I am locked out(I do not have the password) of my newly acquired used notebook with Win2000 Professional. I cannot get pass the login to windows screen. I have no valuble info on the computer so I am willing to load another operating system.

http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/58653.html has links/references that deal with how to regain access. I posted a link there to another post within computing.net that has a range of routines... You seeem to imply you are the second (or later) owner of this laptop. That being so it may be wise to start afresh with it. Presuming so what OS would you like to install; also what is/are the laptop make/specs in terms of hardware (does it have a floppy drive and CDROM)? 64Meg RAM is OK for '98 - but a little mean for W2K-Pro. You would be wise to up the RAM to 128Meg min. for W2K - even up to 256/512... With more RAM it's just inside the floor for XP - but I'd stay with '98 or W2K-Pro - presuming it is W2K-compliant... and the hard-drive is large enough...

I have win98 available and would be happy to use it but don't know how since I am locked out. I have a Dell with an external cd drive and floopy. Thanks for your help.

Boot with the floppy; run Fdisk routine and delete all partitions. Then reconfigure the drive for '98. If the CD is bootable (and you can set the laptop bios to CD boot first you can then run '98 setup from the CD; but ideally preformat the partition(s). If laptop bios does not allow a CD boot, and you cannot have both floppy and CD installed at the same time, then you need to make the primary partition bootable to a c: prompt. You format the reconfigured drive via the '98 boot-disk using the command: " format c /s " (no " ") and then install the CDROM drivers to the primary. Then you replace the floppy-drive with the CDROM and install '98 that way. You can also copy the '98 setup (cabs.) folder to the drive and run setup from there. A while back Krsytina detailed a way to load the CDROM drivers to the hard-drive. Rather than go thru' it all here, or to detail the route I would use (they're very similar) I suggest you visit mesich.com and look for Krystina's info. preserved there. Go to the "how to's" section and look for "loading windows from swapable drives". Also have a good read/browse thru' Bob Bale's site at: http://www.btinternet.com/~robert.bale1/formatinstall.htm It too has useful info. to guide you. I suggest that when you reconfigure the drive afresh for '98 you create both a Primary and an Extended partition. Primary for OS/apps/utils; Extended for data. That way you can re-install to the Primary (without affecting the data/Extended area - unless really careless/unlucky) at any future time if the need arises. You can also reformat the Primary if need-be. If W2K = ntfs then that will show up as non-dos during Fdisk inspections routine. Simply delete the non-dos partition; afterwhich reconfigure/reformat the drive using the '98 boot-disk Fdisk/format utils... Should you need one... Bob Bale's site includes a cut-down Fdisk tutorial; M$ KB has an excellent detailed version too: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q255/8/67.ASP It shouldn't take you too long to get '98 installed. Good luck.