Stuck on Admin login at startup w/ no PW

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Use Registry Editor to turn on automatic logon
Important

This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, see How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

To use Registry Editor to turn on automatic logon, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type Regedit.exe, and then press Enter.

Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon subkey in the registry.

On the Edit menu, click New, and then point to String Value.

Type AutoAdminLogon, and then press Enter.

Double-click AutoAdminLogon.

In the Edit String dialog box, type 1 and then click OK.

Double-click the DefaultUserName entry, type your user name, and then click OK.

Double-click the DefaultPassword entry, type your password, and then click OK.

If the DefaultPassword value does not exist, it must be added. To add the value, follow these steps:

On the Edit menu, click New, and then point to String Value.

Type DefaultPassword, and then press Enter.

Double-click DefaultPassword.

In the Edit String dialog, type your password and then click OK.

Note

If no DefaultPassword string is specified, Windows automatically changes the value of the AutoAdminLogon key from 1 (true) to 0 (false), disabling the AutoAdminLogon feature.

If you have joined the computer to a domain, you should add the DefaultDomainName value, and the data for the value should be set as the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the domain, for example contoso.com..

Exit Registry Editor.

Click Start, click Shutdown, and then type a reason in the Comment text box.

Click OK to turn off your computer.

Restart your computer. You can now log on automatically.

Note

To bypass the AutoAdminLogon process and to log on as a different user, press and hold the Shift key after you log off or after Windows restarts.
This registry change does not work if the Logon Banner value is defined on the server either by a Group Policy object (GPO) or by a local policy. When the policy is changed so that it does not affect the computer, the autologon feature works as expected.
W

Ira Madsen said:

Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear.
I cannot start Windows! The machine boots to the Administrator login by default now, and someone else set the Admin password!
I can do two things…try for a password, or shut down. Those are my only options.

First off there is the Bios password to restrict changes to the bios, thenn there is a password restriction set to not allow a person to even be able to boot the OS installed or use USB or other devices to boot the computer, then there is the software side which in your case is Windows. So out of those three which are you dealing with. So from what you are stating it sounds like Software, which means making the removal of the password even easier, but does not involve the bios.

My concern.. is this really your PC?

Enable or Disable Elevated Administrator account in Windows 10
Option 5

See if you can do that. If so, you can then take back control.

Note: to boot from a bootable disk with an HP computer:
To boot HP from USB, you need to know the HP boot keys and then follow the steps:

Restart the computer and press F9 or Esc to access the boot menu.
Press F9 to access the BIOS boot options.
Move the bootable USB to the first option and make the change.

Another possible option you might have is to do an offline System Restore - however that requires you have the password, so may not be feasible.

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Of course, had you been using 3rd party disk imaging regularly and routinely as members endlessly recommend- you could have restored a recent disk image and been back as you were.

Lesson learnt?