Changing Administrator Account

[Roger]

I'm running WinXP Home, SP2.

Control Panel/User Accounts shows three accounts:
John Doe (Computer administrator)
Kids (Limited account)
Guest (Guest account is off).

What we have been doing since getting the computer is using the John Doe
login (unpassworded) for all our computing, installation of new programs
and so on. This means that all our documents and settings are under the
John Doe profile.

Since we have no children living at home, the Kids account is not used
at the moment.

Having learned belatedly that it is considered unsafe to use the
computer under the adminstrator account for routine computing, I would
like to change things so that we can still access all the Doe documents,
settings, bookmarks etc., but without being logged on as the administrator.

Can this be simply done?

Roger (John Doe)

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I'm running WinXP Home, SP2.

Control Panel/User Accounts shows three accounts:
John Doe (Computer administrator)
Kids (Limited account)
Guest (Guest account is off).

What we have been doing since getting the computer is using the John Doe
login (unpassworded) for all our computing, installation of new programs
and so on. This means that all our documents and settings are under the
John Doe profile.

Since we have no children living at home, the Kids account is not used
at the moment.

Having learned belatedly that it is considered unsafe to use the
computer under the adminstrator account for routine computing, I would
like to change things so that we can still access all the Doe documents,
settings, bookmarks etc., but without being logged on as the administrator.

Can this be simply done?

Roger (John Doe)

A wise course of action would be to create another limited user
account for your daily use, and copy desired the files and settings from
the John Doe 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

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[JS]

You should also password protect both the Joe Doe account and the Windows
default Administrator account.

JS

 

[Roger]

A wise course of action would be to create another limited user
account for your daily use, and copy desired the files and settings from
the John Doe 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

I have studied the above reference, and it appears that copying data to
a new user profile could involve problems with mail (although I use
Thunderbird). It certainly isn't the simple solution I was hoping for.

What I had hoped to do, based on my (probably faulty) understanding of
Control Panel/User Accounts was to set up a new administrator account
(Admin, for example) and then change the John Doe account from "Computer
administrator" to "Limited".

I was basing this fond hope on the message that appears when I go to
Control Panel/User Accounts, select my John Doe (Administrator) account
and choose "Change my account type". The message reads:

"You must assign a new user on this computer with a computer
administrator account before you can change this user's account type.
This ensures that there is always at least one user with a computer
administrator account on this computer."

Roger

 

[JS]

You always have an Administrator account, it just may be hidden and the
password may be blank (no password required)
See the web site for more info: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/admins.htm

JS

 

[Roger]

You always have an Administrator account, it just may be hidden and the
password may be blank (no password required)
See the web site for more info: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/admins.htm

Yes, I know. The Administrator account is in my name and is the one that
my wife and I have (misguidedly) used for all our computing for the past
year.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have studied the above reference, and it appears that copying data to
a new user profile could involve problems with mail (although I use
Thunderbird). It certainly isn't the simple solution I was hoping for.

What I had hoped to do, based on my (probably faulty) understanding of
Control Panel/User Accounts was to set up a new administrator account
(Admin, for example)...

There's no real need to create an additional Administrative account, if
you don't want to. (Although it wouldn't hurt to do so, either.) All
you need do is log in using the built-in Administrator account and then
modify the "John Doe" account.

.... and then change the John Doe account from "Computer
administrator" to "Limited".

Oh, you can certainly do that, if you like. I understood your original
post to mean that you wanted to leave the "John Doe" account intact and
create a limited account for daily use. My mistake.

I was basing this fond hope on the message that appears when I go to
Control Panel/User Accounts, select my John Doe (Administrator) account
and choose "Change my account type". The message reads:

"You must assign a new user on this computer with a computer
administrator account before you can change this user's account type.
This ensures that there is always at least one user with a computer
administrator account on this computer."

Roger

Yes, that's the normal message if you try to modify an account from the
control panel applet. Instead, reboot the computer in Safe Mode, log in
using the built-in Administrator account, and then use Start > Run >
Contol Userpasswords2 to modify the "John Doe" account.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[JS]

No, not the one in your name but an account named 'Administrator'.
Try this: Open a command prompt window, then enter NET USER
This will display a list of all the accounts that exist.

JS

 

[Roger]

No, not the one in your name but an account named 'Administrator'.
Try this: Open a command prompt window, then enter NET USER
This will display a list of all the accounts that exist.

JS

User accounts for \\ROGER-A4Axxxxxxx

 

[Larry Gardner]

What everyone is trying to say is that you have a hidden User Account with
login name Administrator.

You and your wife are using the account John Doe (which has administrator
privileges).
You also have Limited Users and other System accounts that cannot be access
by login.

When you are at the Welcome Screen, you can access the Windows Administrator
account (the one that came with the system), by typing CTRL+ALT+DEL+DEL.

The Windows Login windows will appear. If you type in Administrator (and
have never assigned a password to the default Administrator), then the
password is empty and you just have to click on OK.

You will then be logged in as the default Windows XP OS Administrator
Account, not John Does.

You can check this out by opening C:\Documents and Settings and see if there
is an Administrator account. Remember, unless you are logged in as an
administrator-type account, you will not see any User Account folders under
C:\Documents and Settings if they chose to set the 'Make this folder
private' under Properties | Sharing.

If you use Control Panel | User Accounts to view accounts, you will not see
the Administrator account unless you have set Windows XP to show the
account, by using TweakUI, or manually setting the Registry to show the
Special Account.

 

[Roger]

Thanks Bruce, JS and Larry for all the information -- and your patience!