Old "Log In As Another User" option in XP?

[Iskandar Taib]

OK, here's and interesting one. I've got a bunch of PCs
in a student lab. They're all identical (except for IP
numbers and computer name). All have identical accounts
set up - a user account (no password), and an admin
account (password protected). All run Windows XP
Professional, factory installed. Still using Fat32, still
no domain (this will change). The Guest account is
inactive.

Here's the funny part. If I log into machine A as the
administrator, I can't access administrative share "c$"
on machine B (Start -> Run -> \\B\C$ -> Run). (Usernames
and passwords are the same on both machines.) What
happens is a login box appears, with the username greyed
out, but fixed as "B/guest". What's going on? This works
fine on all other Windows XP machines I've tried it on.

Incidentally - I've found that, on these machines, and on
others with factory-installed XP, if you change the login
method to not use the Welcome Screen, you can then log in
as "Administrator" without using a password. Apparently,
during the factory install, a password wasn't set for the
built in "Administrator" account, and this remains, even
if you set a password for the new administrator account
that shows up on the Welcome Screen. I've had my workers
set passwords for "Administrator" on all the machines by
using "Manage" (right click My Computer).

 

[Roger Abell [MVP]]

The machine that is trying to force you to a Guest login
is still set to use Simplified sharing . This is set at bottom
of the View tab of the Folder Options.

You may be confusing "the" Administrator account, which
OEMs often do leave with a blank password, and some
account that has as a display name Administrator.
Use lusrmgr.msc to get to the bottom of that one and look
at the properties of the accounts.

 

[Iskandar Taib]

The machine that is trying to force you to a Guest login
is still set to use Simplified sharing . This is set at bottom
of the View tab of the Folder Options.

You may be confusing "the" Administrator account, which
OEMs often do leave with a blank password, and some
account that has as a display name Administrator.
Use lusrmgr.msc to get to the bottom of that one and look
at the properties of the accounts.

The other administrator account (which does have a password, which we
set earlier) does have a different username. "The" administrator
account did indeed have a blank password, and I wasn't aware that
there was a "the" administrator account until I started poking around
on the machine. I guess it's a problem if (a) you had a machine with
factory installed XP, and (b) if you decided not to use the Simplified
Security. It's also a problem is people have access to the console (in
this case, it's a lab, so this IS a problem).