'Administrator' in XP/Home?

[William Lurie]

By adding and validating a Key in Registry, we have been able to change
the Welcome Screen during Start-up so that it halts there, and allows
one to enter a User Name. I seem to recall from years ago, with XP/Pro,
that the option for an Administrator account there, but I've been unable
to do so with XP/Home. Is it that it cannot be done, or that I'm not
doing it right? We are aware of F8 and Safe Mode, but that leads in an
entirely different direction.

 

[Don Phillipson]

By adding and validating a Key in Registry, we have been able to change
the Welcome Screen during Start-up so that it halts there, and allows
one to enter a User Name. I seem to recall from years ago, with XP/Pro,
that the option for an Administrator account there, but I've been unable
to do so with XP/Home. Is it that it cannot be done, or that I'm not
doing it right? We are aware of F8 and Safe Mode, but that leads in an
entirely different direction.

Were this true (not checked) provision to add an Admin account at
login seems redundant -- since the OS enables any reboot to start
an Admin account (by Ctl-Alt-Del twice at login prompt we need
not provide a user name for such access.

 

[Tim Meddick]

Hi there William,
Just though of another item of possible
interest to you.

Namely Microsoft's TweakUI.exe (for XP) !!

It has a section called "Logon" and under it, an option to checkmark a box
called :

"Show "Administrator" on Welcome screen"

(At least, it shows up that way in my XP Pro but it's well worth the
trouble of downloading the tiny file)

You can obtain the small installation file (146kb) by clicking the link
below :

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[William Lurie]

Were this true (not checked) provision to add an Admin account at
login seems redundant -- since the OS enables any reboot to start
an Admin account (by Ctl-Alt-Del twice at login prompt we need
not provide a user name for such access.

What you seem to be saying is that I can *create* a new account (e.g.,
'Administrator') by indicating that name in the login box. I hadn't
tried that.

 

[Tim Meddick]

No - certainly, a profile *must* exist before you can logon to it!

I have never heard said what Mr Phillipson mentioned, but believe he was
saying that if you leave the login box blank it would then defer to the
"Administrator" account - or so it seemed to me anyway....

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Don Phillipson]

What you seem to be saying is that I can *create* a new account (e.g.,
'Administrator') by indicating that name in the login box. I hadn't tried
that.

Ctl-Alt-Del twice at login prompt does not create a new account.
It loads the (hidden) account for user "Administrator" created when
the OS was installed; i.e. it has always been there.

 

[John John - MVP]

Ctl-Alt-Del twice at login prompt does not create a new account.
It loads the (hidden) account for user "Administrator" created when
the OS was installed; i.e. it has always been there.

When you are at the Windows XP style Welcome screen hitting
Ctrl+Alt+Delete twice brings up the classic logon screen where you can
enter *any* username and password, it does not load any account as such.
The name of the last user who was logged on may be showing in the
username field if the option to show the last logged user on is enabled
in the registry. Also note that this does not work on XP Home, to login
with the Administrator account on XP Home you have to logon in Safe Mode.

John

 

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

Ctl-Alt-Del twice at login prompt does not create a new account.
It loads the (hidden) account for user "Administrator" created when
the OS was installed; i.e. it has always been there.

On one of my PCs which I bought pre-setup because at that stage I knew
nothing about Windows, the id defined for me to use is an admin one and of
course I know its password.

But I have no idea what the Administrator id's password is, and wouldn't
like someone else to be able to use this double Ctrl-Alt-Del method to get
to an Administrator login, in case the password it has is a stupid one like
'admin' or 'secret'...

Can I use my own admin id to reset the Administrator's password to a value I
will know?


Also, does anyone know what restrictions Windows sets on password values -
can they be any length and include spaces and special characters?

 

[Tim Meddick]

This is what we are trying to determine - whether there's a workaround to
starting Administrator account normally (i.e. *not* in safe-mode).

The documentation would have us believe that the Recovery Console's "set"
command is unavailable in XP Home edition, but with the addition of two
registry entries *is* perfectly useable.

So, if the commonly understood information about the limitations of XP Home
vs. XP Pro is erroneous on one occasion, why not more than once?.......

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Tim Meddick]

Yes indeed you can, and you're right - it is a security loophole for the
home computer (company networked PCs always have their Admin accounts set
up properly and with password).

Type CONTROL USERPASSWORDS2 either at the Command Prompt or into the
"Run" box, and you can use the "Reset Administrator password" button to set
the Admin password.....

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.