We have vista home premium on daughter's new Dell studio laptop, password is not forgotten but won't work all of a sudden, maybe she typed it incorrectly too many times. F2 utilities showed supervisor password is clear, user password locked, and HDD password frozen. Only user login button showing on login screen, no administrator account showing (my daughter may not have known to set this up too). Can I set a supervisor password in utilities and then logon using that to reset other passwords IF an account button shows up on login screen? what is the deal with the HDD password being frozen?
Ophcrack won't work - get boot failure error message and laptop goes into start up repair automatically. Not sure if it burned correctly on CD or if there's another problem.
Dell wants $60/hour, Microsoft refers me back to Dell. Thanks for ANY help - have spent many days/hours trolling internet for solutions that fit this situation exactly.
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Hard disk password is set from the BIOS. It is usually set in conjunction with the Power On Password. This password is stored on the EEPROM chip and is very difficult to crack - no backdoor passwords. It is used to prevent unauthorized access to the laptop and the data on the hard disk. Removing the hard disk and inserting it into another computer will not allow access to data without the HDD password.
You need t reset the password with a password reset disk. That is created on another computer then load it and try and see if you can reset the admin password.
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Ok then if you cannot go that route USB is the only way to get the password knocked out.. Because it will not let you format a locked HDD you need a way to prove its your image, USB teases it to thinking its your image and will let you either reformat or log on and change it, if you got a guest account you gain gain access that way also..
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we didn't create a password reset disk but recorded passwords in a file - does no good now. Already tried password reset disk from another PC and it doesn';t work - there was something actually online somewhere I read about this and why it won't work.
it seems now that even if we type her password correctly - it won't ever work again?
If HDD password is frozen will reinstalling Vista work as Dell suggested without asking any other questions about accounts or password on laptop?
tried it, but can't do that from another PC
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