Lost Administrator Account

[Santy DiSabatino]

My son was having trouble logging on to his account in
windows xp. his account was the only account and it was
the administrator account. I created a new user account
for him and it is listed as a limited user account. My
problem is i cannot find the administrator account and
cannot get into it to make it my primary log on account.
If I try to do a scan disk check it won't allow me because
I do not havbe administrator rights. If I try to delete
software it won't let me because I do not have
administrator rights. How can I get the administrator
account back, I cannot get it to show up at all in the
user account section of the control panel. I ran a virus
scan on the hard drive and have no virus anywhere.

you can post a reply here or email me at (e-mail address removed)

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

The Administrator account is hidden once another account is created.
To access it, reboot tapping F8 each second.
Select Safe Mode at the menu.
Select Administrator
Then go to User Accounts in Control Panel.
From there you can create a new account, Change Account Type etc.

You can also copy the data from the Administrator to another account:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811151

 

[Santy DiSabatino]

Jupiter, you were the one who was trying to help me thru
the windows xp newsgroup and giving me advice. so far, i
tried your advice and restarted my computer and kept
hitting the F8 key and I was abvle to boot in safe mode.
However you said "Select Administrator" where do I
select Administrator? I cannot find this option
anywhere, on the DOS menu for safe mode it does not show
up anywhere. Since I could not select Administrator,
when it completely restarted in safe mode, when I went to
user accounts it would not allow me to create a new
account. Please advise. and thanks for all your help

Santy DiSabatino

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Santy;
After you select Safe Mode, what happens?
Does it go on automatically logging you in?
Do you press any keys to finish getting to Safe Mode?
Once in Safe Mode, go to User Accounts in Control Panel.
What accounts are displayed and are they Administrator or Limited?

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
An easier way to read newsgroup messages:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/newsgroups/setup.asp
http://dts-l.org/index.html