Laptop HDD as external drive on another computer, but forgot about password...

[M3mph1s]

Well, my laptop is deal. Motherboard is fried and we're going to be getting me a new computer some time, either a laptop or a desktop.
Long story short, I took the HD out of my laptop (I know the HD is still good) and bought an external case. Nothing fancy, one USB port on the case, and the other end of the cord has two USB plug-ins.
Problem is, my account on the laptop had a password. I had my own before, but we took it in for service and I set a different (read: less revealing) password in case I had to give it to them.
Now, when I plug the HD into another computer as an external, I can look at system files, and user account info, but I can't get into the "Owner" account, as it was my account and was password protected. It says "Access denied" when I try to open that folder.

What I'm asking is, is there some way to manipulate filed on the HD to get rid of the password protection and have my files?
If not, how would I go about booting another computer from this HD so I can get rid of the password through Windows itself?

If anyone needs any other specs or has any questions, vague or specific, let me know and I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge.

[penguinrusty]

hold on i had this problem before, its a permissions problem on your computer, nothing to do with passwords. lemme find my external so i can walk you through it

[M3mph1s]

That would be freaking amazing...

Completely forgot to mention, the external ran XP, as does the computer I'm trying to load it onto. I also have a comp with 98 on it, but I'll just use flash drivers to get my crap onto that one for now.

Also, I was thinking I could use this to boot up a computer if it crashes or the HD fails for some reason, possible?

[M3mph1s]

I hate this, I keep finding more and more stuff I could use from that HD!

[M3mph1s]

Anyone else know about these permissions?

I also plan on scrapping the laptop for other things. I've seen people use old laptop screens as small external monitors, not sure what else I could use. Maybe the keyboard if i could splice it to a standard keyboard cord.

[penguinrusty]

argh nevermind it only works on a Windows Server '08 box

[M3mph1s]

Damn. Any other ideas? I'm more than willing to do pretty much anything.
I'm pretty sure I could sort some things out of I could boot something from this HD. I might see if it'll fit in the old desktop of ours.

[brilamb2]

you can get adapter cables form most comp shops tro use it ur desktop

[Minion]

theres programs that boot from cd that can crack the windows signon. check google for them

[M3mph1s]

brilamb2, I've already got a case that uses a USB connection for it.
I'll check for those if I need to use it on the desktop.

I just got a new laptop and it runs Vista. Vista cracked the XP sign on for me. :D
I can transfer account holding of the files on it from my account on the old laptop, to the account on my new laptop with a few clicks...