Locked administrator on vista and limited access on user

[Natasha84]

Hi my name is Natasha and I ve locked myself out of my Administrator account on Vista Home Premium 32bit dell inspirion 1525.
The administrator account I usual use for backup but had to change the password due to reasons people have to change there passwords. I think my problem is I changed the Admin Password through the User Account. I know I am using the right password but it says its incorrect. I believe from what I ve learnt that this is the fault.... that or changing passwords at 3 am is bad idea :D. My User account has only basic permissions.

Listed below are the solutions Ive tried.
checked the accounts on my computer throught control panel. there are 4 : 1 admin (locked out)
2 dell admin (cant access) found out under users in control panel( think this is the one i changed years ago.
3 system ( try to access ) with How to gain access to system account the most powerful account in Windows. « Alien Eyes. didnt work , cmd prompted.
4 user account ( crap access)
from reading help pages and forums tried to access main account under f8 but turns out I changed the basis password for factory account years ago
tried to repair under f8 , tried to restore ,
tried booting up from cds but cant get past admin password , tired f12

At this awhile , wont say how long and cant afford repair.
if anyone one can help it would be much appreciated , even the right link .

My Regards
Natasha84:D

 

[wither 3]

If you can figure out how to get to it on a laptop, you could remove the battery from the CMOS for a minute and reinsert it. I think that might change the password setup.

 

[Natasha84]

Thank you for getting back to me. I got this articule off Dell
Documentation
hopeful it works but it requires taking the laptop apart , my parther is going to do it, quiet frankly I think he is looking forward to it :-(. I will let you know how it goes.

Natasha84

 

[wither 3]

Let us know if it works.

 

[Natasha84]

Update: My partner got to the cell battery no problem , but didnt know about Bios system or password. He didnt read that part, used this for help
Documentation

It seems he had to make usb file on his laptop to put on mine. When my Dell booted up it was in the blue screen and asked for admin password from 4 days after it was bought. so trying get pass that now. Its not blank and I dont think its factory password. Getting the paperwork from when software was installed and see if its on that .... heres hoping.

If anyone else has ideas for this problem it be great !
My Regards
Natasha 84

 

[wither 3]

Is the BIOS unavailable after reinstalling the battery?

 

[Natasha84]

The coin battery was taken out and my partner said the time, date where reset , system password and HDD was unlock but there was still a Admin password, 8 characters long and then a chime.The BIOS was gone he had to download it online on to USB for me.
The thing is my user account is still there and my info , just been looking over it .

 

[wither 3]

Does that mean you're still locked out of the Administrator account so the whole exercise was for nothing?

 

[richc46]

Welcome Natasha,
This is what you do
Use Ubuntu to back up your stuff.
Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer - How-To Geek
Then restore to factory specs using the restoration partition.
This is how you restore with Dell
Ctrl + F11 or F8 - Access Dell computers Dell System Restore (DSR) partition on many different models.
You will be restored to the way it was when you took it home. No updates, stuff or settings, you must put all that back.
To boot from CDs, if you choose that route to restore, you must set the computer to boot from the CD not the OS.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/205005-boot-priority-change.html

 

[Natasha84]

Update: well I F8 and F11(cant remember which one worked) and this time it let me boot up from the Operation Vista CD. I dont know if I did it wrong last time or wiping out the BIOS allowed me to boot up from the CD without it asking for Admin password this time, so Wither 3 it might not have been a waste!

So got Vista all new on my laptop with Admin controls back !!!! So Thanks Wither 3 and Richc64. I just have to install all the Drivers and Utilites now, not to mention downloading all my online software and updates !@ richc64 I will be hanging on to that software you recommend it will come in handy but when I tried to backup it wouldnt let me, kept asking for Admin password :-( . My main user account will have full permission from now on!

Now I might open another Thread , I am not sure. But my Memory on my main Hardrive and recovery is been taken up with old files from my last windows , I going through them but not sure what I should recover and is ok to delete. There is also a old file from the last wipe I did Years ago! Lots of backup and usb password recoveries from now on.

 

[wither 3]

Sounds like you're almost there. If you reinstall Vista over an old copy, it will create a folder called Windows Old. If you didn't have any of your personal files backed up, you might find something useful.

 

[Natasha84]

Your right Wither 3 I ve access all my old photos and music and might be able to rescue my Itunes, whne I have that done going to delete old windows fro my hardrives.
Installing my Drivers and Appilcations it seems I have to do it one by one, I inserted the cd and it installed , ticked all my hardware and it seems I have to extract each file I want, I ve been searching through the Driver section on this forum and havent found anything similair yet !

My Regards

Natasha84

 

[wither 3]

I don't know which CD you're referring to. I have a CD with all my mobo drivers that came with the mobo. I don't have a name brand computer. When I run it, it will ask me what I want to install. However, that just gets me the original drivers and I have to go looking for the latest and greatest and install them individually, just like you're doing. If your system is using proprietary Dell hardware, then you should use the drivers from their website. That's always the case with one of their laptops.

 

[Natasha84]

Thanks withers , doing 114 windows updates ,including sevice pack 2 right now :-(, Before this week I didnt even know I could update my drivers so doing that next. There is a second cd with just applications about to start that ..
not to mention Itunes, adobe, vlc and the rest :-). At this computer since 11.00 but lots of good things has come out of it, found pictures I thought I had lost and learned more about computers in the last week then in the whole year :-).

Cd is Dell drivers and came with the laptop. seperate one for dell webcam and another with just applications. The vista operating system and rodex came with it.

 

[wither 3]

Been there, done that. When you go to the Dell support site and go to drivers\home, once it has your tag number, it will only display about 4 drivers. However, there is another tab there titled "all drivers for.....". It lists about everything you can think of. Mine has 99 entries.

 

[townsbg]

Using that trick to run cmd as system is blocked in Visa. See here: Running a CMD prompt as System (XP/Vista/Windows 7) « The Realm of the Verbal Processor

Also I have the suspicion that you would have had to do a run-as administrator in Vista.

 

[Natasha84]

@wither 3 cool about to check it out now. all back up and running and better then before :-) . Took all yesterday and part of today but well worth it.
@townsbg: so trying to open the system account would even now would be useless, started reading over your link, prob take few times to absorb it all :-) ,Thanks for the help.

 

[townsbg]

It looks like you have to something else installed.

 

[Natasha84]

????@townsbg something else installed ?

 

[townsbg]

Yes did you read the link?