Setting Up A Used PC

[Guest]

A friend was given a used P4 PC With Windows XP Home Ed Installed along with some other programs.

In Control Panel, there is no icon for User Accounts.
How do I gain access to that feature?

In "Computer Properties", on the "General" tab, Windows XP, is registered to the old owner.
How do I get it registered to reflect the new owner both legally, and what it says on that tab?

In C:\Documents and Setting, there are 4 folders. " Administrator, All Users, Default User," and the Old owner's name.
How can I either delete his folder, or rename his folder to the new owners name?

Thanks!

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Larry,

A friend was given a used P4 PC With Windows XP Home Ed Installed along

with some other programs.

Cool, I hope he/she got all the original system disks as well.

In Control Panel, there is no icon for User Accounts.
How do I gain access to that feature?

Start/run "control userpasswords" (no quotes)

In "Computer Properties", on the "General" tab, Windows XP, is registered to the old owner.
How do I get it registered to reflect the new owner both legally, and what

it says on that tab?

www.dougknox.com, WinXP Utilities, Doug has one to change the registered
owner. The new owner, provided he got all original system disks, should
register with the system manufacturer.

In C:\Documents and Setting, there are 4 folders. " Administrator, All

Users, Default User," and the Old owner's name.

How can I either delete his folder, or rename his folder to the new owners

name?

Create a new account with the new owners name. Then log into it and delete
the old user. You can't rename an existing user folder.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Thanks Rick.

Using the Win XP Tips, I was able to change the registered owner's name.

But the User Accounts, I was not able to resolve.

I typed in the Start --> Run... "control userpasswords," as you suggested, but I got an error message saying that, "nusrmgr.cpl" was missing. I also tried to go to "My Computer --> Properties --> Advanced tab --> User Profiles." But also got that message.

What I did, was go to my own computer, and copy the "nusrmgr.cpl" file to a disk, and copy it to the same location on my friend's computer. The icon did appear in the control panel, but I got the error message, "wrong number of arguments or invalid property assignment" and I was unable to access the feature.

I went to Safe Mode, but there was no logging in, it just went into safe mode. And User Accounts were still not accessible there either.

Other than reinstalling Windows, something that really is not necessary to do, do you have any other solutions, or places to refer me to that would lead me in the direction of resolving this?

Thanks!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
:

Start/run "control userpasswords" (no quotes)

In C:\Documents and Setting, there are 4 folders. " Administrator, All Users, Default User," and the Old owner's name. How can I either delete his folder, or rename his folder to the new owners name?

Create a new account with the new owners name. Then log into it and delete
the old user. You can't rename an existing user folder.

Rick Rogers
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[David Candy]

Try control userpasswords2

 

[Guest]

I tried that David.
I was able to get a screen that allowed me to delete the previous owners name.
But when I did, I was no longer able to get into Windows.
I had to add him back in inorder to get into Windows.
And when I did, I think I got his old environment and everything. Took some work to straighten things out. Where did I go wrong?

 

[David Candy]

If you can't get into windows how did you get him back.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Larry,

You need to expand a new copy of nusrmgr.cpl to the \system32 folder - this
is why I had mentioned receiving all the original system disks. Start/run
msconfig, click on "expand file" (general tab)

File to expand: nusrmgr.cpl
From: X:\I386
To: C:\Windows\system32

Where X is whatever letter is assigned your CD drive (you need your WinXP CD
for this), change it accordingly. If your system was preinstalled, you may
find this instead on the hard drive under C:\Windows\I386. If so, change the
"from" line accordingly. This assumes a default installation to C:\Windows.
If your installation is in a different folder, such as C:\Winnt, change the
"To" path accordingly. Reboot when finished.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

Thanks Rick.

Using the Win XP Tips, I was able to change the registered owner's name.

But the User Accounts, I was not able to resolve.

