Help! Can't log in

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve
  • Start date Start date
S

Steve

I used TweakUI to set a login password, then rebooted. I get message
"the system could not log on" along with the login page - set to
Administrator, asking for password. I enter the password I just set,
and keep getting message "Did you forget your password?"

???

Thanks!
 
Are you using the administrator account(you really shouldn't be) or did you
set up a user for yourself to use? If you have a user setup and you set
tweakui to log onto that user, you probably just typed the password wrong.
When log on fails, replace adminstrator with your user name and then type in
the correct password. Once, in correct tweakui as well.
Note: tweakui only lets you auto-logon it doesn't actually set or change
your password for you. If you thought by putting a password in tweakui that
it would change your current xp password, then try your old password at the
logon screen.
 
Steve said:
I set tweakui to not show my login name, and to use a password (there
was no password set before I entered the one in tweakui). Then, when
I rebooted, it came up as Administrator and asked for password.

And it just got worse - I tried booting into safe mode, then went to
Control Panel > Users and set an Administrator password, then rebooted
again. It got to the login screen, then flashed right thru it to a
screen that says "Windows is starting up." It's frozen there, and I
can't even power down the laptop - the power switch does nothing.
Am I doomed? :(
Click to expand...
If you never set a password before entering one in tweakui then the password
for your user account would be nothing(blank). Entering one in tweakui would
make it try to use that password, which is incorrect, thus the error
message.
Having tweakui hide your account would do just that and hide it, so that why
the administartor user name came up, yours is hidden.
Not sure why you went into safe mode and set an admin password, or what
happened. All you needed to do was replace administartor user name with your
user name and leave pass blank. It would then let you in. If the welcome
screen was showing and only admin shows, you hit ctrl-alt-del twice, type in
your user name and hit enter(blank password).
It would have been best to wait a few minutes for answers, cause what was an
easy fix before seems a bit harder now. If you can get to the welcome screen
try ctrl-alt-del twice and log in with your user. If you get in fix/set your
passwords in xp then enter them in tweakui. Or boot to the xp cd and try a
repair install.
 
purplehaz said:
If you never set a password before entering one in tweakui then the password
for your user account would be nothing(blank). Entering one in tweakui would
make it try to use that password, which is incorrect, thus the error
message.
Having tweakui hide your account would do just that and hide it, so that why
the administartor user name came up, yours is hidden.
Not sure why you went into safe mode and set an admin password, or what
happened. All you needed to do was replace administartor user name with your
user name and leave pass blank. It would then let you in. If the welcome
screen was showing and only admin shows, you hit ctrl-alt-del twice, type in
your user name and hit enter(blank password).
Click to expand...

Thanks for hanging in there on this. Sorry, the safe mode stuff came
from the mfg tech support guy. Added a new account name in safe mode,
then rebooted under that name. I'm back in now, went back into
tweakui and had it show my login name.

Here's the situation:

Control Panel > Users shows 2 accounts - the new one I created above
(Steve 2) and my original account (Steve 1). Both are listed as
administrative accounts. There is no listing for Administrator, guess
it was replaced by the new one. Neither account has a password.

When I reboot, I'm still getting the message saying "the system could
not log on," asking for a password. When I click OK, I get the login
screen with my 2 accounts. If I click Steve 1, everything's as it
was. Steve 2 has different settings.

The bigger problem is that on some reboots I'm still getting the
frozen screen at "Windows is starting up."

Questions:

Is it possible to get back the original Admin account?

Do I want my account set up as limited, not admin, to avoid this kind
of problem?

Any ideas about the frozen screen?

Thanks again!
 
Steve said:
Thanks for hanging in there on this. Sorry, the safe mode stuff came
from the mfg tech support guy. Added a new account name in safe mode,
then rebooted under that name. I'm back in now, went back into
tweakui and had it show my login name.

Here's the situation:

Control Panel > Users shows 2 accounts - the new one I created above
(Steve 2) and my original account (Steve 1). Both are listed as
administrative accounts. There is no listing for Administrator, guess
it was replaced by the new one. Neither account has a password.

When I reboot, I'm still getting the message saying "the system could
not log on," asking for a password. When I click OK, I get the login
screen with my 2 accounts. If I click Steve 1, everything's as it
was. Steve 2 has different settings.

