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Somebody gave me a very old HP Omnibook 500 laptop with Windows XP Professional on it. It was a corporate PC from HP and it was given to me by a former executive of the company. But he doesn't remember the password. I want to wipe it and put Ubuntu on it. But I can't get past the password screen and I can't get the machine to boot from the USB Drive. I changed the boot order in the BIOS, but it just boots into windows anyway and I get stuck.

Has anybody else here had this problem and found a work-around?

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  • which software did you use for creating the live usb?
    – Stormvirux
    Aug 2, 2013 at 21:20
  • Have you tried booting from CD?
    – Mitch
    Aug 2, 2013 at 21:47
  • I used the pendrivelinux to create the USB. There is no CD Drive on this laptop...
    – Geoffrey Mack
    Aug 2, 2013 at 22:04

2 Answers 2

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You should be able to push F8 or F11 for additional boot options and from there you should be able to boot from a flash drive. If that doesn't work I use Ophcrack to crack passwords. It's an operating system that hacks all the passwords on a windows machine.

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  • Thanks Troy. Unfortunately, I can't get to the USB drive at all. The BIOS kicks me right into windows and the dreaded password screen. I've made changes to the BIOS to boot from the USB, but that does not work.
    – Geoffrey Mack
    Aug 2, 2013 at 22:00
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The old BIOS firmware might don't support USB booting. Try to use PCUnlocker Live CD which allows you to remove XP login password in minutes.

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