User Account problem

[John F Kappler]

I was called to a Windows XP Pro PC yesterday to do a user changeover
and to add/remove some software.

I discovered that there are two Administrator accounts showing (plus
one limited account and the Guest turned off)

One of the Admin accounts is called Administrator, the other is called
"Registered User"

I can do most of my admin from the Administrator account, but the one
called Registered User is giving me a problem.

It appears this account has been used with a variety of different user
names and somewhere along the line, a departing user has logged in as
Administrator and deleted the Registered User's folder from within
Documents & Settings on the C Drive.

Whilst these are no great loss, some installing / de-installing
software I get failures saying they cant find the folders.

I cant deleted Registered User or seemingly get the system to us
Administrator as the main administrator account!

Any ideas on how to sort out these accounts?

Help much appreciated

TIA,

JohnK

 

[Nepatsfan]

The built in Administrator account should not be used on a regular basis. It's
there for emergencies should all other admin accounts become corrupted.

You should create a new user account that's a Computer Administrator, password
protect it, and use that account to perform administrative tasks. Once you
create this account, the Administrator account goes into hiding. If you need to
logon with that account at a later date, hit the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys twice at
the Welcome screen and use the Logon to Windows dialog to log on as
Administrator.

I think once you create the new admin account, you'll be able to deleted the
"Registered User" account.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[John F Kappler]

I'm afraid it doesn't seem to be that simple.

I've already tried creating a new "System" account with administrator
privileges, but the Administrator account does not hide!

My suspicion is that the Registered User account was originally the
Administrator account and got renamed, and then someone created
another account called Administrator.

Whatever happened, some software wont install / deinstall because it
asks for folders in documents & settings that dont now exist....

JK