Administrator's password

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:03 pm

Administrator's password

I was just given a Gateway E3600 through a third party so I don't have any prior info except what's on the computer.

Before I go to far customizing it I want to make sure I will have Admin rights down the road if I need them.

Can I find out if there is an Admin password and if so what it is so I can change it?

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:13 pm

Sorry, running XP sp2

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:20 pm

I just went in to the Admin user and clicked \"password\" and it allowed me to add a password w/o typing in a previous one and confirming it.

Did I just answer my own question?

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:23 pm

Was it XP Home, or one of the XP Pro versions? The Administrator account in XP Home pretty much never has a password since the account itself only ever shows up when you boot into safe mode and most people never think to rename it or set a password for it. (Gaping security hole.)

Also by default all accounts in XP are Administrator accounts, you have to select limited when you make an account so most people never do that.

If I were you, I would format the computer and restore it to it's original factory state, you never know what kind of garbage has made it's way on to the hard drive. Then the Admin password would be moot point anyway.

thewolfe · Post by **thewolfe** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:44 pm

This comp was owned by a little old man and it's clean as a whistle.

I didn't even pick anything up from Ad-Aware.

I just restarted and it asked me for the password I had put in so I'm home free.

And it's XP Home.

Thanks for the info.