lost administrator account

[Guest]

I originally just used the standard administrator account, but i recently
created a second computer administrator account and the next time i rebooted,
the original one, that i have used for years was gone. i can still see most
of the documents thru windows explorer, but can't log into the original
account when i log off or restart...any help would be greatly appreciated,
thank you.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I originally just used the standard administrator account, but i
recently created a second computer administrator account and the
next time i rebooted, the original one, that i have used for years
was gone. i can still see most of the documents thru windows
explorer, but can't log into the original account when i log off or
restart...any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the welcome screen.
Username is "administrator" - password you know.

You can add the user back to the Welcome screen through the TweakUI
utility - freely downloadable Microsoft Windows XP Powertoy.

Was that email a spam collector?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I originally just used the standard administrator account, but i recently
created a second computer administrator account and the next time i rebooted,
the original one, that i have used for years was gone. i can still see most
of the documents thru windows explorer, but can't log into the original
account when i log off or restart...any help would be greatly appreciated,
thank you.

As you've discovered, once any additional user accounts have been
created, the Administrator account will no longer be displayed on the
Welcome Screen. This is a default security feature. By design, the
only way to log into the Administrator account of WinXP Home is to
reboot into Safe Mode. For WinXP Pro, pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at
the Welcome Screen will produce the standard login dialog box.

The built-in Administrator account really isn't intended to be
used for day-to-day normal use. The standard security practice is to
rename the account, set a strong password on it, and use it only to
create another account for regular use, reserving the Administrator
account as a "back door" in case something corrupts your regular account(s).

A wiser course of action would be to create another user account
for your room-mate's daily use, and copy desired the files and settings
from the Administrator 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

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You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the information it worked great.