Windows XP logon user names missing

[Guest]

Both user names on my laptop have vanished from the Windows startup screen.
If I try ctrl-alt-del option it wants a password which has never been set. I
can't logon as Administrator either.
Can I go into recovery mode using the Windows XP disk and correct this by
editing the appropriate file?

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Both user names on my laptop have vanished from the Windows startup
screen.
If I try ctrl-alt-del option it wants a password which has never been set.
I
can't logon as Administrator either.
Can I go into recovery mode using the Windows XP disk and correct this by
editing the appropriate file?

Try leaving the password field blank and pressing Enter.

 

[Guest]

Tried already, no success.

Try leaving the password field blank and pressing Enter.

 

[Rock]

Both user names on my laptop have vanished from the Windows startup
screen.
If I try ctrl-alt-del option it wants a password which has never been set.
I
can't logon as Administrator either.
Can I go into recovery mode using the Windows XP disk and correct this by
editing the appropriate file

What does, "I can't logon as Administrator either" mean? Is this XP Home or
Pro? How are you trying to login to the Administrator account?

Have you tried starting in Safe Mode or Last Known Good Configuration? What
is the history of the problem?

 

[Guest]

Same result trying to start in safe mode and in Last Known Good Configuration
- both user names missing or hidden. It's XP Home. I had restarted the laptop
after my wireless broadband connection had stopped communicating.
The laptop had gone to sleep after running a Java application - the live
timing from the FIA for Formula 1 racing. Coincidentally (or not), I suffered
a corrupt registry on the laptop after using the live timing on a previous
race.

I was trying to logon as Administrator just as a desperate way to get in and
fix the User Accounts.

No one has answered my original question - can I fix this by editing a file
in DOS?

 

[Nightowl]

No one has answered my original question - can I fix this by editing a file
in DOS?

Hi Colin

Go here: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ for an excellent
utility that will allow you to boot from a floppy or CD and reset your
Administrator password. Once you can log in as Admin, you can sort out
your user accounts.

Hope this helps -- let us know how it goes

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the sugestion, Nightowl. I had a look and it looks pretty
complicated. I'm wondering if it is the right solution as I have never set
passwords on the user names and certainly not on the Admin. In fact, I'm not
sure if Administrator exists in Winows XP Home edition. I get confused as I
have Windows XP Pro on my PC but Home on the laptop.

 

[Nightowl]

Hi Colin

Yes, Administrator does exist in XP Home, but can only be accessed in
safe mode. By default in Home it has a blank password.

I'm a bit confused now as I thought you had said earlier that you had
tried safe mode and that you "couldn't log in as Administrator either".
Does the (built-in) Administrator show up on the Welcome screen when you
boot to safe mode? If not, did you try holding down Ctrl and Alt and
hitting Del quickly twice to get the login box, then typing
Administrator in the name field and leaving the password field blank?

 

[Guest]

Yes, I did say that I had tried safe mode. Unfortunately, I was unable to
logon.

 

[Rock]

Yes, I did say that I had tried safe mode. Unfortunately, I was unable to
logon.

<snip>

And what does I was unable to logon mean? Does the Administrator account
show up on the Welcome Screen in Safe Mode? Do any accounts show up?

I have no idea what the "live timing" is or what effect it might have. How
did you recover from the corrupt registry the last time?

As to your other question, no there is no simple file edit you can do from
DOS to fix this.

Have you tried the password reset utility that nightowl referenced?

Here is an article with info on how to recover from a corrupt registry that
prevents XP from starting

How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP from
Starting:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=307545

How to Troubleshoot Registry Corruption Issues
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=822705

Do you have a full backup of important data? If not do that first. That
can still be done even though the system won't boot. Here are some ways:

1. Take the drive out of the computer and attach it through an appropriate
adaptor to the USB port of another Windows XP or 2000 computer. It should
read the drive ok, so you can copy the data. A variation of this is to put
the drive in an external drive enclosure and connect that to the other
computer.

2. Create a bootable Bart's PE disk, boot from that, then copy the data to
external USB drive or flash drive.

3. Download a bootable Linux distro called Knoppix. Create a bootable CD
from that, boot from it, and copy the data to USB drive or flash drive, or
if the computer has two CD drives, one of which is a burner, then use the
k3b burning program on the Knoppix CD to burn the data to CD.

4. Take it to a competent computer tech to backup the data.

If the system still isn't booting then the next step is to do a repair
install:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

And if all else fails a clean install:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html