need help with ex-school dell optiplex 620

[aczlan]

thanks, quick ( dumb? ) question.. when you say to login as administrator.
does that mean that after i use the wifes school login, i tell it to log that users off and login as another user ( from the start button / shut down menu ) ?
thanks for the help.
I was much better with computers back when stuff had jumpers and belts, and ram came in small DIP packages..

When you initially go to login, it has 3 boxes, Username, Password and "Log on to" (aka, the domain name). The "Log on to" box should be a dropdown box. You should be able to select "COMPUTER_NAME (Local Computer)" and login with one of the accounts that your reset the password to earlier.

Aaron Z

 

[Soundguy]

i think i follow.

and yeah. in the drop down box of where to logon to, it lists the schools name, another schools name ( they share studends from elementary and middle school ), and then something like this machine as the 3rd item.

so.. i should actually be able to use administrator as the login name, and no password since it was blanked, if i am following correctly.

sorry for sounding like a moron. if this was a 70 year old tractor or a circuit board i'd be fine.

 

[aczlan]

i think i follow.
and yeah. in the drop down box of where to logon to, it lists the schools name, another schools name ( they share studends from elementary and middle school ), and then something like this machine as the 3rd item.
so.. i should actually be able to use administrator as the login name, and no password since it was blanked, if i am following correctly.

Yes, choose the machine name, login as administrator with a blank password and follow my steps above to switch to a workgroup.

sorry for sounding like a moron. if this was a 70 year old tractor or a circuit board i'd be fine.

If I was shoulder deep in the guts of a 70yo Ford tractor, I would probbaly be asking similar questions

Aaron Z

 

[Soundguy]

took one more go atit with the cracker, because i forgot to blank one of the admin accounts..

but those instructions did it,.. it boots to a win xpadmin login with no pword, and don't look for any school network.

thanks!

Yes, it still thinks its a member of a domain, thats why his wife's school login still works.


See the link I posted earlier to switch to from a domain to a workgroup. That will get it to stop looking for the school network.
Short directions to do it:

1. Login as an administrator
2. Right click on My Computer, then click on properties
3. Click on the "Computer Name" tab
4. Click the "Change" button
5. Put a new computer name in the "Computer name" box (optional)
6. Click the "Workgroup" radio button
7. Enter a name in the "Workgroup" text box
8. Click "Ok"
9. Click "Ok"
10. Click "Ok" (or "Yes") when it asks to reboot
11. When it starts back up, login as your admin account
12. Enjoy

Aaron Z

 

[MossRoad]

Hey, you can always do computer work as a fall-back when those old tractors stop running..... uh, well, that should probably be reversed. :laughing:

Glad you got it going. :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

took one more go atit with the cracker, because i forgot to blank one of the admin accounts..

but those instructions did it,.. it boots to a win xpadmin login with no pword, and don't look for any school network.

thanks!

Gives you warm and fuzzy feelings about computer security, don't it? hahahaha

 

[Soundguy]

Gives you warm and fuzzy feelings about computer security, don't it? hahahaha

last problem now is getting the mail to play nice.
I transfered my outlook settings over.. but it refuses to save my password for some reason.

am browsing on the computer now.

of the 2 school pc's we bought .. one had a good hd monitor and thoer this winxp box. the one computer has a doa hdd .. but had 4g ram. this one had 1g ram. so i swapped.. surprised xp would run on 4g.. thought it might be stuck at 2..

 

[aczlan]

Hey, you can always do computer work as a fall-back when those old tractors stop running..... uh, well, that should probably be reversed. :laughing:
Glad you got it going. :thumbsup:

He can read and follow directions, he would be better than some of the (well paid) so called computer professionals that I have interacted with :shocked:

Gives you warm and fuzzy feelings about computer security, don't it? hahahaha

If a bad guy has physical access to anything that isn't encrypted it can be assumed that they will get access... If its encrypted, you stand a chance of keeping them out.

surprised xp would run on 4g.. thought it might be stuck at 2..

32 bit XP is fine with up to 4GB.

Aaron Z

 

[Soundguy]

so far so good guys.. i'm still working out kinks with outlook express.. but it IS checking my mail. it just keeps forgetting my email password and asking for it. but inbound and outbound mail is being handled by the client.

thanks again guys