've got the key just flatten it and reinstall.

 

[DaveReading]

In the old days, the standard last resort for a lost password was to install a second copy of Windows in a different folder, then log into that with admin rights and you can shuffle files around and change settings to allow you to log in to the original copy without needing a password.

I don't recall the exact details, but they'll be easy enough to find on the net.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Just put a larger pcie ssd into my HP laptop, no Win 11 code on the case?? Can't remember how to reinstall, doh? Done it loads of times as well.
Can anyone help, thanks.

 

[MontyVeda]

@Grant Fondo do you have windows on a disk or usb stick?

 

[Grant Fondo]

@Grant Fondo do you have windows on a disk or usb stick?

No, win 11 was preinstalled on laptop, i do have win 7 disc but no use?

 

[MontyVeda]

install seven to get online and upgrade to 11.

I'm on windows 10 and got there via a W7 boot disc.

 

[Grant Fondo]

install seven to get online and upgrade to 11.

I'm on windows 10 and got there via a W7 boot disc.

7 is on cd thats the problem. Been trying to download win 11 from MS onto usb and pc keeps crashing what a nightmare.

 

[Grant Fondo]

 

[Grant Fondo]

also my 7-10-11 licensed copy is on my pc?

 

[Grant Fondo]

oooh ... hang on ...

 

[Dadam]

Just put a larger pcie ssd into my HP laptop, no Win 11 code on the case?? Can't remember how to reinstall, doh? Done it loads of times as well.
Can anyone help, thanks.

Usually there's a recovery partition on the SSD/HDD, accessible from the boot options menu. You could copy that to your new SSD but you would need some messing with diskpart or whatever.