NO administrator account

[help]

My daughter had access to my husbands and sons computer and left home but not
before deleting me as administrator from it and making all other accounts
limited accounts. Hers is the only administrator account (presumably) and is
password protected. Is there anything that I can do to restore administartor
access. We did not password protect any of our accounts as we did not think
we would have to. Tried to control alt del twice as previous post suggested
for another but that only brought up my sons limited account. Please can
someone help?

 

[nass]

My daughter had access to my husbands and sons computer and left home but not
before deleting me as administrator from it and making all other accounts
limited accounts. Hers is the only administrator account (presumably) and is
password protected. Is there anything that I can do to restore administartor
access. We did not password protect any of our accounts as we did not think
we would have to. Tried to control alt del twice as previous post suggested
for another but that only brought up my sons limited account. Please can
someone help?

Try this:
Forgot your NT admin password?
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
HTH.
nass

 

[Gordon]

My daughter had access to my husbands and sons computer and left home but
not
before deleting me as administrator from it and making all other accounts
limited accounts. Hers is the only administrator account (presumably) and
is
password protected. Is there anything that I can do to restore
administartor
access. We did not password protect any of our accounts as we did not
think
we would have to. Tried to control alt del twice as previous post
suggested
for another but that only brought up my sons limited account. Please can
someone help?

Boot into Safe Mode and log on as The Administrator. password is (usually)
blank - ie nothing at all.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

My daughter had access to my husbands and sons computer and left home but not
before deleting me as administrator from it and making all other accounts
limited accounts. Hers is the only administrator account (presumably) and is
password protected. Is there anything that I can do to restore administartor
access. We did not password protect any of our accounts as we did not think
we would have to. Tried to control alt del twice as previous post suggested
for another but that only brought up my sons limited account. Please can
someone help?

Simply log in using the built-in Administrator account (which
cannot be deleted) and modify the desired account(s) and use Start > Run

"control userpasswords2" to modify the desired account(s).

By design, the only way to log into the Administrator account of
WinXP Home is to reboot into Safe Mode. For WinXP Pro, pressing
CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome Screen will produce the standard login
dialog box.

How to Log On to Windows XP If You Forget Your Password or Your
Password Expires
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q321305

Failing that, Linux-based password cracking utilities abound on the
Internet, freely available to anyone who can use Google.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[Bob Harris]

Try OPHCRACK, run from a bootable (live) CD. The ISO image of the CD is
free. But, be sure to create the physical CD using software that supports
burn-from-image or similar (e.g., Nero or Easy Cd Creator). Do not simply
drag&drop the ISO to a CD.

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

This program can recover many XP passwords within minutes. It is not
guarranteed to work, especially on long passwords, but it is easy to try and
is free.

 

[zinda]

I'm having the same problem more or less. I went into safe mode and still
there is no administrator account. What can I do?

 

[Malke]

I'm having the same problem more or less. I went into safe mode and still
there is no administrator account. What can I do?

You cannot delete the built-in Administrator account. Please go through the
following steps or post back with a better description of your issue, your
computer, and what you've tried to do. You have given us no information at
all, not even what version of XP you're running or if this is a business
machine where the Administrator account may have been renamed. Remember
that we can't see your computer from here and you need to be descriptive.

*****
If you have forgotten your password, if you have another user account with
administrative privileges you can log into that account and change your
original user account's password from the User Accounts applet in Control
Panel. If you don't have another account like this set up or don't have the
password to it, you'll need to log into the built-in Administrator account.
In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly tapping
the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to the right
menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once
in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden Administrator account. The
default password is a blank.

In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen, do
Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in
"Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up Windows.

If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or have
Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the built-in
Administrator account's password to a blank.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Then go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel and set passwords that
you will remember and make other desired changes. WRITE THE PASSWORDS DOWN
AND PUT THEM SOMEWHERE YOU WON'T LOSE THEM.
*****

Malke

 

[zinda]

Malke"
I have windows xp home. A friend gave me their old computer. They have
children who set up 3 users, since I did not need users I tried to delete one
of them , make one limited for guest and keep the administrator account
everything went fine, I thought. After I logged out and logged back in all
the account were gone except one, the that was limited. I cant switch users
it only allows me to log off. I tried a few things but nothing seem to work.
I did go into safe mode and get the administrator user name but the password
I chose doesnt work, at least I think its the password I chose. I going to
try a few more things I notice today. I hope the work. If not please help
me, right now I just have a e-mail machine everything is locked out cant
download cant install.

 

[Malke]

Malke"
I have windows xp home. A friend gave me their old computer. They have
children who set up 3 users, since I did not need users I tried to delete
one
of them , make one limited for guest and keep the administrator account
everything went fine, I thought. After I logged out and logged back in
all
the account were gone except one, the that was limited. I cant switch
users it only allows me to log off. I tried a few things but nothing seem
to work. I did go into safe mode and get the administrator user name but
the password
I chose doesnt work, at least I think its the password I chose. I going
to
try a few more things I notice today. I hope the work. If not please
help me, right now I just have a e-mail machine everything is locked out
cant download cant install.

Used computer = do a clean install. No exceptions. If your friend didn't
give you the installation media, get it or you will need to purchase the
operating system you want to run.

If it is an OEM machine (HP, Sony, etc.) the machine may have an image on
the hard drive that will enable you to restore to factory condition. Or you
can contact the OEM and order restore disks. Otherwise:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

Malke

 

[zinda]

Malke:

It is a Dell. I cant find another administrator account anywhere. My
friend did give me copies of the OS and other programs, but I cant boot from
the copy to reinstall. I would like to wipe the hard drive clean and start
over. I think its called debug, and reformat but I cant remember how.

 

[Malke]

Malke:

It is a Dell. I cant find another administrator account anywhere. My
friend did give me copies of the OS and other programs, but I cant boot
from
the copy to reinstall. I would like to wipe the hard drive clean and
start over. I think its called debug, and reformat but I cant remember
how.

Debug has nothing to do with this and if you had actually gone to the links
I gave you in my last post you would have seen how to do a clean install!
Here they are *again* for your convenience:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

Put the operating system disk into the optical drive and restart the
machine. As the machine is restarting, press the F12 key. This will give
you a temporary boot menu. Select the optical drive. Now the machine will
boot from the XP install CD. After the installation, install drivers for
all your hardware. If you have a Dell Resource CD, use that. Otherwise get
the drivers from Dell's website for your specific model computer. Or get
the drivers from Dell's site ahead of time and put them on a CD-R or USB
thumbdrive.

If you still can't figure it out from the information I've given you, there
is no shame in taking the machine to a local computer professional and
having them do it for you. I don't hesitate to take my car to the mechanic.
Don't use a BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place.

Malke

 

[desiree7790]

windows vista, there is only one account administrator but is not the
original administrator account. How can I restore the first administrator
account?

 

[Malke]

windows vista, there is only one account administrator but is not the
original administrator account. How can I restore the first administrator
account?

You've posted in a newsgroup for security issues relating to the Windows XP
operating system.

Post here instead - microsoft.public.windows.vista.general

When you post, include more details about your computer and the problem.

How to Post:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 - How to Ask a Question

Malke