Admin. User Name Missing

[Mason]

For over a year, my Windows XP listed 3 users, one
was "Administrator" (the one I used), and the other two
were names of co-workers (never actually used by them).
None contained passwords. I always just logged on as the
Administrator (the opening screen never listed my name as
the user of the Administrator account).

Yesterday, a co-worker was unable to view files within my
computer through our network. To resolved it, I changed
one of the user names on my to computer to match the user
name he used to log into his. I put a matching password
on his user account.

When I turned my computer on this morning, "Admistrator"
user account was missing. Once I logged in as my co-
worker (having administrator privleges), I tried adding a
user account under my name. However, I was unable to do
so. Instead, a pop-up screen appeared saying "The
account already exists" How is this so, and what can I
do?

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

First, you need to understand, the "Administrator" account, the one named
"Administrator" and not an account with administrator privileges is
generally hidden and is meant for use by an IT or primary user in a
multi-user environment for the purpose of doing things such as changing or
fixing accounts and other high level work that may effect the entire system.
You might say it's an administrator account with a higher level of
privileges and as such it is meant to remain hidden.

It appears you've corrupted your user account which should still be listed
under Documents and Settings in Windows Explorer. My best advice is to try
changing things back to the way they were. If manually doing so doesn't
resolve it or you are unable to do it manually, then try using System
Restore to take you back to a time before this came up. Start\All
Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Restore.

If that fails, try the following Knowledge Base Article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q318011

If that doesn't resolve it, please go to the link below, select network_web
from the list on the left of the screen and post your question there:

http://communities.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.asp