No users on Welcome Screen (XP Home)

[CB Hamlyn]

A friend brought in his laptop and said he couldn't get Windows to run.

I booted it up and when it gets to the welcome screen no users appear. So I
tried hitting the C-A-D keys twice to get the traditional log in, which
works but I still can't log in. I tried "Guest", "Administrator" and
neither worked.

So I re-installed windows over itself and it still has the same problem.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
CB Hamlyn

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

A friend brought in his laptop and said he couldn't get Windows to run.

I booted it up and when it gets to the welcome screen no users appear. So
I tried hitting the C-A-D keys twice to get the traditional log in, which
works but I still can't log in. I tried "Guest", "Administrator" and
neither worked.

So I re-installed windows over itself and it still has the same problem.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
CB Hamlyn

You WILL be able to login as the local administrator if -
1. you know the name of the administrator account - it may have been
changed from "Administrator"
2. you know the password for the account in 1.

Are you certain you have both 1 and 2 correct ?

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups

 

[CB Hamlyn]

A friend brought in his laptop and said he couldn't get Windows to run.

You WILL be able to login as the local administrator if -
1. you know the name of the administrator account - it may have been
changed from "Administrator"
2. you know the password for the account in 1.

Are you certain you have both 1 and 2 correct ?

I'm not absolutely certain, but I can tell you the owner of the laptop is
not computer savvy and would not likely have ever used the Administrator
account. As far as #2 goes, when I reinstalled windows I set up a user
account "Mel" with no password, which also doesn't work. It's almost like
there are no users at all.

 

[.]

Try formatting the hard drive and reinstalling windows. Or if the laptop
came with a restore disk, use that. It should restore the computer to it's
original configuration. Of course in either case, all files on the computer
will be lost.

Jim W.
http://www.gatorgrad.com

 

[CB Hamlyn]

I figured it'd come to that. I'll slave the drive, get what I can off of it
then reformat.

Thanks for the advice.
CB