URGENT! Computer Name Change = No Admin Login

[Chris Forzetting]

My wife's office manager decided to change her XP Pro computer name while
she was logged with her domain account. After reboot, no one can log in,
even as administrator, even in safe mode. I haven't seen this problem
before, so any help would be appreciated. Can the computer be rejoined to
the domain in the recovery console, if the admin login works there? If the
admin account is broken, can the system be repaired without losing my wife's
profile?

ANY help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris Forzetting

 

[Shenan Stanley]

My wife's office manager decided to change her XP Pro computer name
while she was logged with her domain account. After reboot, no one
can log in, even as administrator, even in safe mode. I haven't seen
this problem before, so any help would be appreciated. Can the
computer be rejoined to the domain in the recovery console, if the
admin login works there? If the admin account is broken, can the
system be repaired without losing my wife's profile?

ANY help would be appreciated.

Changing the computer name while joined to a domain and not using netdom to
do it is pretty bad.
Essentially - what you need now is a local admin username and password - the
domain likely has no power over this machine..

Hack your password:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

Another Password Hack:
http://www.thomasmathiesen.com/itak/html/software.html

 

[WTC]

My wife's office manager decided to change her XP Pro computer name
while she was logged with her domain account. After reboot, no one
can log in, even as administrator, even in safe mode. I haven't seen
this problem before, so any help would be appreciated. Can the
computer be rejoined to the domain in the recovery console, if the
admin login works there? If the admin account is broken, can the
system be repaired without losing my wife's profile?

ANY help would be appreciated.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

 

[WTC]

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

Sorry, wrong info.

 

[Chris Forzetting]

Changing the computer name while joined to a domain and not using netdom
to do it is pretty bad.
Essentially - what you need now is a local admin username and password -
the domain likely has no power over this machine..

Hack your password:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

Another Password Hack:
http://www.thomasmathiesen.com/itak/html/software.html

I know the local machine's admin password - it's the only account on the Pc
with admin rights - but the login fails (and I did have her check the CAPS
LOCK status) - I can't talk her through using the recovery console login,
esp. since I don't know if it's installed, but I am going to her office
later today. I was hoping for a fix or procedure I could use when I get
there.

Thanks,

Chris Forzetting

 

[Kerry Brown]

Sorry, wrong info.

If the local administrator account is broken (unlikely) then you would have
to do a repair install. She shouldn't loose her profile with a repair
install. It is more likely the password was wrong and/or she didn't know how
to logon locally and was still trying to logon to the domain. You could also
use the utilities found at http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ to reset the
password. Be aware that resetting the password outside of Windows may cause
problems and should only be used as a last resort. Another thing to try is
to have the administrator use the Active Directory Users and Computers snap
in to add the new computer name to the appropriate OU, reboot her computer
and see if she can logon to the domain. This is unlikely to work but worth a
try. I make it a point when installing computers to attach a piece of tape
with the local administrator password written on it somewhere inside the
chassis. Something you may want to suggest to the administrator for the
future. I also always create a second local account with admin rights.

Kerry

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Changing the computer name while joined to a domain and not using
netdom to do it is pretty bad.
Essentially - what you need now is a local admin username and
password - the domain likely has no power over this machine..

Hack your password:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

Another Password Hack:
http://www.thomasmathiesen.com/itak/html/software.html

I know the local machine's admin password - it's the only account on
the Pc with admin rights - but the login fails (and I did have her
check the CAPS LOCK status) - I can't talk her through using the
recovery console login, esp. since I don't know if it's installed,
but I am going to her office later today. I was hoping for a fix or
procedure I could use when I get there.

I would take those tools with you, just in case.
The password is quite possibly something you do not know - but knew.

As far as the procedure.. Disjoin from the domain, reboot, rejoin the
domain, reboot, login as the administrator again and use the Advanced tab in
system properties to select the User Profiles settings and copy hers to the
Default User profile. This will help insure everything works, in case just
loggin in as her in the domain doesn't load the same profile - it will
generally be the same.

Have her logon. Look around, My Documents, Favorites, Desktop settings,
etc.

Have her logout and you logon again to check and see if it made a new
profile.. If it did you can either leave it, if she is happy, or you can
edit the registristry's ProfileList area and point her new profile to her
old profile directory there - making sure her domain user has permissions to
that old folder.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Sorry reply went to wrong post. Should have gone to Chris.

Kerry