Password Trouble

[Bob Stringer]

Some background is required.

I got my new computer on Friday, my first experience with
WinXP, and ran into trouble almost right away. On Friday all
I did was remove programs I didn't want (RealOne, etc.) and
tinker with the interface (changed it to classical, etc),
and then installed my partition program, PartitionExpert.
Everything worked ok after that, including after re-booting
a few times, except that I had a problem being able to
create a partition of significant size on one of the two
hard drives (I posted to a different thread on that problem
yesterday. And it's always possible that the partitioning
issue was simply my doing something wrong, but I mention it
for FWIW). Oh, and I should note that I did not ever enter a
password to log on.

The next morning, I couldn't log on. Instead, a screen came
up saying I had to select a user name and click on it to log
on -- only no user name was listed, and the only option was
to shut down. Shutting down also took a *long* time once
that problem started. Continually rebooting merely got me
back to the same screen. I then dealt with the manufacturer
(Dell) for the better part of the day, and ended up
reformatting the drive and reinstalling Windows from the
ground up. And after that, everything worked great --
PartitionExpert included.

Now, I've spent a good part of today installing programs and
fine-tuning different configurations. I re-booted after
each new program was installed, and until 20 minutes ago no
log on screen ever popped up. But 20 minutes ago it did.
Fortunately, this screen had my user name, and clicking on
it completed Windows launching. A few more re-boots just to
be sure, and the same window keeps coming up, for no
apparent reason.

I don't want to deal with a logon screen -- there's no point
to it since I'm the only user and I wasn't using a password,
so it's hardly a security device for me. I therefore went
into the alternate User Accounts window (Start | Run | typed
"control userpasswords2" | OK), and unchecked the box "users
must enter a user name and password to use this computer."
After I clicked "apply," I was then required to enter a
password, which I did.

Now, as I understand it, this was supposed to make Windows
launch without a log-on screen. (I don't understand the
point of having to select a password specifically for the
purpose of *not* using it, but this is how "Windows XP
annoyances" explains what to do to avoid a log-on screen.)
What happens now is that the log-on screen *still* comes up,
and in front of it is another box stating "The system could
not log you on. Make sure your user name and domain are
correct, then type your password again. etc." When I then
click ok, I'm at the log-on screen, and going through that
extra, useless step of clicking on my user name (the only
one) gets me to the desktop.

Can anyone explain what's up and how to fix it? Is this
normal behavior and I'm just doing something wrong, or does
the current behavior, combined with what happened yesterday,
suggest a problem with the drive or something?

Thanks.

Bob Stringer

 

[Dave]

Try disabling all user accounts EXCEPT for "Administrator" and your account.
Do not delete them, just disable them.

 

[Bob Stringer]

Try disabling all user accounts EXCEPT for "Administrator" and your account.
Do not delete them, just disable them.

There aren't any. I have the only user account.

Does that suggest a solution?

Thanks.

Bob Stringer

 

[Dave]

When you go to Start>Run and type "control userpasswords2", do you have the
Advanced Tab? If yes, go to Advanced User Management and select Advanced.
On the left pane highlight "Users" you will then see on the left side all
of the users accounts. Are all disabled except for Administrator and your
user account?

 

[Bob Stringer]

When you go to Start>Run and type "control userpasswords2", do you have the
Advanced Tab? If yes, go to Advanced User Management and select Advanced.
On the left pane highlight "Users" you will then see on the left side all
of the users accounts. Are all disabled except for Administrator and your
user account?

There aren't any except for Administrator and my user
account?

I don't want to try it without knowing it's ok, but barring
other solutions, would I bypass the logon screen if I set it
to log on as the administrator every time?

Thanks.

Bob Stringer

 

[Bob Stringer]

There aren't any except for Administrator and my user
account?

Oops. Didn't mean to type a question mark there.

Bob Stringer