XP suddenly asking for mysterious password

I was just on my laptop and had changed the users to only one and no choices
when booted up. I have XP Home edition. it is networked with my desktop. I
was having trouble logging onto chat mode in yahoo mail and decided to
reboot. when i rebooted the first thing that happened was the close down
window was different. it had a dropdown window instead of the colorful
buttons. then when it came up again first came a window asking me for a
password to get into windows. it gave me the user name of Dell. I have never
set this up with a password to get into windows. i did have a password for my
profile in the past but got rid of that a while ago since i am the only one
using the computer.

I tried to log in in safe mode and it looked like it might work...got that
window asking for a password again. So i tried to log in after hitting F8
with the option of opening with the last working configuration. looked like
that was working, but NO... there was the window demanding a password.

What Happened? How can i get this to not happen and get back on my
laptop??????Help!

"LindaLL" <LindaLL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8A6B262F-9A40-4BF4-A277-DA938108BF99@microsoft.com...
>I was just on my laptop and had changed the users to only one and no choices
> when booted up. I have XP Home edition. it is networked with my desktop. I
> was having trouble logging onto chat mode in yahoo mail and decided to
> reboot. when i rebooted the first thing that happened was the close down
> window was different. it had a dropdown window instead of the colorful
> buttons. then when it came up again first came a window asking me for a
> password to get into windows. it gave me the user name of Dell. I have never
> set this up with a password to get into windows. i did have a password for my
> profile in the past but got rid of that a while ago since i am the only one
> using the computer.
>
> I tried to log in in safe mode and it looked like it might work...got that
> window asking for a password again. So i tried to log in after hitting F8
> with the option of opening with the last working configuration. looked like
> that was working, but NO... there was the window demanding a password.
>
> What Happened? How can i get this to not happen and get back on my
> laptop??????Help!
>


First off, have you tried leaving the password box empty, hitting the OK button,
and trying to logon to the Dell account?

If that's not working, try this.

Restart the laptop, keep hitting the F8 key, and select Safe Mode from the menu.
In the Log on to Windows dialog, enter Administrator in the User name box.
Leave the Password box empty and hit the OK button.
If you're able to logon with the built-in Administrator account, go to Control
Panel -> User Accounts and click on Change the way users log on or off.
Check off Use the Welcome screen and Use Fast User Switching.
Hit the Apply Options button.
Before closing User Accounts, take note of what accounts are displayed. Do you
see your old user account's icon? If so, click on it and remove the password. If
the Dell account is there, do the same thing.
Restart the laptop and see if you can logon in normal mode.

If you still can't logon, post back with more details about exactly what this
statement means, "I was just on my laptop and had changed the users to only one
and no choices when booted up". Also, let us know if your laptop came with an XP
installation CD.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

"LindaLL" wrote in
<news:8A6B262F-9A40-4BF4-A277-DA938108BF99@microsoft.com>:

> I was just on my laptop and had changed the users to only one and no choices
> when booted up.

My guess based on this description is that you disabled Fast User
Switching. That eliminates the Fisher-Price Welcome Screen and reverts
to the classic login prompt.

> I have XP Home edition. it is networked with my desktop. I
> was having trouble logging onto chat mode in yahoo mail and decided to
> reboot. when i rebooted the first thing that happened was the close down
> window was different.

Yep, the Fisher-Price fluff was gone.

> it had a dropdown window instead of the colorful
> buttons. then when it came up again first came a window asking me for a
> password to get into windows.

You now have to logon with a username and password to provide security
instead of just hitting a button.

> it gave me the user name of Dell. I have never
> set this up with a password to get into windows.

You mean it showed "Dell" for the username? Instead try "Administrator"
with a blank password (unless you changed the password after the Windows
XP installation).

> i did have a password for my
> profile in the past but got rid of that a while ago since i am the only one
> using the computer.

What does "got rid of" mean? That you entered a different string as the
password? That you blanked it out?

> I tried to log in in safe mode and it looked like it might work...got that
> window asking for a password again. So i tried to log in after hitting F8
> with the option of opening with the last working configuration. looked like
> that was working, but NO... there was the window demanding a password.
>
> What Happened? How can i get this to not happen and get back on my
> laptop??????Help!

You'll first need to get logged in. Use the Administrator account. You
can only get to it by booting into safe mode since you have the Home
version of Windows XP (the Pro version doesn't require a reboot). Then
see if a blank password works.

Thank you both for your help. it is now working properly. might have known
it was some simple wrong thing i did....

Hi,
I am having a similar problem, except it is on my desktop. Your post has
been the most helpful in that now I could get into safe mode and have an
Administrator password option. I am stuck in that I still can't login, not
accepting enter and blank password field.
Thanks

"VanguardLH" wrote:

> "LindaLL" wrote in
> <news:8A6B262F-9A40-4BF4-A277-DA938108BF99@microsoft.com>:
>
> > I was just on my laptop and had changed the users to only one and no choices
> > when booted up.
>
> My guess based on this description is that you disabled Fast User
> Switching. That eliminates the Fisher-Price Welcome Screen and reverts
> to the classic login prompt.
>
> > I have XP Home edition. it is networked with my desktop. I
> > was having trouble logging onto chat mode in yahoo mail and decided to
> > reboot. when i rebooted the first thing that happened was the close down
> > window was different.
>
> Yep, the Fisher-Price fluff was gone.
>
> > it had a dropdown window instead of the colorful
> > buttons. then when it came up again first came a window asking me for a
> > password to get into windows.
>
> You now have to logon with a username and password to provide security
> instead of just hitting a button.
>
> > it gave me the user name of Dell. I have never
> > set this up with a password to get into windows.
>
> You mean it showed "Dell" for the username? Instead try "Administrator"
> with a blank password (unless you changed the password after the Windows
> XP installation).
>
> > i did have a password for my
> > profile in the past but got rid of that a while ago since i am the only one
> > using the computer.
>
> What does "got rid of" mean? That you entered a different string as the
> password? That you blanked it out?
>
> > I tried to log in in safe mode and it looked like it might work...got that
> > window asking for a password again. So i tried to log in after hitting F8
> > with the option of opening with the last working configuration. looked like
> > that was working, but NO... there was the window demanding a password.
> >
> > What Happened? How can i get this to not happen and get back on my
> > laptop??????Help!
>
> You'll first need to get logged in. Use the Administrator account. You
> can only get to it by booting into safe mode since you have the Home
> version of Windows XP (the Pro version doesn't require a reboot). Then
> see if a blank password works.
>
>