User Accounts

[Guest]

I think I messed up. I'm using Windows XP on an HP Media Centre PC. I had
one admin account, but wanted to split it into 3. I created 2 more admin
accounts, and on the 2nd account it prompted me to copy existing info, and I
didn't, since it was someone else's I was setting up and I wanted that info
in MY account, the 3rd I was setting up. But the program didn't give me that
option again on the 3rd account I set up. And now, there's no Admin
account. Just the 3 new accounts, all admin status.

Problem is, I had tons of pics on my original admin account, which I now
cannot find. Nobody has it. I tried going back by resetting settings to
backup point a few days prior to my setting up the accounts, but that didn't
work.

Have I lost my previous data for good or is it still on the computer
somewhere? If it IS (oh please, please) how do I find it?

Thanks a mill!

 

[Malke]

I think I messed up. I'm using Windows XP on an HP Media Centre PC.
I had
one admin account, but wanted to split it into 3. I created 2 more
admin accounts, and on the 2nd account it prompted me to copy existing
info, and I didn't, since it was someone else's I was setting up and I
wanted that info
in MY account, the 3rd I was setting up. But the program didn't give
me that
option again on the 3rd account I set up. And now, there's no Admin
account. Just the 3 new accounts, all admin status.

Problem is, I had tons of pics on my original admin account, which I
now
cannot find. Nobody has it. I tried going back by resetting settings
to backup point a few days prior to my setting up the accounts, but
that didn't work.

Have I lost my previous data for good or is it still on the computer
somewhere? If it IS (oh please, please) how do I find it?

Thanks a mill!

If you were using the built-in Administrator account, it is normal for
it to disappear from the Welcome Screen after you create a second
account with administrative privileges.

At the Welcome Screen, do Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows
logon box. Enter "Administrator" and whatever your password was (or
leave blank if you didn't have one) and hopefully that will get you
into your old account.

Now you can copy the account settings and data by following these
guidelines. You will need to log into the new account once before you
can copy anything to it and you will need to copy your original account
while logged into a third administrative account.

Copy a User Account -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

Lockergnome article about copying user account -
http://tinyurl.com/74atm

Malke

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Once you create additional user accounts, the original Administrator account is hidden. At the Welcome Screen, with no other users logged on, press CTRL-ALT-DEL twice. You'll get the old style logon. Enter Administrator and any password for that account.

To enable the Administrator account on the Welcome Screen, see www.dougknox.com and go to the Windows XP Utilities section. Follow the link for Enable Administrator Account ......

This small VB application will make the registry change necessary for the Administrator account to be available on the Welcome Screen. If you prefer to do it manually, click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList\

Note: There is a space between Windows and NT in the above Key.

Add the Administrator account if necessary and/or change the Administrator value to 1