Thinkpads Forum

I managed to screw up my windows install enough that a reinstall, or at least repair install seems warranted. I tried doing this from a full XP Pro disk from another computer, but there are still lots of missing files that cause problems.

When I open up rescue and recovery, it prompts me for a password (that I don't recall ever setting and none of my normal passwords work (this *definitely* isn't a stolen laptop - I bought it direct from IBM)). It does this when I use the access ibm button on startup and when I boot from my recovery CDs. When I reinstalled windows after I replaced my hdd I didn't have any problem booting off the CDs.

So, a couple of questions:
-Since I can use windows fine despite the missing dlls and stuff, is there any way to reset the password from there?
-if not, would wiping the disk, including the recovery partition, then booting off the CDs work?

It sounds as though your "Protect Rescue and Recovery Workspace" option is turned on which would mean the password/passphrase to enter the PDA should be the same as your Windows password/passphrase.

If not, then booting from a CD and restoring from Discs should work fine. You shouldn't need to wipe drive as this process will wipe the drive for you.

The password wasn't the same as my windows password - I tried, and I tried all my other normal passwords. I called IBM support and the guy basically had no idea what to do. Eventually he came up with a way to disable it, but my security software got corrupted so I couldn't make the change.

Backed everything up on my usb hdd and reformatted. Everything's back to normal now.

This is exactly what I went through. I don't need my recovery disk set yet - computer working fine. But will I be able to use it if and when I have to to restore to factory settings, etc. if I can't get past that "IBM Verify Password" window that pops up when I push the Access IBM button on boot up?

Thank you.

BTW: Supervisor, Power on, and Hard disk passwords are disabled in bios.

What password am I missing?