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Hello, I bought a used dell on ebay and I want to reformat the HD and change the OS. I do not have the admin password to do this. Any advise to work around this?
Doug
If you are going to reformat and install a new OS then the admin password is not needed. Just boot up the computer with the floppy disk that has the program you are going to use to format the drive and install whatever OS you want.
The only password that may stop you is the BIOS password. If the computer has a BIOS password that you have to enter before you can even boot up the operating system, then remove the battery from the motherboard for a few minutes then put it back on and the BIOS will no longer have a password assigned to it.
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Cleo,
Thanks for the response. This is pretty unusual. I do not need to enter a bios password as you said. I am putting in my win xp pro disk, pressing r so I can reformat the disk. When I try to pick the drive I want (ie: 1 C:\WINDOWS, it asks for the admin password. I usually just hit enter, but that is not working. Is that my Windows admin password then?Doug
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Can you get in contact with the seller and see if he has anything to say?
A good computer takes good care of their computer
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Pressing R brings you to the Recovery Console. There is another option available to install the OS without going to Recovery Console. The next screen will allow you to delete the partition, select the partition you would like to install XP and then it will ask you if you'd like to format. No need for a password. If you are asked for a password at any time to do a fresh install of XP, you are doing something wrong.
Pumfa
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Pumfa,
Thanks for your info. I did what you said, but now I have XP home and XP Pro that I need to choose from on restart. How do I get rid of the XP home that pops up?Doug
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OK, lets start over. When you get to the screen where you can delete partitions. Delete them all. It seems like you left one partition behind with another instance of XP installed on it. Start over and delete all partitions. This way, you are starting fresh and the partitions could be set up the way you want them. Then create a partition for the XP install. (you could use all of the space or just use part of the space if you want more than one partition). Then install XP to the specified partition(should be C:) Do a full format.(not quick) If you are using XP Pro, i suggest using NTFS when. It sounds like this is your first time doing this so, don't be afraid. Never question yourself, just do it. If it's going to be a learning experience, don't be in a rush. If you don't do it right the first time, do it again. Most important, Don't Get Frustrated.
Good Luck
Pumfa
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