password????

[texas seville]

I bought a 80GB HD w/ Windows XP off of Ebay and of course when I got it home it had a administrative password on it, I can use it and everything but I cannot add or delete programs and add music (which is why I bought it in the 1st place)

It keeps asking me for the administrative password, I emailed the seller but he said he buys HDs in bulk from leased computers so he said has no idea what it is

Does anyone know how to "reset" so to speak the administrative password OR MAYBE "reset" the HD and erase everything on it EXCEPT Windows XP

If anyone knows how to completly erase the HD and tells me if I do "reset" it I cannot keep anything on the HD, is there a way I can load my Windows XP from my current 40GB HD to the 80GB HD??

Sorry If I sound ignorant, I really dont know too much technical things about computers

Thanks everyone for any help!!!

 

[Trifid]

Search first: http://techist.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61575&highlight=reset+password

 

[texas seville]

half of that info makes NO sense to me at all????

ok, heres what I got out of it>>>>> I need to load another Windows XP on my comp.??

well I cant, XP came free on my comp., It never came w/ a operation disk, but I have a back-up CD that my comp. told me to make when I took it out of the box and set up for the 1st time

but the HD is not the same brand as my current HD so will my back up CD still work....and my current HD is 40GB so will that still make my new HD 80GB or by using my back-up will it turn the 80GB into a 40GB???

Im lost...HELP me please!!!

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

Have you slaved the new 80GB hard drive and mastered your 40GB hard drive?

So you mean you can boot into Windows on your primary 40GB hard drive, and when in Windows, you can access the files on the secondary 80GB hard drive, but not modify, add or remove and files on it?

If so, then the problem is you don't have enough permissions set for you to perform those tasks on the new hard drive. Only the 'read' permission has been granted.

This happens when you install a new hard drive, which already has Windows XP installed from another system, with passworded user accounts.

In order to gain all read and write permissions for the new drive, you need to take ownership of the new hard drive using the Windows XP Access Control settings in Security properties of the new drive. To do this you need to boot into Safe Mode.

It's relatively easy if you follow instructions properly. Here are some guides to help you:

http://www.winxptutor.com/ownership.htm

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/pcrepair/a/reclaimfolder.htm

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

You must be logged into the Windows XP Administrator's account in order to modify access rights to files and folders. If you have Windows XP Home, this means you will need to boot into Safe Mode to because the Administrator's account isn't accessible outside of Safe Mode.

 

[texas seville]

Hi, thanks for responding...

OK, you said

"Hello,

So you mean you can boot into Windows on your primary 40GB hard drive, and when in Windows, you can access the files on the secondary 80GB hard drive, but not modify, add or remove and files on it?"

Well I dont have the 80GB and the 40GB hooked up to my comp. now. When I take my current 40GB HD out of my comp. and then hook up the 80GB HD to my computer I can use the 80GB just fine, but I cannot add/delete any programs to the 80GB.

I hope I'm making sense...yall all sound like comp. genius' but I really dont know squat about them...please bare w/ me in this : )

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

You're making sense no worries.

Right. So what exactly do you want to do with the new drive?

1. Replace your 40GB drive with the 80GB drive, and use only the 80GB drive.

2. Put both the 40GB drive and the new 80GB drive into your system, allowing you to boot normally into windows on your 40GB drive and use the other 80GB drive for additional storage.

I'm getting the impression that you're interested in option 1. In this case, you'd need to format the 80GB drive and start fresh. But like you said, you made a set of recovery discs (do you have a HP or Compaq...? Anyways...) which was intended for use with your 40GB drive. I'm not sure if you can use the recovery discs for another Hard Drive with a different capacity. Good question.

The best option in my opinion is option 2. You'll have 120GB in space that way, and it's simple. You don't need to install Windows XP again and you've still got your programs and files there. All you'd need to do in this case is take ownership of the second hard drive.

 

[texas seville]

Hi, thanks again.... comps. are sooo complicated for me : )


OK, I basically want to use the 80GB in my comp. instead of my 40GB

 

[Alvin.C]

Re

Hello,

Sorry, I editied my last post a bit...added more.

 

[texas seville]

The best option in my opinion is option 2. You'll have 120GB in space that way, and it's simple. You don't need to install Windows XP again and you've still got your programs and files there. All you'd need to do in this case is take ownership of the second hard drive.

that will work too!!!

OK, so how do I do that if I dont have admin. status on the 80GB HD?

 

[Alvin.C]

Re:

Hello,

You can gain ownership of the new drive by following instructions in previous post 05-20-2006 at 10:46 AM...

...You log into the Administrator account of your current Windows XP installed on your 40GB hard drive, to modify access control for the second hard drive...not log into the admin account of the Win XP on the second 80GB hard drive (otherwise you wouldn't need to do this if you have full access rights on the 80GB drive).

So by the sounds of things you already know how to install and remove hard drives from your PC. Excellent! It'll make this easier.

Here is a guide: http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading/install-hard-drive.htm

Follow instructions from Installing or adding a new hard drive beyond.

You need to make sure your primary hard drive is set to Master and your secondary drive set to Slave. You also need to make sure they aare connected to the correct IDE terminals.