How do I find out if I'm the system administrator for my personal

  • Thread starter Thread starter Econ Col
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Econ Col

I occasionally get a dialog box asking for the administrator's name and
password when I'm installing new software and under some other circumstances.
I'm the only person who uses this computer, and, at least as far as I know,
I was never asked to establish an administrator's account or password while
doing the initial computer set-up when the PC was new. (I specifically
watched for this question *very* alertly, so I'm almost certain it was never
asked.) I *do* have my user name and system name.

(I checked the relevant entries in this Discussion Group and didn't find
anything that addressed my specific question, and I apologize if someone has
already addressed this matter elsewhere.)

The reason for my question is that I'm about to have to edit my registry
because a recent software installation apparently caused an incorrect
registry setting, and editing the registry is the fix for the software error
that is recommended by the manufacturer's FAQs. I'm aware of the dangers of
registry editing and will follow the MS Knowledge Base article's instructions
in detail, but I'm very inexperienced with such OS problems.

Several entries in the XP Help resource concerning registry editing and
using restore points specifically mentioned that it might be necessary to be
logged on as the administrator, hence my question.

(FYI, the faulty software in question is DocumentsToGo by DataViz and is a
*required* download by the Palm Pilot folks in order to enable certain
important functions on Palm Treos. It's not some piece of junk I downloaded
from an unknown source. Unfortunately, both Palm and DataViz tech support
specifically refuse to assist in making the required fix, even though this is
a known issue!)

I'm running Windows XP Professional (Media Edition), ver. 5.1.2600 with SP 2
(Build 2600), with McAfee's firewall and anti-virus suite. I have a few
other pieces of software installed on the PC, but not much, and nothing
exotic as far as I know.

Thanks for your assistance.
 
Econ Col said:
I occasionally get a dialog box asking for the administrator's name and
password when I'm installing new software and under some other
circumstances.
I'm the only person who uses this computer, and, at least as far as I
know,
I was never asked to establish an administrator's account or password
while
doing the initial computer set-up when the PC was new. (I specifically
watched for this question *very* alertly, so I'm almost certain it was
never
asked.) I *do* have my user name and system name.

(I checked the relevant entries in this Discussion Group and didn't find
anything that addressed my specific question, and I apologize if someone
has
already addressed this matter elsewhere.)

The reason for my question is that I'm about to have to edit my registry
because a recent software installation apparently caused an incorrect
registry setting, and editing the registry is the fix for the software
error
that is recommended by the manufacturer's FAQs. I'm aware of the dangers
of
registry editing and will follow the MS Knowledge Base article's
instructions
in detail, but I'm very inexperienced with such OS problems.

Several entries in the XP Help resource concerning registry editing and
using restore points specifically mentioned that it might be necessary to
be
logged on as the administrator, hence my question.

(FYI, the faulty software in question is DocumentsToGo by DataViz and is a
*required* download by the Palm Pilot folks in order to enable certain
important functions on Palm Treos. It's not some piece of junk I
downloaded
from an unknown source. Unfortunately, both Palm and DataViz tech support
specifically refuse to assist in making the required fix, even though this
is
a known issue!)

I'm running Windows XP Professional (Media Edition), ver. 5.1.2600 with SP
2
(Build 2600), with McAfee's firewall and anti-virus suite. I have a few
other pieces of software installed on the PC, but not much, and nothing
exotic as far as I know.

Thanks for your assistance.
Click to expand...
More than likely, the account that you created is not a member of the
administrators group.
However, when the install software asks you for the administrator account
name and password, they mean the built in account. You created this account
when you installed XP.
Furthermore, it cannot be removed.
By default, the account is called "administrator" and the password is blank.
Evidently, this is your current situation. What you have then is a highly
vulnerable system.

The quickest way to find out how you setup your accounts is to go to the
control panel. Click on "Administrative Tools". In there you will find the
task which shows the users and groups.
I am posting from an unprivileged account and do not have the privileges
needed to continue listing the exact path to the information.
Jim
 
Jim --

Thx. I followed your suggestion and found that I am, indeed, apparently
registered as the system administrator for this machine. Although I don't
remember registering as the administrator, I do remember picking out the
"security icon" (or whatever it's called) that shows up on that control panel
page.

However, leaving the dialog box completely blank when it appears and just
clicking "OK" still works; I forgot to mention that in my post.

BTW, at least in my version of Control Panel, with the default XP display
instead of the "Classic" display, there is no "administrative tools" option
per se, but there is a "User Accounts" icon and link, followed by a 2nd page
that has yet another "User Accounts" link, which apparently leads to the
information you referred to.

BTW # 2 -- oddly, when I clicked on the link to your reply in the
notification email I received, it led to a blank page. Cutting and pasting
the URL into the address box yielded the same result.

Thanks again.
 
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