Lost Documents by Switching Users

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Guest

I am an Administrative Assistant at a Real Estate company. We just installed
this computer a few months ago and started having problems with our agents
downloading software and documents they shouldn't have been. At that time, we
had only one account under the computer (where you have to click the user
when you start the computer). I decided that I would make two accounts - 1
for the agents to use that was not password protected but was limited use and
1 for the admin here that was password protected and where we administered
the computer. When I did this, my first user disappeared (it said this only
existed when there was no other users on the computer). Now, all the
documents that the agents have saved to this computer since we installed it
is gone because they were all under that other account. Is there anyway I can
get this back? It is essential I get this back? Do I have to delete the two
accounts I created so that there are no accounts and then it will bring back
that first account? Please help!!!!!
 
In (e-mail address removed) Sarah
wrote:
I am an Administrative Assistant at a Real Estate company.
We just installed this computer a few months ago and started
having problems with our agents downloading software and
documents they shouldn't have been. At that time, we had
only one account under the computer (where you have to click
the user when you start the computer). I decided that I
would make two accounts - 1 for the agents to use that was
not password protected but was limited use and 1 for the
admin here that was password protected and where we
administered the computer. When I did this, my first user
disappeared (it said this only existed when there was no
other users on the computer). Now, all the documents that
the agents have saved to this computer since we installed it
is gone because they were all under that other account. Is
there anyway I can get this back? It is essential I get this
back? Do I have to delete the two accounts I created so that
there are no accounts and then it will bring back that first
account? Please help!!!!!

It sounds as if your computer is running XP Professional and
you were using the built-in Administrator account. As you found
out, when you create another account that is a member of the
Administrators group, the built-in account goes into hiding.

To logon to the built-in Administrator account do the
following:
When logged on to one of your new accounts go to Start -> Log
off.
This should bring up the Welcome Screen.
When the Welcome Screen appears, hit the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys
twice.
This should bring up the Logon to Windows box.
Enter Administrator in the User Name box.
You may have to enter the password you assigned to your new
admin account.
You should now be able to logon to the account you were using.

If all you want to do is recover documents, do the following:
Log on with your new admin account.
Copy the contents of this folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents
Paste the contents into this folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\LIMITEDACCOUNT\My Documents

LIMITEDACCOUNT would be the new account that you created for
the agents

If documents were stored in other locations beside the
Administrator's My Documents folder, you may find that you have
to follow this procedure in order to access them:

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421&sd=tech

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
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