Need someone with computer knowledge

[kaykaitkar]

I am not the most computer literate guy in the world but I do get by.  My problem is a picked up a P3 750MHz computer from a garage sale that I plan to use for my newest mame cabinet.  The computer must have come from a business because it is asking for a network ID and password.  It is running Windows 2000.  My question is:  How do I get around this or how can I install a new OS onto it?  

Ive just never encountered anything like this problem and would appreciate any help.  Thanx in advance.

[Tiger-Heli]

First Question:  Do you have an OS that you can install on it (the CD's, I mean) 98SE, Win2k, Linux, XP, etc.

Second Question: Do you have drivers for the motherboard and video card and sound card on the computer for the OS above?

Third Question:  You might be able to click cancel on the password screen and at least get to the files on the computer.  This wouldn't be a long-term solution.

Otherwise, make a DOS disk to access the hard drive(s).  I like to find out who made the drive (open the case and look inside) and go to the manufacturers website and get their software for wiping and partitioning the drive.  However, I am pretty sure you can just type "format C:" and it will erase the drive (all data will be lost, though, including the drivers I asked about).  Then you can install any OS you want on it.

Another option (but might not work with NTFS drives) (if you wanted to keep the data) is to download Knoppix and burn it to a CD (Tomshardware had a good article on it) and use it to delete the Windows directory and subdirectories.

[Grauwulf]

Well you have a couple of options. Depending on what O/S you want to put on the system, you should just be able to drop the CD for it in the CD drive and boot from the CD. I know with 98SE you can boot to dos from the CD and then format the C: drive. Your other option is to make a boot disk from a win98 system and then boot from that and format the C: drive.

[shadowdrak]

Windows 2000 you say?  there is a boot-disk hack you can use to reset the password on windows systems...  You may eventually want to reformat anyway though.  So long as it is not a novell login it should work.
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
follow the directions there and you can reset the password to whatever you want.  Handy little tool, I have used it myself in a bind.

[MoonDog]

i have a related question.  i just re-formatted my drive and installed Win98.  every time i boot up it prompts me for username and password.  from my fading memory of 98 i seemed to remember that if you left the password on your initial account blank then it wouldn't prompt you for it so i thought i left it blank.  unfortunately i must have hit a key or two because it always says wrong password.  i can press cancel, but it's not very cabinet friendly.  how do i get it to skip that?  i thought i could turn it off through the network settings or users or passwords, but i can't seem to make it go away.

[Bloinkxp]

Moondog,
To delete the old password search your c:\windows dir (and subdirs) for *.pwl.  Delete the .pwl and you will be good.

For Windows 2000 the above mentioned exploit does not work on post w2ksp3 machines (i believe).

-d

[shadowdrak]

Well try it out I guess.  Don't worry if it messes up your registry.  It is just about the only option you have.  If it doesn't boot after do it, set the bios to boot from a CD and format and install any OS you have a disk for.  Any problems there and I would be glad to help.  Let's be optimistic though.  We'll burn that bridge IF we come to it.

[Tahnok]

You know, it is a lot easier to work with a locked harddrive if you just drop it into another computer as a slave. I think that should work, but I have never done it personally.

[shadowdrak]

There are only a couple of reasons you would want to drop it into another computer.
A: If you need to get data off of it.
Not the case here because he has never used this computer before.
B: If you are having trouble formatting it... either because you aren't comfortable using dos or some other reason.
In the case of a computer with a weird partitioning scheme or certain NTFS volumes it may be difficult to get it partitioned and formatted using a boot disk.

I see no reason in this case to put it into another box (although be my guest if you decide to do so.  Make sure you reset the jumpers if you do.)

In any other case, fdisk and format from a boot disk should cover it.  I have had to transplant hard-drives in the past, but only for reason A.  Usually it is easier to leave the drive in place if you can boot to a floppy or CD.  As long as you can get to a C prompt it takes exactly two commands(in some cases 3) to get a drive formatted(assuming you only want one partition).

So I don't I don't honestly see how opening up two cases, unscrewing a hard-drive, setting jumpers on two drives, then reversing the process is simpler than typing 2 commands on a console.  To each his own I suppose.  I have been doing this a long time and I could easily be classified as lazy, and trust me, this requires an absolute minimum of effort(so long as you know how to use console commands).  This reply is meant to be blunt, not condescending BTW.