i have been given a laptop that has already been through three or four people before me and there is an admin. password on it from the original user and the password was not transfered with the laptop from the original user before he died which is why it keeps getting handed off. my question is there any way to overwrite/disabled the admin password. ps the admin even locks out FDISK and FORMAT

If you search for Windows Password Removal Tool you'll find a bootable cd image that will do just what you want. Skip

"admin even locks out FDISK and FORMAT" Assuming that you are running windows 2000 (at least this is posted in the windows 2000 forum) you can't run FDISK and FORMAT from within windows anyway, you would need a bootable floppy disk or CD to perform those actions The best way to recover the password is to use the program SkipCox mentioned, but I have never needed to use that and cant comment on wether it works or not

Buy a legitimate copy of a Windows OS and install that. Then, set your own password. LIR

I used the password removal program on a lot of 8 old Dell's purchased at a school district auction. It doesn't make much sense to buy new OS's for perfectly good $20 pc's. Skip

I've never tried the one mentioned by Skip. But I have used the following several times: http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpas...

Is it asking for a password before windows starts or after. If before then it is a bios password. Some laptops ask before starting windows as the windows password is easy to break