No users on welcome screen

[Debra]

I am trying to logon to my husband's laptop and there are
no users on the welcome screen. I have tried going to
safe mode, still no users. I tried ctrl alt del, since I
never created a password, I can't get in there either. I
can't get a command prompt or anything.

Next I installed a new copy of Windows in a new
directory, from there I got in to copy all of his files
to save them on another computer. I don't want to
reinstall windows because this will remove all of the
network setup he needs at work. (It's a small company
without any IT people on staff). Is there any way to get
his user back in the original windows setup? Surely
there are some files stored that can be copied over from
the new installation.

Remember - I can't get anything in the original
installation even in safe mode. All of the threads I
have seen assume being able to get into administrator
through safe mode - There is no administrator available
even in safe mode.

Thank you.

 

[Debra again]

I did a Repair install and just got the same screen -
still no users.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

Debra, if you cannot access the old account except from the new XP
installation, I don't think there is any way to bring back those settings
unless you used the File and Settings Transfer applet prior to losing
access. Further, it is not recommended to have two XP installations on the
same drive, even in different folders so, ultimately, you're going to have
to blow this out and start over.

I'd backup all the data and start over.

You might try this question on the windowsxp.network_web newsgroup but I
don't hold out much hope for being able to access those settings from a
separate XP install.