I 'm the Administrator

[Guest]

I want to change the way that I log on to windows.
Presently, when I turn on my computer, I get a dialog box where I have to
type in my Administrator password. I don't want to have to do this every time
I log into windows. So I went to User Accounts to make the change, but
Windows doesn't recognize me as the Administrator. My user account is under
my name, not Administrator, however, I am definately the administrator. So I
try to change the name of my user account to Administrtator, but I get a
message telling me that there is another account with that name. I don't see
it anywhere!!
All I want is to go straight to windows when I turn on my computer, and to
fix this Administrator confusion.
I have scanned my system for viruses and trojen horses and adware and it
is clean.
Any help will be appreciated.
thanks

 

[Malke]

I want to change the way that I log on to windows.
Presently, when I turn on my computer, I get a dialog box where I have to
type in my Administrator password. I don't want to have to do this every time
I log into windows. So I went to User Accounts to make the change, but
Windows doesn't recognize me as the Administrator. My user account is under
my name, not Administrator, however, I am definately the administrator. So I
try to change the name of my user account to Administrtator, but I get a
message telling me that there is another account with that name. I don't see
it anywhere!!
All I want is to go straight to windows when I turn on my computer, and to
fix this Administrator confusion.
I have scanned my system for viruses and trojen horses and adware and it
is clean.
Any help will be appreciated.
thanks

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm


Malke

 

[Rock]

I want to change the way that I log on to windows.
Presently, when I turn on my computer, I get a dialog box where I have to
type in my Administrator password. I don't want to have to do this every
time
I log into windows. So I went to User Accounts to make the change, but
Windows doesn't recognize me as the Administrator. My user account is
under
my name, not Administrator, however, I am definately the administrator.
So I
try to change the name of my user account to Administrtator, but I get a
message telling me that there is another account with that name. I don't
see
it anywhere!!
All I want is to go straight to windows when I turn on my computer, and
to
fix this Administrator confusion.
I have scanned my system for viruses and trojen horses and adware and it
is clean.

There is no Administrator confusion to fix. Yes there is already an
Administrator account on the system. When XP is installed several accounts
are created. One of them is the Administrator account (it has that name).
This account should not be used for regular activities. Good security
practices are to give it a strong password then set it aside, to use only
when there is a problem with the normal working admin account.

When you create another account with admin privileges the Administrator
account is hidden from the Welcome Screen. For XP Pro it can be accessed
from the Welcome Screen by doing ctrl-alt-del, typing in Administrator and
its password.

For XP Home it can only be accessed in Safe Mode. It will appear on the
Welcome Screen.

It is not good security practice to use an auto login, plus you should have
strong passwords on all accounts. However if you want to auto login anyway.

1. Go to Start | Run and type in: control userpasswords2 | Ok.

2. On the Users tab, clear the Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To
Use This Computer check box and then click OK.

3. In the Automatically Log On dialog box that appears, type the user name
and password for the account you want to be logged on each time you start
your computer.

You can accomplish the same thing by:

Download and install tweakui for xp and use its auto logon feature.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Lastly you can add the Dialog box that comes up when running control
userpasswords2 to the Control Panel with the following tweak:

Add Control User Passwords2 to the Control Panel (Line 1)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

 

[Guest]

I screwed up. I went to Run, Control userpasswords2, and then I made the
main Administrator account into a non-administrator account.
Then logged in using another account, but I can't make it the Administrator
NOR can i go back to the Run feature, because I'm not in an Administrator
account.

I didn't know what you just told me, that there is a main Administrator
account and it should not be changed. If I'd known, I wouldl've left it alone.
My bad.

Is there a fix, aside from doing a System Restore?
thanks

 

[Rock]

I screwed up. I went to Run, Control userpasswords2, and then I made the
main Administrator account into a non-administrator account.
Then logged in using another account, but I can't make it the
Administrator
NOR can i go back to the Run feature, because I'm not in an Administrator
account.

I didn't know what you just told me, that there is a main Administrator
account and it should not be changed. If I'd known, I wouldl've left it
alone.
My bad.

Is there a fix, aside from doing a System Restore?
thanks

I'm not quite sure I understand all you are saying. To recap, you changed
the Administrator account to be a limited user account, correct? Then you
logged in with another account. Ok so does that account have admin
privileges? Of course you can't rename it to Administrator because that
name already exists, and there is no need to anyway. If that account or
another one on the system has admin privileges then use that to change the
built in Administrator account back to an Admin account.

