Administrator account no longer appears at Welcome screen

[Rick B.]

OK, I am currently running XP Pro, and at some point
after I created my main account, the Administrator
account stopped appearing at the welcome screen. When I
go into Control Panel -> User Accounts on my main
account, the Administrator account is not even listed. I
turned the welcome screen off and it let me
enter "Administrator" followed by the password at the
prompt. I go into Control Panel -> Computer Management -

Local Users and Groups -> Users, and the built-in

Administrator account is still listed of course (and it
does NOT say it's disabled). I tried logging in as the
Administrator via the standard logon prompt, and it lets
me logon just fine. I even tried going into Control
Panel -> User Accounts as Administrator and it appears
there but when I logoff it still won't appear at the
welcome screen. Is there any way to make it reappear? I
know it's an odd request, but my main account at one
point got hit with all kinds of problems and I just
wanted an easy access to the built-in Administrator
account just in case. Thanks! - Rick B.

 

[Jason Haynes]

This behavior is by design. The built in admin account is hidden upon
creation of a new account. It is still accessible via safe mode as well as
the w2k style logon you've already used.

 

[Keith Miller]

It's the default behavior for XP to hide the built-in Admin account once a user account with admin
privileges has been created. To show the Admin account on the welcome screen, go here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

and get the script "Enable/Disable Administrator on Welcome Screen"

Line 5, right-hand column.

Keith

 

[Alex Nichol]

OK, I am currently running XP Pro, and at some point
after I created my main account, the Administrator
account stopped appearing at the welcome screen. When I
go into Control Panel -> User Accounts on my main
account, the Administrator account is not even listed.

Once you have made a User account with Admin status, the one called
'Administrator' should not be used except as a reserve account for
emergencies - use the User one for day to day admin. So the
Administrator one is hidden away - it will be available if you boot to
Safe Mode