I typed in the Start --> Run... "control userpasswords," as you

suggested, but I got an error message saying that, "nusrmgr.cpl" was
missing. I also tried to go to "My Computer --> Properties --> Advanced
tab --> User Profiles." But also got that message.

What I did, was go to my own computer, and copy the "nusrmgr.cpl" file to

a disk, and copy it to the same location on my friend's computer. The icon
did appear in the control panel, but I got the error message, "wrong number
of arguments or invalid property assignment" and I was unable to access the
feature.

I went to Safe Mode, but there was no logging in, it just went into safe

mode. And User Accounts were still not accessible there either.

Other than reinstalling Windows, something that really is not necessary to

do, do you have any other solutions, or places to refer me to that would
lead me in the direction of resolving this?

Thanks!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
:

Start/run "control userpasswords" (no quotes)

In C:\Documents and Setting, there are 4 folders. " Administrator, All

Users, Default User," and the Old owner's name. How can I either delete his
folder, or rename his folder to the new owners name?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

To fix the "Registered to" information for WinNT/2K/XP, you can
use Start > Run > Regedit.exe to edit:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOwner

and:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\RegisteredOrganization

How this will affect the name displayed in previously installed
applications will vary depending upon each individual program; some
read the registered owner information dynamically, while others read
it only during installation.

The C:\Documents and Settings\Username folders _cannot_ be
renamed, even if the associated user account has been. So, your best
course of action would be to log on using the built-in Administrator
account, create a new user account, with the username desired. You
can then delete the old user account(s).

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

A friend was given a used P4 PC With Windows XP Home Ed Installed

along with some other programs.

In Control Panel, there is no icon for User Accounts.
How do I gain access to that feature?

In "Computer Properties", on the "General" tab, Windows XP, is registered to the old owner.
How do I get it registered to reflect the new owner both legally, and what it says on that tab?

In C:\Documents and Setting, there are 4 folders. " Administrator,

All Users, Default User," and the Old owner's name.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I tried that David.
I was able to get a screen that allowed me to delete the previous owners name.
But when I did, I was no longer able to get into Windows.
I had to add him back in inorder to get into Windows.

This is where the reserve, emergency account called Administrator comes
in. Boot, hitting F8 as BIOS info goes to black; take Safe Mode, There
will then be an icon for Administrator on the Welcome screen. (If not,
hit CTL-ALT-DEL twice and enter the explicit name
Administrator
and leave the password blank - if it objects you will have to ask the
original owner for it)

From that you ought to be able to access the tools to remove the old
user account(s) and make a new one, with Admin rights for general Admin.
Possibly other user Limited accounts too, for other users. It is
recommended that everyone should work from one of those; as sole user, I
get along with just the one - but I am careful

 

[Guest]

Thanks to All for your continuing help.
I'd like to thank each of you personally:

Rick,

I do have the original XP disks. And I went to MSConfig and expanded the nusrmgr.cpl file to the Windows\System32 and dllcache folders, as that is where they are located on my own PC.

Still when expanding that file from the CD, I continue to get the error message, "wrong number of arguments or invalid property assignment." The feature remains unaccessable.

So It seems that I cannot access User Accounts. I wonder what he could have done to disable this feature. I do have access to all of the old users items, in his folders.

In any event, the new owner is the sole user of her PC, so there really is no true need to create other accounts. It is mearly for cosmetic reasons that she wanted it changed.

David,

I got back into Windows by first going into Safe Mode, typing "user passwordcontrols2" as you had suggested, and giving the old owner back his rights to access the computer.

Alex,

Thankyou for that tip, it was helpful, and it is good to know for when I run into glitches in the future.... and I'm sure that I will as I am always experimenting with my own computer and having to reinstall! But as I back up my data, own all my programs, and have high speed internet access, I don't mind. It's really just a toy for me.

Bruce,

That's a good one to know. Also, the tool from www.dougknox.com, WinXP Utilities, that Rick had recommended did the trick as well.