Admin & User Account

  • Thread starter Thread starter Todd
  • Start date Start date
T

Todd

I have a Dell laptop here with a disabled Admn account and the password for
user doesn't work. How do I get around this without reformatting?
 
OK I managed to get into the Admin account of the domain. But the Admin
account of the machine is disabled. I tried to enable it and it says it does
not meet the password criteria. Where do I go to set the password? I don't
see Administrator in the user list.

Todd
 
In Vista, the master Administrator account is disabled by default. If there
is no other user administrative account, it should be automatically enabled
in safe mode. Try booting to safe mode and seeing if you can then log in as
administrator. If you have made any user accounts with administrator rights
this will not work (i.e. safe mode will not enable the built in
administrator). You will then have to resort to password recovery tools.
Note however, a sudden inability to log using a known password often
involves registry damage and is not simply a password issue.

For general info: To enable the built in administrator account in Vista run
the following in a command prompt:
net user administrator /active:yes
(You must of course do this from another administrator account or the master
one in safe mode.)
 
I tried the "net user administrator /active:yes " and got "Check the minimum
password length blah blah blah"
 
Just to add to this I was told by the user that when he tried to sign in it
said something about "Trust Relationship" was broken. not sure what that
means. but when his password was reset it said the same thing.

Sorry for not telling this in the beginning but I was just told that now.
 
t-4-2 said:
Hello GTS. There is no doubt who is the authority here. I'm just a
common user. This is a good oppertunity to learn from you. I must have
misinterpreted the tutorial whose link will be posted at the end. In the
tutorial, under the Change Safe Mode User Account LOGON, it says " If
you do not have another user account, then you can enable the built-in
Administrator account while in Safe Mode to have available when you Log
Off." That seems to be in contrast to what you said. Would you be so
kind as to set me straight? Thank you.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/123496-safe-mode.html
Click to expand...

The article is consistent with what I said. (I believe, however, that
there is a minor error in the article. Where it says "If you do not have
another user account" should read "If you do not have another ADMINISTRATIVE
account....") The key point is that if there is no other administrative
account, you can log into the admin account in safe mode even if it was not
explicitly enabled previously, but if another administrative account exists
you cannot. MS designed this so as to not allow a situation where no
administrator exists. The big problem comes in when there is another
administrative account for which the user has forgotten the password and the
built in administrator was never enabled. Then it is not possible to access
the built in admin account at all.

There is a good discussion of this at
http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsvistasecurity/archive/2006/08/27/windowsvistasecurity_.aspx

I hope that clarifies it for you.
 
Back
Top