When you try to do control userpasswords2 from Start | Run what happens?
The account you are trying that from, does it have admin privileges? System
restore might be an option but I don't think you can run that from a limited
user account. So are there any other accounts with Admin privileges?

If there is no other account on the system with Admin privileges, then I'm
thinking the next thing to do is a repair install. Another option would be
to edit the registry remotely, but I'm not sure off the top of my head what
the keys in the registry you need to change to restore the Administrator
account to the Administrator group.

Maybe someone else who knows will jump in here.

 

[Guest]

I'm not quite sure I understand all you are saying. To recap, you changed
the Administrator account to be a limited user account, correct?

THAT is correct.

Then you logged in with another account. Ok so does that account have admin

privileges? Of course you can't rename it to Administrator because that
name already exists, and there is no need to anyway. If that account or
another one on the system has admin privileges then use that to change the
built in Administrator account back to an Admin account.

NO OTHER account has system privileges. In Control Panel , User Accounts,
there is only the
Administrator (without priviliges) and Guest account.

When you try to do control userpasswords2 from Start | Run what happens?

I CAN'T get in because I'm not an ADministrator (with privileges)

The account you are trying that from, does it have admin privileges?

NO IT does not.

System restore might be an option but I don't think you can run that from a
limited

user account.

YOU ARE right ... System Restore won't work.

So are there any other accounts with Admin privileges?
THERE are in Run,userpasswords2 .. which I can't get into,
but not in User Accounts in Control Panel or anywhere else that I c an
access the other accounts,
besides Administrator and Guest. That I knnow of anyway.

 

[Rock]

THAT is correct.

Then you logged in with another account. Ok so does that account have
admin
NO OTHER account has system privileges. In Control Panel , User
Accounts,
there is only the
Administrator (without priviliges) and Guest account.
I CAN'T get in because I'm not an ADministrator (with privileges)

NO IT does not.

System restore might be an option but I don't think you can run that from
a
limited
YOU ARE right ... System Restore won't work.

So are there any other accounts with Admin privileges?
THERE are in Run,userpasswords2 .. which I can't get into,
but not in User Accounts in Control Panel or anywhere else that I c an
access the other accounts,
besides Administrator and Guest. That I knnow of anyway.

What other accounts are are listed in control userpasswords2 that have admin
privileges? Under Documents and Settings what folders are there?

Here is a link to a site with info on how to do a repair install. I don't
know if that will restore the admin privileges for the Administrator
account.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Before you go any further, is there a backup of important data? If not you
should do that before attempting any other repairs. Here are some options
on how to do this.

1. Take the drive out of the computer and install it as a slave drive in
another Windows XP or 2000 computer. It should read the drive ok, so you can
copy the data.

2. Create a bootable Bart's PE disk, boot from that, then copy the data to
external USB drive or flash drive.

3. Download a bootable Linux distro called Knoppix. Create a bootable CD
from that, boot from it, and copy the data to USB drive or flash drive, or
if the computer has two CD drives, one of which is a burner, then use the
k3b burning program on the Knoppix CD to burn the data to CD.

4. Take it to a competent computer tech to backup the data.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the help Rock.
I'm just going to have my tech guy come over and fix it.
In the meantime, I'll use my other computer.

 

[Rock]

Thanks for the help Rock.
I'm just going to have my tech guy come over and fix it.
In the meantime, I'll use my other computer.

Ok, good luck. It just might be that the OS will have to be reinstalled
clean. Whatever the resolution please post back with the outcome, ok? Also
next time ask a few questions in here before going off doing something
you're not sure about. Folks here are always ready to help out.

 

[Menno Hershberger]

You haven't mentioned if you have XP Pro or XP Home. If it's not PRO then
the administrator account probably doesn't have a password.
In any case, try booting up in Safe Mode (tap F8 when booting for menu).
When you get to the login screen, if you don't see your username, then
hit control-alt-delete twice and a window will come up where you can type
it in. See if that works. Then if you can get in under your username, go
to user accounts in the control panel and see if Administrator is there.
If it is, then see if you can change it back to an administrative
account. I haven't encountered this particular problem before, but it
sounds interesting...
Like one of the others said, your first priority should be to get
averything important backed up in case you have to do a reinstall.

Menno (who decided to top post in this jumble)