Persistent Adiminstrator Account

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gadgetgw
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Gadgetgw

Greetings

I have a new XP Pro install over the top of a XP Pro that was not a genuine
because the seller sold us a dud OEM. Anyway problem is and was that the
Administrator acct logins in automatically when booting. It has a passowrd
which i don't know (probably put there by the original seller) but that
doesn't stop the system from booting and opening in the administrator
account.

With Welcome screen running after booting you can logout from the
Administrator acct and login to otehr correctly but can't get back to the
Administraor acct as it needs the password.

I have disabled the Administrator account but that just stops the system
from booting, it hangs about the point that you usually get the "loading
personal setting" message.

TRied lots of things but have run out of ideas

Graeme
 
Gadgetgw said:
Greetings

I have a new XP Pro install over the top of a XP Pro that was not a genuine
because the seller sold us a dud OEM. Anyway problem is and was that the
Administrator acct logins in automatically when booting. It has a passowrd
which i don't know (probably put there by the original seller) but that
doesn't stop the system from booting and opening in the administrator
account.

With Welcome screen running after booting you can logout from the
Administrator acct and login to otehr correctly but can't get back to the
Administraor acct as it needs the password.

I have disabled the Administrator account but that just stops the system
from booting, it hangs about the point that you usually get the "loading
personal setting" message.

TRied lots of things but have run out of ideas

Graeme
Click to expand...

1. Re-enable the admin account.
2. Log in as admin.
3. Start a Command Prompt.
4. Type this command:
net user administrator xxxyyy
where "xxxyyy" is the new password.

If you have any other accounts with administrative
privileges then you can use the command of Step 4
directly from those accounts.

After reading your post again I realise that you never
asked a question. What is it that you actually want to know?
 
Gadgetgw said:
Greetings

I have a new XP Pro install over the top of a XP Pro that was not a genuine
because the seller sold us a dud OEM. Anyway problem is and was that the
Administrator acct logins in automatically when booting. It has a passowrd
which i don't know (probably put there by the original seller) but that
doesn't stop the system from booting and opening in the administrator
account.

With Welcome screen running after booting you can logout from the
Administrator acct and login to otehr correctly but can't get back to the
Administraor acct as it needs the password.

I have disabled the Administrator account but that just stops the system
from booting, it hangs about the point that you usually get the "loading
personal setting" message.

TRied lots of things but have run out of ideas

Graeme
Click to expand...

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
 
Thanks Both

THe real question was why the administrator account logs in fully with no
password prompt when the system is set up with other users and the "Welcome"
screen mode & fast user switching.

I can login as another administrator to change the password but am reluctant
to do so as if on boot it locks up again when forcing a boot to
administrator i won't be able to go back to the old password.. I wouldn't
think this is a major likely hood but are un willing to try at the moment.

This is potentially a real security issue as at the moment the person who
powers up the maching is logged in as the administrator.

Graeme
 
Gadgetgw said:
Thanks Both

THe real question was why the administrator account logs in fully with no
password prompt when the system is set up with other users and the "Welcome"
screen mode & fast user switching.

I can login as another administrator to change the password but am reluctant
to do so as if on boot it locks up again when forcing a boot to
administrator i won't be able to go back to the old password.. I wouldn't
think this is a major likely hood but are un willing to try at the moment.

This is potentially a real security issue as at the moment the person who
powers up the maching is logged in as the administrator.

Graeme


Gadgetgw wrote:



http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
Click to expand...

Using Start | run | controluserpasswords2 it can be setup to
automatically login to an account.

1. Go to Start | Run and type in: control userpasswords2 | Ok.

2. On the Users tab, clear the Users Must Enter A User Name And Password
To Use This Computer check box and then click OK.

3. In the Automatically Log On dialog box that appears, type the user
name and password for the account you want to be logged on each time you
start your computer.
Click to expand...
 
Rock explained in his reply why the system logs you
on automatically as "Administrator".

With respect to your reluctance to change the admin
password, I think you have it back to front. An admin
account with an unknown password is a trap ready to
be sprung. If the auto-logon feature fails for some reason
then your machine is history. The sooner you change it
to a known password, the better. And while you're at it:
Plan ahead and create a second admin admin NOW.
This newsgroup deals with lots of posts from short-sighted
people whose PC has one single admin account. When
the password gets lost then they are lost too. How many
sets of keys do you have for your car? Why is it more
than one? Why not apply the same thinking to your PC?


Gadgetgw said:
Thanks Both

THe real question was why the administrator account logs in fully with no
password prompt when the system is set up with other users and the "Welcome"
screen mode & fast user switching.

I can login as another administrator to change the password but am reluctant
to do so as if on boot it locks up again when forcing a boot to
administrator i won't be able to go back to the old password.. I wouldn't
think this is a major likely hood but are un willing to try at the moment.

This is potentially a real security issue as at the moment the person who
powers up the maching is logged in as the administrator.

Graeme
Click to expand...
 
check out the autoadminlogon key value in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon it
shud be 1.
change it to 0 and ur issue will be resolved
under the same u can see the defaultpassword try to logon admin account with
that password and u shud be able to login

gopi

Gadgetgw said:
Thanks Both

THe real question was why the administrator account logs in fully with no
password prompt when the system is set up with other users and the "Welcome"
screen mode & fast user switching.

I can login as another administrator to change the password but am reluctant
to do so as if on boot it locks up again when forcing a boot to
administrator i won't be able to go back to the old password.. I wouldn't
think this is a major likely hood but are un willing to try at the moment.

This is potentially a real security issue as at the moment the person who
powers up the maching is logged in as the administrator.

Graeme
Click to expand...
 
You might also want to do a google search for linux xp administrator
password reset (or similiar). There are tons of reset tools out
there. One of the best ways is to find a linux based tool. Burn the
image to cd/dvd and then reboot with the new cd/dvd. You will then
be able to reset your XP Admin password and this SHOULD fix the
problem. Just be sure to follow the directions.

What you are doing is modifying the SAM registry hive. And this needs
to be done with care.

Another thing you might want to do, is to DISABLE the Administrator
account. Make yourself, or someone else who uses this pc, the
Administrator by adding whoever to the Administrator's group. This
way you will still have Admin privligaes.

You get into users and groups by RIGHT clicking on MY Computer, then
click Local Users and Groups. I also like to set the User can not
change the password checkbox. This way it makes it a little more
difficult for someone to change the password on you.
 
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