Windows XP Re-Installed XP and want to make old user account the Admin... please HELP!

[joshm662]

long story short my computer was acting up and i re-installed XP... it's working perfectly now but the problem is that i have an admin account for this new reinstall and it has nothing on it at all... but when i open up the C: drive i see my old account with everything i have, just not loaded... everything i installed is still installed in the program files folder, yet it's not actually installed under this new account that is my main admin... when i go to switch users, there is no other choices, it's just this new reinstall and "Guest".... so, how do i go back to the way it was before the reinstall as far as my old account being the admin? i mean, it IS there, i can always drag and drop all the stuff but that's a hassle... the thing is, when i go to add/remove programs, there is nothing but a couple programs in there, yet in my program files folder, everything i had installed is still in there... so what can i do to have my XP operating system recognize my previous user account as the one i actually want to use?

or am i going to be stuck dragging and dropping everything?

let me know.. thank you!

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

During the Windows installation, you chose to install to an alternate directory. This will cause Windows to install but will not format the drive. This method does not incorporate previously installed software or users. Consider this a "new" installation of Windows as far as your applications and settings. Windows will not use the old program files or user information.

If you want to use these files, you will need to create the user you wish to use. Copy the files from the user folders that are not applications. Anything that was configured in the program files folder needs to be reinstalled in order for the OS to use it properly. You could try to make shortcuts to the applications from their previous location. This, however, may not function properly. It depends on the application and its reliance on the system registry. The registry is like the hotel sign in sheet. Windows checks the sheet to see if a "guest" has been installed. If it is not on the sheet, then Windows doesn't know about it.

edit: If you were to have run a repair installation of Windows, it could have saved your current configuration of users and applications. I know that it doesn't help now, but for future reference. Also, some Windows install discs do not give you the option to repair the OS. This depends on who you got the computer and software from. FYI.