Lost user accts.

[stevev]

After getting an iPod for Christmas, my girlfriend added a new user to our
Dell desktop (WinXP Pro). This was the 3rd user account on this machine
(not counting Guest which is turned off). We were able to switch between
the new (3rd) user and the original user accounts UNTIL we shut the machine
off. When it rebooted only the new user appears on the screen, and we
cannot access all of the files on the computer...although they all appear to
be intact when viewed in My Computer. Any ideas would be
appreciated...thanks in advance.
SteveV

 

[Steven L Umbach]

You need to logon as an administrator and take ownership of those folders
being sure to select the option to change owner on subcontainers and
objects. Then give your account and any other accounts you want to have
access to the folders. Usually you give administrators full control. You
should be able to access the built in administrator account at least by
booting into Safe Mode and hopefully you know the password to it and if not
try leaving the password blank to see if that works. The link below explains
more on taking ownership and managing folder/NTFS permissions ad be sure to
pay attention to the part on disabling simple file sharing if you are using
it. --- Steve

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308418

 

[Steven L Umbach]

Another possibility is that the other user accounts became disabled somehow.
Use lusrmgr.msc to manage the local users which I like better than using
Control Panel. You can use the command net users to see the list of users on
the computer and the command net user username will show more details about
a particular user account including if it is disabled or not. --- Steve