windows password delete help

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How to Prevent a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me Logon Prompt at Startup
Article ID : 152104
Last Review : September 27, 2004
Revision : 1.1

This article was previously published under Q152104
On this Page
SUMMARY
MORE INFORMATION

SUMMARY
This article describes how to prevent Windows from prompting you for a password when you start Windows.

Note that this information applies only if you are not using user profiles. If you have user profiles enabled, and you follow the steps in this article, Windows is not prevented from prompting you for a password. If you have enabled user profiles and you would like to disable or delete them before you follow these steps, view the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
156826 How to Disable and Delete User Profiles
MORE INFORMATION
To prevent Windows from prompting you for a password at startup: 1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Network.
2. On the Configuration tab, click Windows Logon in the Primary Network Logon box, and then click OK.
3. When you are prompted to restart your computer, click No.
4. In Control Panel, double-click Passwords.
5. On the Change Passwords tab, click Change Windows Password, select any of the check boxes that you want, and then click OK.

NOTE: If you cancel the network logon dialog box when you start your computer, the Change Passwords tab may not be available. You must log on so that the Change Passwords tab is available.
6. In the Change Windows Password dialog box, type your current Windows password in the Old Password box. Leave the New Password and Confirm New Password boxes blank, click OK, and then click OK.

NOTE: If you have forgotten your old password, view the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
189126 Microsoft's Policy Regarding Missing or Invalid Passwords
7. On the User Profiles tab, verify that the All users of this PC use the same preferences and desktop settings option is selected, and then click Close.
8. Click Start, point to Search (or Find), and then click For Files or Folders.
9. Type *.pwl in the Named box, click Local Hard Drives in the Look in box, and then press ENTER.
10. Right-click one of the .pwl files, click Rename, and then rename the file with an .old file name extension. Repeat this step for each .pwl file.

NOTE: If you do not rename the .pwl files, the passwords from those files may be detected by Windows and the Windows Logon request may continue to appear.
11. Shut down and then restart your computer.
If you still receive a logon prompt, it may be caused by the TweakUI tool from Windows 95 Power Toys. If you have installed Windows 95 Power Toys and you are using the TweakUI tool, view the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
135586 Hiding the Last Logged on User Name in Windows 95
For additional information about how to cache your Microsoft Windows NT domain password, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
140709 How to Cache Your Windows NT Domain Password in Windows 95/98/Me

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

APPLIES TO
. Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
. Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition
. Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition
. Microsoft Windows 95

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I got a free computer with windows 98 and on start it shows a place for
user (name) to log out--of windows i guess. Whet to change to no
password but cannot as do not know pass users password. How can i get
rid of this as do not want a password ??.

(Earl) wrote in news:15327-41BB6679-517@storefull-
3272.bay.webtv.net:

I got a free computer with windows 98 and on start it shows a place for
user (name) to log out--of windows i guess. Whet to change to no
password but cannot as do not know pass users password. How can i get
rid of this as do not want a password ??.



find a 'username'.pwd file in \windows. Delete it, reboot, and hit OK when
it asks for a password again.

Do i click on"my computer" or "start" to find .PWD file.??. Found a
windows file on harddrive but did not see a .PWD file. Thanks

Hope this helps
1. Go to Start- Find - "Files and Folders":
2. Then in the file names, type:
*.pwl
and start the search.
3. Delete all the files you find that have the 3 letter extension "pwl"
4. Close the FIND window and they go to START - RUN
5. Type in the word:
sysedit
and click on the OK button
6. Open the sub window titled "System.ini"
7. Scroll down to the group [passwords]
8. Insert either a ; or the word "rem" in front of each line. (or
optionally delete all lines in that group)
9. Go to the menu item "file" and choose "save" then close all of
these windows.
10. Just to be safe, go to the Control Panel and open the "Passwords"
icon
11. Go to the "Users Profile" tab and choose the "All users use the same
password and desktop settings"
12. Close the Control Panel and choose Start - Shutdown -restart.
13. When the computer restarts, and gives you a logon screen, type in
your name.
14. But leave the password blank. Then click the Ok button (do not
click the cancel).
15. You name should now be in the logoff list and the next time you
start, it will not ask for a password.


"Earl" wrote in message
...
I got a free computer with windows 98 and on start it shows a place for
user (name) to log out--of windows i guess. Whet to change to no
password but cannot as do not know pass users password. How can i get
rid of this as do not want a password ??.

It's not PWD, it's PWL. And use FindFiles & Folders to locate it. See Richard
Goh's reply to your original.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Earl" wrote in message
...
Do i click on"my computer" or "start" to find .PWD file.??. Found a
windows file on harddrive but did not see a .PWD file. Thanks

Ok -.pwl. Will look again and thanks to all for help.