Auto logon means I can't get admin account

[Nightowl]

Hi all

Using Windows XP Pro SP2. As I'm the only user on a standalone PC, I
didn't use to bother with a password and Windows would log me in
automatically.

Then I found I had to have a password in order to get Task Scheduler to
work, so I set one, then used UserPasswords2 to again set my account to
log in automatically.

This works fine except that I cannot now find a way to access the
built-in Administrator account.

Before I used UserPasswords2, I could get to the Admin account by
starting in Safe Mode (the trick of pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del twice I've
seen here never worked for me, apparently because Windows thinks I am
part of a workgroup rather than a domain). This worked whether I had a
password set on my own account or not.

Now, however, I get automatically logged in even in Safe Mode, with no
chance to choose the Admin account.

IS there any way of doing this so that I can keep auto login, keep Task
Scheduler happy and still get to the Admin account if I need to?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Allow it to log in, then just do a log off or fast-user switch. Also, the
ctrl_alt_delete to access it works on a Workgroup system as well as a Domain
one.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Robert Gething]

Hi all

Using Windows XP Pro SP2. As I'm the only user on a standalone PC, I
didn't use to bother with a password and Windows would log me in
automatically.

Then I found I had to have a password in order to get Task Scheduler to
work, so I set one, then used UserPasswords2 to again set my account to
log in automatically.

This works fine except that I cannot now find a way to access the
built-in Administrator account.

Before I used UserPasswords2, I could get to the Admin account by
starting in Safe Mode (the trick of pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del twice I've
seen here never worked for me, apparently because Windows thinks I am
part of a workgroup rather than a domain). This worked whether I had a
password set on my own account or not.

Now, however, I get automatically logged in even in Safe Mode, with no
chance to choose the Admin account.

IS there any way of doing this so that I can keep auto login, keep Task
Scheduler happy and still get to the Admin account if I need to?

Thanks for any help.

Try uninstalling user passwords2, if it then gives you the option to
select a user, re-install it and click start, run type msconfig, click
startup and uncheck user passwords2 from the list. Finally restart your
PC and now you should be able to select a user with the software installed.

Failing that, click start, run, type services.msc and disable the user
passwords2 services.

Be sure to click dependancies in the properties of the user passwords 2
service and disable any services it is dependant on. Restart your PC and
see if it allows you to select a user.

I suggest you create a system restore point before you attempt any of
the above, you can roll back to that if anything goes wrong.

 

[Nightowl]

Rick "Nutcase" Rogers wrote on Sat, 2 Jul 2005:

Hi,

Allow it to log in, then just do a log off or fast-user switch. Also, the
ctrl_alt_delete to access it works on a Workgroup system as well as a Domain
one.

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the reply.

If I log off, I am presented only with my own name as a choice to log in
again -- no Administrator. But actually the reason I wanted access to
the Admin account was in case I couldn't for some reason get into mine,
so this wouldn't be an option anyway.

Ctrl-Alt-Del has never worked on my 'puter (all it does is start up the
Task Manager!) and I took it that it was because it was in a Workgroup
from this MS Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321305

But actually I think I have cracked it: I found out from an article at
Winguides.com that holding down Shift during boot overrides auto login
and makes Windows ask for your password. Then I tried it in Safe Mode
and yeah -- got the Admin option back

Thanks again for your answer.

 

[Nightowl]

Robert Gething wrote on Sat, 2 Jul 2005:

Try uninstalling user passwords2, if it then gives you the option to
select a user, re-install it and click start, run type msconfig, click
startup and uncheck user passwords2 from the list. Finally restart your
PC and now you should be able to select a user with the software
installed.

Failing that, click start, run, type services.msc and disable the user
passwords2 services.

Be sure to click dependancies in the properties of the user passwords 2
service and disable any services it is dependant on. Restart your PC
and see if it allows you to select a user.

I suggest you create a system restore point before you attempt any of
the above, you can roll back to that if anything goes wrong.

Thank you for the quick reply, Robert.

I have to admit though I didn't quite follow you, as UserPasswords2 is
not in MSConfig's Startup or Services list. But I seem to have found an
answer -- holding down Shift while booting into Safe Mode. That gets me
the Admin logon back, so I'm happy.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Robert Gething]

Robert Gething wrote on Sat, 2 Jul 2005:



Thank you for the quick reply, Robert.

I have to admit though I didn't quite follow you, as UserPasswords2 is
not in MSConfig's Startup or Services list. But I seem to have found an
answer -- holding down Shift while booting into Safe Mode. That gets me
the Admin logon back, so I'm happy.

Thanks for your help.

Ms config can sometimes be a bit funny, not everything that should be in
there always shows up.

Glad you found a solution,

(I didn't even know holding down shift gave you the admin login, I guess
we all learn something new every day!

No probs, anytime

 

[Les Herrman]

Rick "Nutcase" Rogers wrote on Sat, 2 Jul 2005:


Hi Rick,

Thanks for the reply.

If I log off, I am presented only with my own name as a choice to log in
again -- no Administrator. But actually the reason I wanted access to
the Admin account was in case I couldn't for some reason get into mine,
so this wouldn't be an option anyway.

Ctrl-Alt-Del has never worked on my 'puter (all it does is start up the
Task Manager!) and I took it that it was because it was in a Workgroup
from this MS Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321305

But actually I think I have cracked it: I found out from an article at
Winguides.com that holding down Shift during boot overrides auto login
and makes Windows ask for your password. Then I tried it in Safe Mode
and yeah -- got the Admin option back

Thanks again for your answer.

Even though it will only show your user name and not the administrator
account. Pressing ctrl/alt/del twice at this screen will bring up the
logon screen for you to enter administrator for the user name and then
your password for that account.

Note...if running XP Home the above does not work though. The only
way to access the built in admin account in Home is in safe mode.

 

[Nightowl]

LesHerman wrote on Sun, 3 Jul 2005:

Even though it will only show your user name and not the administrator
account. Pressing ctrl/alt/del twice at this screen will bring up the
logon screen for you to enter administrator for the user name and then
your password for that account.

Note...if running XP Home the above does not work though. The only
way to access the built in admin account in Home is in safe mode.

Thank you, Les and Rick. I tried it and you are of course right, it does
work, though with my keyboard I sometimes have to hammer Ctrl-Alt-Del 8
times before I get the sign-in screen

So now I have two ways to get to the admin login and am happy. For
reference in case anyone else needs this info, they are:

[1] Boot normally but hold down Shift to override auto login; this
brings me to the Welcome screen where I can Ctrl-Alt-Del then log on as
Administrator;

[2] Boot into Safe Mode holding down Shift to override auto login; this
brings me to the Welcome screen where the Administrator account is shown
as a choice.

Thanks again,