Need to reset Win XP password, but cant boot from CD Drive

[itsfuzzy]

Hi guys, im really stuck and need help. The story is a friends son passed away recently. So they want to access his data on the laptop. So i thought it could be done easily with Hirens Boot CD. When i power it on the only option is F2 for setup. But when i do that im presented with a Bios password, so i cant set boot to CD drive. The strange thing is, if i dont hit F2 it goes to the XP login page and no Bios password is shown. If i go into safe mode the Admin account also has a password. If i take out the hard drive and put it in a HDD enclosure and access it as an external hdd is it possible to reset the password? Last resort would be to just take the data off it when its in the hdd enclosure. But the laptop would be useless. Its not even as if i can reformat it and install XP from scratch as i cant boot from CD Drive. Its an Acer TravelMate 4150 Laptop.

 

[tgbaz]

Hi guys, im really stuck and need help. The story is a friends son passed away recently. So they want to access his data on the laptop. So i thought it could be done easily with Hirens Boot CD. When i power it on the only option is F2 for setup. But when i do that im presented with a Bios password, so i cant set boot to CD drive. The strange thing is, if i dont hit F2 it goes to the XP login page and no Bios password is shown. If i go into safe mode the Admin account also has a password. If i take out the hard drive and put it in a HDD enclosure and access it as an external hdd is it possible to reset the password? Last resort would be to just take the data off it when its in the hdd enclosure. But the laptop would be useless. Its not even as if i can reformat it and install XP from scratch as i cant boot from CD Drive. Its an Acer TravelMate 4150 Laptop.

buddy you will probably find active password remover wont work with acer anyway , you'l need to reset the cmos, from memory acer is a jumper or chip youd need to short on motherboard, ( usually near the DIMM slots ). PLease dont try this if you dont feel capable.
You could then caddy the drive to get data off it ( remember youl need to chage 'security' permissons to give 'everyone' ownership on another machine then reinstall windows..
you can try the password removal after you get cd drive working, but i dont think youl be successfull with this acer model unfortunatly.

 

[itsfuzzy]

Tgbaz thanks for the reply. Ill try and short the jumper pins or the chip. Im sure i can get that done, once i dont have to desolder or resolder anything. I cant believe that active password or offline password changer doesnt work on Acer. Any idea why? When this bios password comes up it states Insyde Software SCU. Its a bit weird.

 

[tgbaz]

Acer is only machine i cant get the removal to work with mate( tho try it once you sorted bios because it does work some models of acer ), even the latest released independant password removal, ( which like you said is in hirens all be it a older version ), i think its the stupid way they partition there drive, it always shows the main partition as number 2, ( this will make sense if you used that password remover before ),but not entirly sure why to be honust, but spend a lot of time using this wee tool at work when i forget to ask customers there password hehe
but indeed, you wont need to solder/resolder anything to clear the cmos, or at least i am pretty sure you wont, though not quite as easy as the old fashioned cmos battery trick

 

[hollow]

could always replace the eprom on the motherboard to clear all the passwords ,can buy them off ebay for around a tenner already programmed for you

 

[dar1437]

Its not even as if i can reformat it and install XP from scratch as i cant boot from CD Drive. Its an Acer TravelMate 4150 Laptop.

Could you boot into safemode with networking and network it to a nother pc, copy xp setup files from disk of pc to laptop and run from there?