Administrator name change resulting in access denied

[Guest]

Hello, I have an issue that I am unable to access my Documents folder. My
sister is here during spring break so she was using the Guest access but was
unable to play some movie files because I think she cannot access some of the
programs etc. So I went and changed the default Administrator's name to my
name and created a user acct under her name. Now however the folder with
Administrator is blocked with "c:\documents & settings\Administrator is not
accessible Acess is denied" I am not sure how this occurred but more
importantly I would like to reverse or correct it so I can access my folders
again. Also since logging into my new admin login under my name, I seem to
also have missing programs not listed under the start tab so I can assume
that I am treated as a new user. This is really frustrating since I need to
really acess my folder to work on a project for my accounting class. Any
help would be appreciated.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hello, I have an issue that I am unable to access my Documents folder. My
sister is here during spring break so she was using the Guest access but was
unable to play some movie files because I think she cannot access some of the
programs etc. So I went and changed the default Administrator's name to my
name and created a user acct under her name. Now however the folder with
Administrator is blocked with "c:\documents & settings\Administrator is not
accessible Acess is denied" I am not sure how this occurred but more
importantly I would like to reverse or correct it so I can access my folders
again. Also since logging into my new admin login under my name, I seem to
also have missing programs not listed under the start tab so I can assume
that I am treated as a new user. This is really frustrating since I need to
really acess my folder to work on a project for my accounting class. Any
help would be appreciated.

Based on your description of the results, I'd have to conclude that you
didn't actually rename the built-in Administrator account, but rather
created a new administrative account in your name.

As you've discovered, once any additional administrative 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. 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.

The built-in Administrator account really 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).

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


--

Bruce Chambers

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