Nairaland Forum

My system runs on window xp. To improve the appearance of the themes I had to install windows vistas inspirat. Things have been going smonthly except for yesterday.
I installed avast antivirus to get rid of the viruses in the system. In the course of installation, I was prompted to restart the system for complete scanning. This I accepted. After the scan was completed, and the system finished rebooting, a command with the inscription of windows vistas popped up, demanding I supply a password to my username. The only place I used any password was at the hp centrino page, immediately after starting the computer. I don't use any password beyond this area. I even tried logging on safe mode but the password vistas page still appeared.
Please what do I do?

You may have to boot your system from a bootable windows xp cd and reinstall your operating system. I suspect that the software enhancement you made requires a licence which you don't have. You have to be careful with Microsoft software. Microsoft is fighting software piracy and illegal use in Africa viciously.

Reinstalling your opreating system won't harm your data. But don't format while reinstalling. Just reinstall the OS.

cdz: You may have to boot your system from a bootable windows xp cd and reinstall your operating system. I suspect that the software enhancement you made requires a licence which you don't have. You have to be careful with Microsoft software. Microsoft is fighting software piracy and illegal use in Africa viciously.

Reinstalling your opreating system won't harm your data. But don't format while reinstalling. Just reinstall the OS.

thank you. Another problem is that my Disk drive is faulty. I'm thinking if there is any default password that can be used.

Your disc drive being faulty shouldn't be a problem. You can use an external USB disc drive. I wonder, did you try using the esc key when the password prompt came up. Sometimes this gets rid of the prompt. I'm not aware of any default password that may be used.

cdz: Your disc drive being faulty shouldn't be a problem. You can use an external USB disc drive. I wonder, did you try using the esc key when the password prompt came up. Sometimes this gets rid of the prompt. I'm not aware of any default password that may be used.

thank you very much. I thought so, only that I have the service pack in cd only. Thank you. Do you know how safe and possible it is to remove the hard drive into another system to extract the files I need? I need these files urgently. If it is possible, I can do that for now, and format the entire system later.

Please somebody should say something

Reyginus: Please somebody should say something

If the data's that important, get a hard disk casing for the hard disk. It would work just like an external hdd.

musKeeto:
If the data's that important, get a hard disk casing for the hard disk. It would work just like an external hdd.

Hard disk casing. Will it help me bypass the password?

Reyginus: Hard disk casing. Will it help me bypass the password?

Yeah. You would have access to the files on the hard disk. The password shows up because it's a part of the operating system. Plug out the hard disk, put in a hard disk enclosure (make sure you get the right one), then plug it into a usb port on another pc..

Good luck..

musKeeto:
Yeah. You would have access to the files on the hard disk. The password shows up because it's a part of the operating system. Plug out the hard disk, put in a hard disk enclosure (make sure you get the right one), then plug it into a usb port on another pc..

Good luck..

Thank you. But how do I locate the hard disk? Any description?

.

Lol. Just noticed this. No vex.

The location of the hard disk will be dependent on your laptop model. I'd advise you take it to a professional if you're not too tech savvy.

Or you could post pictures

Laptop opened at owner's risk sha..

musKeeto: Lol. Just noticed this. No vex.

The location of the hard disk will be dependent on your laptop model. I'd advise you take it to a professional if you're not too tech savvy.

Or you could post pictures

Laptop opened at owner's risk sha..

Lol. Thanks. I did it myself. Since friday. Only that I'm yet to find a perfect hard-disk case match.

Solved.

Reyginus: Solved.

Yayyy...

musKeeto:
Yayyy...

Pop palm wine.