I'm having a major problem. I switched the name on of my administrator user
account and now cannot retrieve the original administrator account. I do not
need separate user accounts as this is a home comp. Is there a way that I can
revert back to yesterday when I changed it? Is there a system restore that I
can use to go back to my original settings? I have also therefore deleted the
family outlook account and all favorites set. Thanks!
When XP has only one account it will be the default/built in Administrator
account. This account appears on the welcome screen UNTIL another account
is created. It then becomes hidden. Leaving it alone is useful as it can be
valuable in troubleshooting situations. A new account in the administrator
group can be created for everyday administrative tasks.
It sounds like your "missing" account may be the original account that is
normally named Administrator. Or somehow, the original was deleted and your
user account, as the only remaining administrator account on the system,
became hidden. There would have been warnings in this case and none were
mentioned in your original post. Anyhow...
You can log onto the hidden account. In XP Pro, press Ctrl+Alt+Del. Type in
the name of the account. This is usually Administrator but if "switched the
name" means that you've renamed the account, type the new name instead.
Type in password if one exists to log on.
In XP Home, start the system in Safe Mode to log on to this account.
Once logged on, you have some decisions to make. You can create a new
account for yourself in the administrator group and use that for everyday
(the original Administrator account would remain hidden).
Or you could use TweakUI for XP to force the existing account to be
displayed on the Welcome screen. If you take this route, strongly suggest
creating a 'fallback' administrator account to be available for
troubleshooting. Example: Everyday account becomes corrupt. Log on with the
reserve/fallback account to repair or create another account.
