I have very foolishly placed a bootup password on my laptop and forgotten what it is. I have tried every password that I have ever used and cannot get passed it to logon to Windows XP. I would be chuffed if someone could help me with my dilemma.

   Have you tried not putting a password in?  Sometimes the password is left blank.
   It seems I have heard of a CD that will get beyond the password.  Maybe someone else knows more about that.

Thank you Ray for getting back to me, I have tried leaving the field blank but no luck. I have not heard of the mentioned CD so I will wait for others to respond.

regards Ted

If you mean a Windows logon password, there are several free utilities to do this.  The ones I know are based on BartPE; in other words, you download software to burn a boot disk based on your own Windows system.

I have used the password reset gadget on the old free version of EBCD on Windows XP.  You can find it at http://www.simtel.net/product.download.mirrors.php?id=80024 , or an equivalent Simtel mirror.

UBCD for Windows also has one, which I haven't tried, but I have used other utilities on the CD.  You can download it at http://www.ubcd4win.com/ .

In addition to problems with some installations of Windows, Bart PE sometimes has problems with finding the hard drive on some laptops.  If that happens to you, you'll just have to install the correct drivers.

If you mean a BIOS password, UBCDforWin has a utility to reset it, but I've never tried that either.  Some laptops have a way of resetting the BIOS password with a jumper, as desktop machines do, but some have more complicated systems which usually involve a paid support call to the manufacturer.

If you have the driver problem, or if you have trouble finding the password repair utility, just post again here, and people will try to help.

Good luck.
C.

Thank you C. I will download your suggestions and give them a try.

Regards
Ted