Jason said:
I have Windows XP w/ SP2 and recently set up 2 user accounts. They
both have administrative capabilities, but my main account doesn't
show up now when logging on or switching back and forth...only the
"Guest" account. It's like it's LOST. If I go into "Safe Mode" it
shows up but the computer won't let me delete the "guest" account.
I want to set it back to no passwords, not having 2 accounts, and
only the main log on screen. Can anyone help? I don't understand
how this happened.
Windows XP what? Home? Professional? Media Center? Tablet Edition? It
does matter.
I guess you were using the administrator account as your main account (bad
idea anyway) and that means you likely have Windows XP Professional *and*
somehow activated the guest account and/or created a new account - or
installed certain patches that created a new account - like .NET.
I also assume (since you say "show up") you also use the "Welcome screen"
logon instead of classic logon.
1) Reboot the system. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice in a row at the welcome
screen. Type in "Administrator" (sans the quotation marks) as the username
and don't put in any password and logon. Work?
2) Either follow the directions below to add the administrator account to
the welcome screen *or* download/utilize TweakUI to choose who is visible on
the welcome screen and even set an automatic logon if you like.
How to add a user to the Welcome Screen logon page:
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1. Start regedit.exe (Start --> RUN --> REGEDIT --> OK)
2. Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList .
3. From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value.
4. Enter Administrator as the name, then press Enter.
5. Double-click the new value, set it to 1, and click OK.
6. Close the registry editor.
The Administrator account will now appear on the Welcome screen. You can use
these same steps to control which other accounts appear on the Welcome
screen. Set the registry account value to 1 to display an account or 0 to
hide an account. For example, to hide the account for user Bob, add a value
named "Bob" to the registry key identified in step 2 and set the value to 0.
You can do the above with the Microsoft PowerToy TweakUI.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
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Automatic Logons:
------
Microsoft method:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231
Microsoft Method 2:
TweakUI from:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
control userpasswords2 method:
1) Go to the Start Menu and the Run box.
2) Type in the following:
control userpasswords2
now click OK
3) In the new Windows that appears select the account you wish to make the
primary logon.
Now uncheck the "Users must enter a username and password..." box.
4) Hit Apply and a dialog box will appear asking you to confirm the selected
users password.
Click OK when you are done...
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Hopefully that gets you where you are wanting to be.
It is a *good* thing in the user arena to:
1) Have strong passwords.
2) Have more than one administrator level account (with strong passwords).
I know - you are the "only one who lives there, the only one who uses your
computer".. etc. Great. When your home gets broken into and computer
stolen (either physically or virtually) <- you may be thinking something
else, like "all of my (the only person who lives here, the only person who
uses that computer) records, pictures, emails, financial information, cached
passwords, contacts, etc.. are on that computer."
But that is an individual choice. You get to weigh the risks. =)
