Creating User Logins - Administrator disappeared...

[SongBear]

I hope this is the correct forum.

I am having a problem with creating user accounts in Windows XP Professional
(Media Center Edition) .

I am using Version 5.1 (build 2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519 : Service Pack
2) On an HP machine.

I have been using the automatically created "Administrator" user as my
normal login for a little over a year because I didn't need to have any
other logins on this computer.

Recently I had to create a temporary user account and make it an
administrator so the other person could install software as needed.

As soon as I created the new user account with admin capabilities,
"Administrator" disappeared as a choice of users in the windows login page.
It was pretty late at night and I may have messed up, but I cannot figure
out how.

I had to create another user for myself, in addition to the one that I
created for my visitor. I ended up with several copies of user files and two
useable users that could login. (two icons appeared on the login page, but I
could not make "Administrator" come back.)

I was able to make a useable login for myself by copying as many files from
the "Administrator" folders to my personal new user's folders as I could. I
never could figure out how to re-activate "Administrator" again even though
the files were all there. I even tried the double ctrl-alt-delete - which I
found out about here - to get the login box that you can type the user name
into and typing "Administrator" into that didn't work; and I do remember my
password.

After my visitor left, I no longer needed the extra users, so I restored my
system back to a point before the new users were created and I got the
"Administrator" user back. That worked pretty well, and I am logged on as
"Administrator" now. I just still have to transfer some files, such as MSN
local mail storage, back over from the temporary user folders. When I find
them.

I now am wondering if that behavior (losing the user "Administrator") is
intentional or if it is unusual.

Does the automatic "Administrator" login automatically disappear when any
new user that is admin capable is created? (The theoretical reason for this
would be that perhaps "Administrator" was never designed to be used as a
regular login, similar to, for those who remember DOS, the root directory
was never designed to store a lot of files.)

If this (disabling the Administrator user) is supposed to happen, I was
unable to find any documentation on it in the FAQ's or other Microsoft
online help searches. I also only have a limited number of messages showing
in this forum and searching what I can see did not produce a reference to
this exact problem.

I am concerned that if, well, actually when I need to create another
administrator-capable login, my settings, preferences, and some software
registrations will disappear again.

It was a big mess, even when I copied files over to the temp user's folder.

Can anybody give my any information or guidance on this? Any idea of what
wrong button I may have pushed?

 

[Malke]

SongBear wrote:

(snip long story)

Does the automatic "Administrator" login automatically disappear when
any
new user that is admin capable is created? (The theoretical reason
for this would be that perhaps "Administrator" was never designed to
be used as a regular login, similar to, for those who remember DOS,
the root directory was never designed to store a lot of files.)

Yes.

It is best practice *not* to use the Administrator account but rather to
make an account just for yourself and leave the Administrator account
for emergency purposes. Make yourself an account for your regular work
and copy over the data from the Administrator account as follows:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

Malke

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

This is normal behavior. Once you create additional user accounts, the built-in Administrator account becomes hidden. The basic rational is for security.

To enable the Administrator account on the new Windows XP logon screen, visit my web site, www.dougknox.com and go to the Windows XP section. Follow the link for Enable Administrator Account ......

This small VB Script will make the registry change necessary for the Administrator account to be available on the Welcome Screen. If you prefer to do it manually, click Start, Run and enter REGEDIT Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList\

Note: There is a space between Windows and NT in the above Key.

Add the Administrator account if necessary and/or change the Administrator value to 1

You can also access the built-in Administrator account by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL twice at the Welcome Screen, with no users logged on. You'll get the old Win2K style logon dialog.

 

[SongBear]

Malke
Both helpfull! Thanks! Is there anyplace in the Microsoft normal
documentation where they say this? I don't remember reading this anywhere,
but I could have missed it.
SongBear

 

[Guest]

Doug,
thanks for your reply. Both yourself and Malke were very helpful.
In this forum, i had found the instructions (or a link to them) that had me
copying most of the files in the Administrator folders under Documents and
Settings over to the replacement account. In doing so I had made a new login
that contained many of the preferences and settings of the old Administrator
account, but things were still missing.
Is there a way to make sure that all settings migrate to the new account
(replacement for administrator) (or from any old account to another)? Sort of
like renaming the Admin account and having the system recreate Administrator,
thereby making the new account the main one and leaving Admin clean?
I had looked at your web site when researching this problem, i had even
saved a link to that security console thingy that you made. It looks like it
answers several questions I was asking myself while creating the guest
accounts. Great Idea!
Thanks again
Song~or, Doug, and it feels weird typing my name at both ends of a
message~Bear

 

[Guest]

Hi Malke
I have to apologize.
I originally posted this question from within the Outlook Express newsgroups
interface, not realizing that this more familiar interface was available.
Because if this, the web-based forum interface does not recognize me as the
originator and there is no "answered question" button for me to click.
I have answered a few questions for others in the Excel forum and I know how
important feedback is, even if it is in the form of further questions for
clarification, etc. Doesn’t have to be all positive, just any feedback will
do when you try to help someone.
Often there is an effort involved in re-creating the scenario and creating
and testing the solution before posting the answer. It can be pretty
frustrating when you don’t know if the questioner ever even came back and
read your answer.
Do you know who the forum moderator is and can he/she make this message
thread recognize me as the question originator so that I can click the ‘yes
this answered my question’ button?
Thanks
SongBear

 

[Guest]

Hi Doug,
I have to apologize.
I originally posted this question from within the Outlook Express newsgroups
interface, not realizing that this more familiar interface was available.
Because if this, the web-based forum interface does not recognize me as the
originator and there is no "answered question" button for me to click.
I have answered a few questions for others in the Excel forum and I know how
important feedback is, even if it is in the form of further questions for
clarification, etc. Doesn’t have to be all positive, just any feedback will
do when you try to help someone.
Often there is an effort involved in re-creating the scenario and creating
and testing the solution before posting the answer. It can be pretty
frustrating when you don’t know if the questioner ever even came back and
read your answer.
Do you know who the forum moderator is and can he/she make this message
thread recognize me as the question originator so that I can click the ‘yes
this answered my question’ button?
Thanks
SongBear

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

I'm not sure that its possible. There are no particular moderators, just those who monitor for spam and other inappropriate postings. Glad I was able to help, otherwise, though.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

SongBear,

I don't know of anywhere official, but there are various reasons for not using the built in Administrator account, on a regular basis. This can be expanded to include any Administrator level account.

This account, and any other Administrator level account, has full access to the file system, Registry (with some limitations) and other aspects of the operating system. Any malicious software run from this account, or with its credentials, can do anything the Administrator can do. Replace files, modify the Registry and etc.

The best practice is to use the lowest level of privilege required for day to day operations. If you don't need to be an Administrator to run your software packages, then use a lower privileged type of account. This can help significantly reduce chances of a malware infection as lower level user accounts don't have full access to the file system and the registry.