lost user account

[Guest]

I'm terribly in over my head and would appreciate any guidance here. I was
fumbling around earlier today and decided to create a second user account on
my computer, I have no idea why at this point. Anyway, I entered a name and
password and chose a picture and all that, next thing I know; my desktop went
to the default settings and many of my program icons were no longer there.
And when I went back to user accounts it had swapped my original
"administrator" account out for this new one, only without the original data
and configuration. I want my old desktop and data back, anyone have an idea
what I've done to it? Thanks for taking the time assist me.

 

[peter]

Sounds like you never really set up a User Acct in the 1st place...you used
the deafult Admin.account.
Then when you actually set up a real user acct..the default Admin.Acct went
into hiding.
Set up another User Acct..lets call it B and the 1st one A..make sure both
have Admin.Priviledges.
restart system and log in as user B
Right click the MyComputer icon/properties/advanced....under User Profiles
click settings.
here you will see all of the Users..highlight the Admin user and click "copy
to"
on the next screen navigate to C:\documents&settings/User A..........and
click OK
OK your way out and restart the system...........sign in as user A
This should copy all of your settings to the new user..........check to make
sure it all took.
You can now delete user B under Control Panel/User Acct.
peter

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I'm terribly in over my head and would appreciate any guidance here. I was
fumbling around earlier today and decided to create a second user account on
my computer, I have no idea why at this point. Anyway, I entered a name and
password and chose a picture and all that, next thing I know; my desktop went
to the default settings and many of my program icons were no longer there.
And when I went back to user accounts it had swapped my original
"administrator" account out for this new one, only without the original data
and configuration. I want my old desktop and data back, anyone have an idea
what I've done to it? Thanks for taking the time assist me.

As you've discovered, once any additional administrative user
accounts have been created, the built-in 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 was never 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 daily use (as you've done), 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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