'Administrator' account disappeared

[Dylan1070]

Hi, two issues:

1) When creating a New Account with Administrator-level access, the old
account called 'Administrator' disappeared. When using Switch User, the
Administator account is not visible as a choice. The settings and files
associated with that account are invisible in other accounts.

2) Trying to access the 'Administrator' folder from C:/Documents and
Settings results in an error message that it "....is not acessible. Access is
denied."

 

[Rock]

1) When creating a New Account with Administrator-level access, the old
account called 'Administrator' disappeared. When using Switch User, the
Administator account is not visible as a choice. The settings and files
associated with that account are invisible in other accounts.

2) Trying to access the 'Administrator' folder from C:/Documents and
Settings results in an error message that it "....is not acessible. Access
is
denied."

When you create another admin level account the administrator account is
hidden. Is this XP Pro or Home?

For Home it's only accessible by starting in Safe Mode.

For Pro you can get to it from the classic login box.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi, two issues:

1) When creating a New Account with Administrator-level access, the old
account called 'Administrator' disappeared. When using Switch User, the
Administator account is not visible as a choice. The settings and files
associated with that account are invisible in other accounts.

2) Trying to access the 'Administrator' folder from C:/Documents and
Settings results in an error message that it "....is not acessible. Access
is
denied."

On WinXP Professional you can press Ctrl+Alt+Del twice in
order to get the classic logon screen where you can log on as
Administrator.

 

[windmap]

Enable / Disable Administrator at Welcome screen
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_desc/xp_admin_ok.htm

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi, two issues:

1) When creating a New Account with Administrator-level access, the old
account called 'Administrator' disappeared. When using Switch User, the
Administator account is not visible as a choice. The settings and files
associated with that account are invisible in other accounts.

It sounds as if you'd been using the built-in Administrator account
for daily use. This was unwise. As you've discovered, once any
additional user accounts have been created, the built-in Administrator
account will no longer be displayed on the Welcome Screen. This is a
default security feature.

The built-in Administrator account was never intended to be used
for day-to-day normal use. The standard security practice is to rename
the account, set a strong password on it, and use it only to create
another account for regular use, reserving the Administrator account as
a "back door" in case something corrupts your regular 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.

A wiser course of action would be to create another user account
for your daily use (as you've done), and copy desired the files and
settings from the Administrator account to this newly created user profile.

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151

2) Trying to access the 'Administrator' folder from C:/Documents and
Settings results in an error message that it "....is not acessible. Access is
denied."

If you hadn't encrypted the data files (which could not have been
done with WinXP Home), you may be facing nothing more than a simple
permissions issue. Have you tried taking ownership of the old folders?

HOW TO Take Ownership of a File or Folder in WinXP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q308421


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

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