User Account Name Changed to Owner

[Guest]

I use Windows XP Home and have installed SP2.
I had two user accounts set-up; one with my wifes name and one with my name.
Have been working fine until today. Upon starting up, my wifes account
appears, but my account does not exist -- replaced by a new account titled
"Owner". I can log in using my wifes account without issue. When I try to
access the "Owner" account using my password, it does not work even though
the password hint is the exact hint for my password. Password hint leads me
to believe that this is my account, but that something has happened to it.
Upon logging in using Safe Mode as Administrator, I get conflicting
information depending on where I look. When I go to Control Panel and view
user accounts, it displays the following: (1) an "Owner" guest account --
password protected; (2) my wifes account; and (3) Administrator account.
Interestingly, I cannot change the password for the "Owner" account -- it
does not let me do it. When I go to Start, Run, "control userpasswords2", it
displays only my wifes account and the Administrator -- no "Owner". Then,
when I go to Documents & Settings, I view: (1) my wifes account with her
files, (2) an Administrator account with no files, and (3) an "Owner" account
WITH MY FILES. I think this confirms that my account, previously titled with
my full name, has been changed to "Owner" somehow and now no longer accepts
my password (though the hint is the same). Insult to injury is that I cannot
change the password under SAFE mode for some reason. I did save my files to
a floppy, but I would sure like to understand what happened and what I should
do to fix and/or avoid in the future. Thanks for reading this far.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Bubba,

Your user profile - Owner - has become corrupted. Sometimes, this just
happens. The solution is to create a new account for yourself, then copy
your old profile into it. Logon as administrator in Safe mode and create the
account. Then use the steps here:

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811151

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Thanks. I followed the instructions and the "Owner" files under Documents
and Settings were "not accessible". So I could not copy data. Now, today, I
have noticed that this user profile is adopting the name of my wifes account,
so I have 2 accounts with her name. Still cannot access as before, but seems
to have a mind of its own. Can I delete the user profile altogether so it
does not continue to mess with my mind?

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Please see this link on "taking ownership" of a folder:
http://rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Taking_ownership

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org