I bought used laptop. Don't have password. How do I reset or log in?

Question

The previous owner got it at an estate sale and never had p-word. How do you delete the original owners password in order to put in a new one?

Answer 1

Is there a guest user? If there is then log on to "Guest", then you can change the p-word form there. If not, then try this way (IDK if a disk came with your used laptop, but it erase everything on the laptop):

1. Just put it into the DVD drvie and it'll star and it usually takes 2 or 3 hours

Answer 2

another option. do a search for a program called ophcrack. youll want to download the live cd version for whatever operating system you have. (xp or vista) burn to cd. boot to the cd. if there are passwords, this program will usually find them. then you can log in with the found password, create new user for yourself and delete the old acct. (lot easier than it sounds)

Answer 3

1. Turn on the system and repeatedly tap F8 on the keyboard. When the boot menu comes up, use your arrows to navigate to "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and use the ENTER key to select it.

2. Type the following command in the command line:

dsmod userUSERNAME-pwdNEWPASSWORD

Make sure you type the EXISTING USERNAME in the "USERNAME" section of the command, and the desired password in the "NEWPASSWORD" section of the command.

3. Hit enter. It should work for you, and you should be able to log in with the new password.

If this does not work, the only other option is reformatting the computer.

** Reformatting **

**NOTE: THIS WILL ERASE ALL INFORMATION ON YOUR COMPUTER, AND YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RESTORE IT**

1) Find the Operating System CD that you received with your computer

2) Put it in the CD tray of your computer

3) Restart your computer

4) While your computer is restarting, tap F8 on the keyboard until a black and white screen comes up with boot options

5) Select CD-ROM with your arrow and enter keys.

6) Follow the on screen instructions to delete the hard drive partition containing Windows, and restore it with a fresh installation of Windows.

Good luck!