Administrator Password Expired

Owlwings..I really was trying to avoid doing a complete recovery as I have much to loose and this would be the second time doing this on this computer..I dont much care for Vista and prehaps will just go buy windows7..I do not have the tech. skills to try to fix myself and really don't want to pay a tech to fix..Would be better off investing in new software I think..Thanks for your help just the same..

Most of the password recovery programs I have seen work from a disk-based version of Linux. If you don't know what that is, it's another operating system, similar to Windows (but very different in the way it works), many versions of which are free. I have reset passwords in the past with one of these systems (though on Windows 2000, not Vista) and it was relatively simple. The link I gave you will lead you to the 'top 10' free ones. When I did it, it wasn't necessary to log in to Windows at all because the alternative operating system boots from a CD and can look at the Windows files and make the necessary changes without Windows even running. Once the password has been reset (or deleted), you should then be able to remove the CD, restart the machine in Windows (with no password for the Admin account) and access everything as before. This does assume, though, that there is a password to change. I'm not sure what happens in a situation like yours where it seems to be set so that the password has expired and one is not allowed to change it! I have to suppose that you do still have access to the Internet on another machine, perhaps, because you were, after all, able to post and respond to this discussion! If you can download one of the utilities mentioned and create a CD on that machine, you might be able to mend your machine yourself. I believe that upgrading to Windows 7 would keep whatever account settings you already have, so it would probably not be an ideal solution to the problem, really. There is, I believe, a lot of hype about Windows 7 and many of the 'glowing reports' were apparently written while it was still in Beta. I have seen a number of less than complimentary reviews (on Amazon) and, personally, I would be inclined to wait until it has been on the market a little while and Service Pack 1 has been issued.

Owl,,thanks for the link and good information..I'm going to, with some help from a friend, try doing as you suggest..I do have access to another computer, its a dinosaur but it works. I wish I had the knowledge that you do but I do not so have to rely on friends. The friend that is willing to help me, when he can find the time, is very good and technically trained so I'm hoping that he will make some headway..Since your last post, I also have been advised to wait on Windows 7 for a while and think I will take that advice. They have read the same as you have and so maybe thats not a quick fix for me at all..In anycase I thank you and will let you know of my progress..Merry Christmas to you and yours..J

B4balaji, if you would be kind enough to reproduce that list here, I would be happy to have a look at it to see if it can be made clearer for a non-technical person. The only solution I have come across involves editing the registry (in two of the hives) and that is not a job that I would expect or advise an 'ordinary' user to undertake. I have 'clear and detailed' instructions for that but I know that they would seem confusing and intimidating to someone who had no knowledge of 'hives' and 'HEX'.

I am still at square one..I did not understand your message and have sent you a PM asking you to elaborate..maybe you missed it..In any case, I'm still unable to get into my administrator account and have been told that I have to do a complete system recovery which I am trying to avoid..I just emailed some orginazation that does tech support for Vista but I will have to pay them..Maybe you could still help me on terms I might understand? I am not tech qualified at all!! Thanks so much J

I gave a clear list of things to do, but you are telling you are not able to understand? Just follow the steps and see.