Windows xp and vista

[shantara]

Had xp and inadvertantly installed vista on top of it. When I try to do a
system restore to an earlier version of windows(xp) I am asked for
administrator password. I dont remember my password. How can I bypass this or
find my password from xp. If I reinstall xp, how do I get back all my
pictures and documents?

 

[Mark Adams]

"shantara" wrote:

> Had xp and inadvertantly installed vista on top of it. When I try to do a
> system restore to an earlier version of windows(xp) I am asked for
> administrator password. I dont remember my password. How can I bypass this or
> find my password from xp. If I reinstall xp, how do I get back all my
> pictures and documents?

Save your pictures and documents first before doing anything else. Boot the
machine from a live linnux CD such as Knoppix. Copy your data to an external
USB hard drive. Alternatively, remove your hard drive from the machine and
slave it into another machine and copy the data off to the host machine.

Leave the administrator password blank. If you didn't use a password during
the install, you shouldn't need one now.

 

[Daave]

shantara wrote:
> Had xp and inadvertantly installed vista on top of it.

How does one inadvertantly install an operating system?!

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

"shantara" <shantara@discussions.microsoft.com> said this in news item
news:980FA371-29F7-4B2A-9B74-9F038762E849@microsoft.com...
> Had xp and inadvertantly installed vista on top of it. When I try to do a
> system restore to an earlier version of windows(xp) I am asked for
> administrator password. I dont remember my password. How can I bypass this
> or
> find my password from xp. If I reinstall xp, how do I get back all my
> pictures and documents?

If you installed Vista on top of Windows XP then System Restore will not get
you back to Windows XP. You must re-install it on a freshly formatted disk,
after backing up your data files as suggested by Mark Adams.

 

[Mark Adams]

"Daave" wrote:

> shantara wrote:
> > Had xp and inadvertantly installed vista on top of it.
>
> How does one inadvertantly install an operating system?!
>
>

Probably with a great deal of ignorance; the same kind that will keep the OP
from recovering or backing up her data.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

"Mark Adams" <MarkAdams@discussions.microsoft.com> said this in news item
news:6703B919-0423-4F3A-B6CB-190B8F64F5EA@microsoft.com...
>
>
> "Daave" wrote:
>
>> shantara wrote:
>> > Had xp and inadvertantly installed vista on top of it.
>>
>> How does one inadvertantly install an operating system?!
>>
>>
>
> Probably with a great deal of ignorance; the same kind that will keep the
> OP
> from recovering or backing up her data.

I've seen it happen. Many people have some difficulty in making the
distinction between Windows 2000 and Office 2003 (for example). One of my
clients thought he was installing Office 2003 but since he picked the
Windows 2000 CD he clobbered his Win98 installation. In other words, it's
not such an exotic mistake.