Howdy !! I'm a little frustrated tonight. I can't seem to remember my Windows 2000 password. It asked me that my password has expired and it requires a new one. The problem is, my laptop (Toshiba 1500) has been put away for a few months and I cannot find the original password. I need to get to my laptop and retrieve some important files. Can anyone tell me how I can disable this password or please , any suggestion. I would hate to reformat .. thanks !!!

If you have forgotten the win2000 password then the security by its very nature means you will have no access to the drive, however try www.computer-recovery.com they can recover your important data at least.

easy solution. Try install new installation of win 2000 next to existing instalation. Newest take administration rights old version and you can see your data.

What about your Admin password? I can't believe how many threads are posted on forgetting a password. What will be forgotten next? Here a tip for forgetfull "Password" Computer Useres. Don't use a password!!! Leave it blank.

all of the previous posts were posted by morons... don't listen to them... there are numerous ways to get around this problem. if the password is on the local admin account, first assess whether that is the only local account with admin privaledges or not.. if not, log in as that user and change the admin pw to whatever you want. if there are no other user accounts and you think you're SOL then get the linux crack disk for the admin password; NTHACK. that crap about reinstalling another copy right next to the original?? yeah, that person should apply for the Darwin Awards next year. the only thing remotely valuable out of that information is that with NT 4.0 you could do a repair of the SAM database that would automatically set the Admin password to blank/null/zero. ANYWAYS... the NTHACK disk can be found all across the net but make sure you grab the one that will work for 2k. Predominately the NT4.0 version is seen but there IS one for 2k. also, it needs to be saved as a floppy and boot from it. it's a linux based program that decrypts the window's hash security and allows you to reset the admin password to whatever you want. also, if there is another user you can log in as and it has power user rights instead of admin, download l0pht crack and crack your own admin pw... i use this prog frequently and it'll crack a 2k password in about 2 hours even with Password Policy Enforcer.

http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/33409.html gives a few options, via assorted links within links - including a hack...

if you have fat fs, boot from dos floppy and delete the following file: C:\WINNT\system32\config\SAM you administrator password is empty.