some really dumb questions

[bbxrider]

is the 'username' of the xp default administrator account = 'administrator'
?
and
is the username not case dependent, so Administrator, ADMINISTRATOR,
administrator, etc are all valid values?
and
there is no way to delete 'administrator' only disable it?

i'm as sure as i can be that i have the adminstrator password from when
installing but system not letting me login using 'administrator' (or
variants) for username
so i'm thinking somehow i've got the 'username' incorrect

 

[Malke]

is the 'username' of the xp default administrator account =
'administrator' ?
and
is the username not case dependent, so Administrator, ADMINISTRATOR,
administrator, etc are all valid values?
and
there is no way to delete 'administrator' only disable it?

i'm as sure as i can be that i have the adminstrator password from
when
installing but system not letting me login using 'administrator' (or
variants) for username
so i'm thinking somehow i've got the 'username' incorrect

There is a built-in Administrator account. It is not necessarily the
"default" account, whatever you mean by that. If you have XP Home, you
are using some other user account, perhaps a generic account set by the
OEM such as "Owner". Gateway uses "Gateway administrator" or maybe it's
HP.

AFAIK the user log in isn't case sensitive. Since you didn't say whether
you have XP Home or Pro and since you've forgotten whatever password
you set, here are instructions to help you out of the pickle:

In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly
tapping the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to
the right menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not
work here. Once in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden
Administrator account. The default password is a blank.

In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen,
do Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in
"Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up
Windows.

If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or
have Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the
built-in Administrator account's password to a blank.

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

Then go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel and set passwords
that you will remember and make other desired changes.

Malke

 

[Bruce Chambers]

is the 'username' of the xp default administrator account = 'administrator'
?

Yes, the built-in administrator account is named "Administrator."

and
is the username not case dependent, so Administrator, ADMINISTRATOR,
administrator, etc are all valid values?

Correct. In WinNT, Win2K, and now WinXP, usernames are *not*
case-sensitive, although passwords are case-sensitive.

and
there is no way to delete 'administrator' only disable it?

Correct again, although disabling the account would be an exceedingly
foolish thing to do. The standard security practice is to rename the
account, set a strong password on it, and use it only to create another
account for regular use, reserving the Administrator account as a "back
door" in case something corrupts your regular account(s).

i'm as sure as i can be that i have the adminstrator password from when
installing but system not letting me login using 'administrator' (or
variants) for username
so i'm thinking somehow i've got the 'username' incorrect

Well, no "variants" (other than letter case) of the user name would
work, so it's more likely that you've somehow forgotten the correct
password, or have indeed disabled the account. Be that as it may,
Linux-based password cracking utilities abound on the Internet, freely
available to anyone who can use Google.


--

Bruce Chambers

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[bbxrider]

thanks for your help, will try the ntpasswd solution, with the bootable cd