Vista Upgrade : Unable to login

[Guest]

Prior to installing Windows Vista there was only one user on the system who
would be logged in automatically.

After upgrading to Vista "Other User" is requested to log in. Upon typing in
the old Username, it deny's access; I presume this is because the account did
not have a password; but am unable to change / create a password due to not
being able to log in.

Due to not being able to log in, all data on the harddrive is inaccessable.
The only option I can think of, which would loose all the data, is to
re-install a clean copy of Vista; this is currently the worst case scenario.

If there is any known way of logging in or restoring the system back to
Windows XP, any help would be much appreciated.

~ Greg.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

The upgrades are a one way street, so unless you created an image backup of
WinXP the only way back to it is a format and clean install. Now, as to the
data, access can normally be corrected by taking ownership of the folders.
Right click an affected folder, select properties. On the security tab click
advanced, then go to the owner tab - replace the current owner with your
user account, and enable the line to include subfolders. Apply/ok your way
back out.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Kerry Brown]

Prior to installing Windows Vista there was only one user on the
system who would be logged in automatically.

After upgrading to Vista "Other User" is requested to log in. Upon
typing in the old Username, it deny's access; I presume this is
because the account did not have a password; but am unable to change
/ create a password due to not being able to log in.

Due to not being able to log in, all data on the harddrive is
inaccessable. The only option I can think of, which would loose all
the data, is to re-install a clean copy of Vista; this is currently
the worst case scenario.

If there is any known way of logging in or restoring the system back
to Windows XP, any help would be much appreciated.

~ Greg.

Try booting into safe mode and logon to the administrator account with no
password. You should then be able to reset the password for your other
account.

 

[Stuart]

Try the following:
Start in SAFE mode and open regedit then
1.HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Add a new key: SpecialAccounts
And a sub-key in the SpecialAccounts key: UserList
In the UserList key, create a DWORD (32-bit): Administrator
Set value to: 1
2. In the Run box type: control userpasswords2

3. Advanced -> Advanced (Local Users and Groups) -> Users

4. Doubleclick Administrator and uncheck "Account is disabled".