admin login disappeared

[Guest]

I was helping someone over the phone. To make a long story short, we needed
to create a new admin login. She already had "administrator" so I told her to
create "admin". After she did so, I asked her to check the options and
everything looked fine. Then she looked at "administrator" and told me that
the only options for it were now change name and password. I asked her to
reboot and then she told me that the login had completely disappeared! My
questions are:
- Does anyone have an idea as to what happened, i.e. what did she do?
- The "administrator" folder still exists. What would happen if we tried to
add a new login "administrator"? Would everything be fine or would XP
over-write the old folder? (that would be a bad thing)
- Does anyone have some good advice as to how to recover the
"administrator" login, i.e. how do we reset that login so that MyPhotos,
MyDocuments, etc. are all back to where they were?

Thanks a lot for any help.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Pete,

This would indicate that a user account was never created, and the
normally hidden account named Administrator was being used as a day to
day account. In this case when a new account is created the account
named Administrator is hidden, as it should be, except for in Safe Mode.
What you should do now is start the new Admin account and move the data
stored in the hidden account to the newly created account.

You may need to use Safe Mode, log on as Administrator account and 'Take
Ownership' of the files.
How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

To boot into Safe Mode, Restart the system, hitting F8 as BIOS info goes
to black to get the Menu and select Save Mode.

How to copy data from one user profile to a new profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151

 

[Rock]

I was helping someone over the phone. To make a long story short, we needed
to create a new admin login. She already had "administrator" so I told her to
create "admin". After she did so, I asked her to check the options and
everything looked fine. Then she looked at "administrator" and told me that
the only options for it were now change name and password. I asked her to
reboot and then she told me that the login had completely disappeared! My
questions are:
- Does anyone have an idea as to what happened, i.e. what did she do?
- The "administrator" folder still exists. What would happen if we tried to
add a new login "administrator"? Would everything be fine or would XP
over-write the old folder? (that would be a bad thing)
- Does anyone have some good advice as to how to recover the
"administrator" login, i.e. how do we reset that login so that MyPhotos,
MyDocuments, etc. are all back to where they were?

Thanks a lot for any help.

The Administrator account is removed from the welcome screen when
another admin level account is created. It's still available, however.
Note: on should not operate on a normal basis using the Administrator
account. That should be left as a fall back in case the normal account
is damaged.

To log into the Administrator account, if XP Pro at the welcome screen
do ctrl-alt-del twice, enter Administrator in the account name and the
password. For XP Home boot into safe mode and it will appear on the
welcome screen.

The user should copy the data from the Administrator account to their
new admin level account and use that one for normal activities.

How to Copy a User Profile
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_logon.htm

 

[Guest]

Bert, thanks for the reply. Yes, she was using adminstrator for the sole
login before. I think you've heard that before. I have a follow-up
question. I was able to copy her photos, Word documents, and all of her data.
But I was unable to access her Desktop and Favorites. I cannot remember the
exact message, but the error dialog complained that I did not have sufficient
permissions to access those file/folders. Do you have a suggestion for
removing the block? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply and the alternative sysadmin URL.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Pete,

You will have to take ownership of the files and folders.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

 

[Rock]

Thanks for the reply and the alternative sysadmin URL.

You're welcome.

 

[coal_brona]

Greetings,

I recommend you using Active@ password changer utility to reset lost
password. this is a small yet easy to use and powerful tool that can
easily reset lost or forgotten pass. That did really helped me before,
so I'm suppose you will also find it useful.

http://www.password-changer.com/