Removing The built in Administrators Password

[Robbie RX-7]

I searched the internet for over 24 hours. I wanted to format my hard drive using ms recovery console. I could still gain access to my desktop and use the computer as normal. When i was using the ms recovery console (which was`nt even on the xp pro disk i have,i downloaded it from the microsoft web site straight onto my hdd), i ran into a problem. I was asked for the administrators password even though i never set a password in the first place! i was stuck..i was thinking i cannot re-format my hdd. I read a few sites that stated that you can use windows 2000 cd to gain full access to the recovery console without a password. It was something to do with windows 2000 not being able to read the xp systems SAM files so it by passes it altogether!! or something along those lines.The the weird thing is that i thought i was the administrator!!..not according to the computer a wasn`t!! So that means there were 2 Administrators on my computer. The hidden Administrator never showed up in normal mode. It only showed up in safe mode?? The options i read on the internet were to reset the Administrator`s password presuming you were the main Administrator and it looked a little complex to me, but at the time i thought that was the only option i had..untill i came across this site

http.//www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_passwords.html.

it enabled me to choose a password for the built in microsoft Administrator that was stopping me use the recovery console. i am well chuffed now i have reset it to a memorable password. I can now use the recovery console as normal. :-)

I thought this might be helpfull for anyone that falls into this situation.

call me a dumb ass if you like, but i hope this will help someone in the future.