The bigger problem is that on some reboots I'm still getting the
frozen screen at "Windows is starting up."

Questions:

Is it possible to get back the original Admin account?

Do I want my account set up as limited, not admin, to avoid this kind
of problem?

Any ideas about the frozen screen?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Creating a new user was a good idea, glad you got in.
Once you create a user account, the administrtor account gets hidden by
default. It's not meant to be used on a daily basis, that's why it is
hidden. It will only show on the welcome if: you boot in safe mode or use
tweakui to show it. It also will only show in control panel, user accounts,
only if your logged into that hidden administrator account. The hidden one
can't be deleted, it is still there. XP needs it. You can also access the
hidden admin account by hitting ctrl-atl-del twice on the welcome screen.
Then put administrator in as user and password, if any.
When you reboot and you get that error message, it sounds like you still
have tweakui to auto-log you in. Go into tweakui and make sure you turn
autologon off.
You could setup your account as limited if you wanted, but xp always needs
one account that has admin rights, in addition to the hidden admin account.
So if you did this you'd have three accounts, the hidden admin, your user as
admin, and your user as limited. There are limitations on a limited account,
so it's up to you if you can live with the limitations.
For the frozen screen could be a few things. Try making sure tweakui is not
trying to log you on and you could also try: start, run, type in: sfc
/scannow (have xp cd handy).
 
purplehaz said:
When you reboot and you get that error message, it sounds like you still
have tweakui to auto-log you in. Go into tweakui and make sure you turn
autologon off.
Click to expand...

Yep, that did it. Sure wish I never heard of tweakui, at least for
today!
You could setup your account as limited if you wanted, but xp always needs
one account that has admin rights, in addition to the hidden admin account.
Click to expand...

Ok, just wanted to make sure I'd have access to Admin if I ever screw
up my personal account again. So I'll go ahead and delete Steve2,
then login will show only the original account.

Thanks SO much for all your help (and your patience). Don't know what
I'd do without these newsgroups.

....Steve
 
purplehaz said:
in your user name and hit enter(blank password).
Click to expand...

Been fooling around with it a little more (uh-oh). Deleted the second
login name, now have only one. It skips the welcome screen entirely
and goes right to the desktop. How do I get to admin, in case I ever
need it? Went to CP > Users, no indication there, as far as I can
tell.
 
Steve said:
Tried the ctrl-alt-delete trick, nothing happened. Must not be my
day, I guess...
Click to expand...

If you have xp pro it will work. If you have xp home, you have to boot to
safe mode.
 
Thought I had this problem licked, but I just booted to safe mode,
clicked on Administrator, and it asked me for a password again. If I
leave it blank, I get message "Did you forget your password?" and it
asks me again.

I have no problem getting in on my user account, which is set up as
Computer Admin, and everything works ok. But I'd sure like to have
access to the Admin account, just in case...
 
Log into your user account(an account with admin rights).
Goto: start, run, type: control userpasswords2
Highlight the admin account and choose reset password. See if this helps.
 
Steve said:
That did it, thanks so much! Don't know where I'd be without kind
folks like you, probably out there on a park bench somewhere...

:)
Click to expand...

You're welcome.
 
Log into your user account(an account with admin rights).
Goto: start, run, type: control userpasswords2
Highlight the admin account and choose reset password. See if this helps.
Click to expand...
So a User with Admin rights can re-set the Administrator Password?
That's pretty dodgy, ain't it?
 
Steve said:
Seriously, I'd bet you could check out a half dozen of those
2,000-page XP books, and wouldn't see this explained anywhere.
Click to expand...

I hear ya. I got the tip to the userpasswords2 from MVP Kelly. She even has
a reg hack on her site to put an icon to it in the control panel.
 
rifleman said:
So a User with Admin rights can re-set the Administrator Password?
That's pretty dodgy, ain't it?
Click to expand...
Ya, I didn't like that all that much either. I guess to the os an admin is
an admin as far as changing passwords. If you have the rights it lets you do
it.
 
Ya, I didn't like that all that much either. I guess to the os an admin is
an admin as far as changing passwords. If you have the rights it lets you do
it.
Click to expand...

I suppose the answer is for the Administrator to deny access to the
command line for specific users......
 
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