Rescue & Recovery password

[Charles Krug]

I've read a number of posts on this subject, but I'm puzzled by this situation: a remote employee has left the company & his T42 (2378DUU) is returned to me. It appears to be in good shape & I'd like to reissue the PC. It basically runs but clearly does have a virus/malware that has disabled the AV program. I have pulled all the data from the hard drive which needs to be retained. Rather then manually remove the virus, I planned to run the factory restore utility as I have many times with other TPs. This time, a small window labeled Verify Password appears. There's a hint option, but no hint exists. No other BIOS-related passwords are set, nor is the security chip enabled.
I created a set of recovery CDs, thinking they would allow me to get around the pw, but they did not.
Under the circumstances, it is not possible to get any passwords from the user (I'm using the admin account).
I'm not sure I see the point of this password -- they are plenty of easy ways to erase a hard drive.

My questions:
I never set passwords like this, & the user really wasn't a tinkerer. Could a virus have established a pw?
Or was the user prompted to set it while entering some other password?
Will I have to settle for keeping the current Windows installation?
Thanks,
Jim

[egibbs]

I think R&R offers you the option to set the R&R password to the Administrator password somewhere during the install or updgrade process. Try your Administrator password, or old Admnistrator passwords.

Otherwise you are right - it's easy to wipe the drive and recover so this is not one of the more useful passwords on the machine. It's mainly to keep users out of the recovery environment.

Ed Gibbs

[Charles Krug]

I see -- adding or changing the XP password brings up a dialog for R&R password options (our mobile users *generally* don't use a Windows pw).
Still, when attempting a change as Administrator, it asks for my "old" password. None of the Administrator passwords work, so I guess it wants the User password. If so, that seems sort of flawed . . .

[egibbs]

You should only get that prompt when changing an admin password.

But you are right - it ain't the most secure system. As I said it's mainly to keep casual users out of the R&R workspace.

Ed Gibbs

[Charles Krug]

In that case, it sounds more likely that I'm to blame, as Administrator. Still, I took a few more stabs at guessing the User's password, and -- I got it! So the next user has a nice clean Windows installation. Only wish I hadn't wasted eight CDs making those recovery discs. Thanks for the good information . . .
Jim