Newbie question about setting up XP - coming from win98se background

  • Thread starter Thread starter niteowl
  • Start date Start date
I don't recall installing windows more than just the once...

I did go and take ownership back, but it doesn't seem to have done
anything, except now I can open that folder...
so how do I get rid of the extra entries??

Regarding user accounts, I went to Control Panel/Users and it shows 4
accts. Niteowl, Kalehli, Maurine and Guest (turned off) so there
doesn't appear to be any "extra" accts there..

When I did the Ctrl Alt Del twice, the signin window came up with the
niteowl name listed... which is how I set it up now that I think
about it.. I did try entering "Administrator" but it didn't work,
either with or without a password, so I guess I'm signing in AS the
system administrator all the time. From Jim's posts, I think this is
not what I should be doing... ??? thoughts?

thanks,
niteowl
 
Sharon F said:
You've reinstalled Windows to the same folder. It looks like
"niteowl" is
your old account. "niteowl.ALLAING" is the new one. Same goes
for the other
accounts - the ones that do not have "dot-something" after
their name are
from a previous install. TIP: While logged on to an account you
can type
%userprofile% in the Start> Run box and Windows Explorer will
open with the
focus on that user's folders. That's one way to check which
folders are in
use if there are similar names.

Also, Control Panel> User Accounts will show you which group
each account
belongs to.

XP is protecting the old account for its owner. It doesn't know
that
niteowl and niteowl.ALLAING are the same person. Take ownership
of the
"niteowl" folders and you will regain access to the files they
contain. Jim
mentioned this in his reply to you.

Hidden admin account folders: Folders are created for an
account the first
time that it is logged on to. In other words, you won't see
folders for the
hidden administrator account until then (..\Documents and
Settings\Administrator\ and subfolders).

To log on to that account with XP Pro:
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome screen.
The Win2000 style logon prompt will appear.
Type Administrator into the user name field. Leave the password
field blank
if a password was not assigned during setup.
Click to expand...

I may be wrong but seeing accounts such as niteowl.ALLAING
indicates that at some time this machine was joined to a domain.
If a local account named niteowl was used to join the domain it
would lead to the creation of the niteowl.ALLAING account. It
looks like now he's back to a workgroup or he's just logging on
locally.

Nepatsfan
 
I don't recall installing windows more than just the once...
Click to expand...

It's the only explanation that I know of for the naming convention
(accounts with the .xxxx trail in name) but there may be others.
I did go and take ownership back, but it doesn't seem to have done
anything, except now I can open that folder...
so how do I get rid of the extra entries??
Click to expand...

That's all that should happen. You can now grab any data files you want
from those folders and copy them over to your folders. When that's done you
could delete the unused accounts. If they're not showing in Control Panel>
User Accounts, check also in: System Properties> Advanced> User Profiles or
in Administrative Tools> Computer Management> Local Users and Groups and
delete them there.
When I did the Ctrl Alt Del twice, the signin window came up with the
niteowl name listed... which is how I set it up now that I think
about it.. I did try entering "Administrator" but it didn't work,
either with or without a password, so I guess I'm signing in AS the
system administrator all the time. From Jim's posts, I think this is
not what I should be doing... ??? thoughts?
Click to expand...

That's odd. XP setup always creates a default administrator account with
the name "Administrator." It can be renamed later. Is this what you did?

Some OEM setups alter the initial accounts - adding an "Owner" account or
similar but you have upgraded from Win98 so any deviations from defaults
added by OEMs would not apply. No further thoughts at the moment.
 
It's the only explanation that I know of for the naming convention
(accounts with the .xxxx trail in name) but there may be others.


That's all that should happen. You can now grab any data files you want
from those folders and copy them over to your folders. When that's done you
could delete the unused accounts. If they're not showing in Control Panel>
User Accounts, check also in: System Properties> Advanced> User Profiles or
in Administrative Tools> Computer Management> Local Users and Groups and
delete them there.
Click to expand...

ok, went to System Properties/Advanced, but only the 3 user accts were
showing there. however when I went into Administrative Tools/Computer
Management/Local Users, it's showing the "hidden" Administrator acct,
the Guest acct, the Niteowl, Kalehli, and Maurine accts. along with
Help Assistant and Support_388945a0 accts.

I clicked on Administrator and clicked Properties, there was no "Full
Name" listed, so I typed "Administrator", I almost tried to reset the
password but got a warning about losing data, so decided not to yet..

so it looks as though the account is there, why isn't it showing up
when I do the double Ctrl_Alt_Del ????
That's odd. XP setup always creates a default administrator account with
the name "Administrator." It can be renamed later. Is this what you did?
Click to expand...

It seems like I named it during setup... the window came up with the
"Administrator" listed and a place to add a password, so I typed in
"niteowl" and put in my password, then continued with the setup.
btw, this was a clean install. not an OEM.

the name of my computer is ALLAING, so the idea of the network setup
thing might be the reason for that, cause I think I tried to setup the
domain thing first, then went back and changed it to Workgroup. It
had MSHOME in the field, and I just typed in WORKGROUP. I don't
understand about that, I've always just done the win98 stuff as
WORKGROUP.
 
I may be wrong but seeing accounts such as niteowl.ALLAING
indicates that at some time this machine was joined to a domain.
If a local account named niteowl was used to join the domain it
would lead to the creation of the niteowl.ALLAING account. It
looks like now he's back to a workgroup or he's just logging on
locally.

Nepatsfan
Click to expand...

So, can those .xxxxx folders be deleted after copying the contents to
the "original" folders??

or should I just leave them alone?

thanks,
niteowl
 
If I had a computer with some many questions and problems
about confused file structure, accounts and such, I would
copy the files that I wanted to save (letters, email,
photos, etc, to a CD). Then I would get pencil and paper
and plan what I wanted as far as accounts, partitions and
structure and do a clean install.

Your basic problem is that you did not plan for your
upgrade, you did not study and you did not bother. You now
want somebody to FIX your problem by remote control, even
when you don't understand what you want, need or what you're
being told.

Draw out a flow diagram with boxes and arrows: Who must use
the computer, do they get access to all programs, who will
have admin rights, who needs to do what. What kind, size
and types of files, how will they be saved and backed-up (if
backup is needed). When you have a good plan, Format and do
it.


--
Merry Christmas
Have a Safe and Happy New Year
Live Long and Prosper
Jim Macklin
message | On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 19:38:08 -0500, "Nepatsfan"
|
| >| >> On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 13:43:01 -0500, niteowl wrote:
| >>
| >>> The "niteowl" (without the +) folder I can't access,
gives me
| >>> an error
| >>> message, saying it is "not accessible, Access is
denied" Why?
| >>>
| >>> It appears to me that Kalehli and Maurine are the
limited
| >>> account's
| >>> folders, the "Niteowl.ALLAING" is the administrative
account,
| >>> and the
| >>> one I use, I think, when I boot up. Is the Default
User the
| >>> hidden
| >>> admin acct?
| >>
| >> You've reinstalled Windows to the same folder. It looks
like
| >> "niteowl" is
| >> your old account. "niteowl.ALLAING" is the new one.
Same goes
| >> for the other
| >> accounts - the ones that do not have "dot-something"
after
| >> their name are
| >> from a previous install. TIP: While logged on to an
account you
| >> can type
| >> %userprofile% in the Start> Run box and Windows
Explorer will
| >> open with the
| >> focus on that user's folders. That's one way to check
which
| >> folders are in
| >> use if there are similar names.
| >>
| >> Also, Control Panel> User Accounts will show you which
group
| >> each account
| >> belongs to.
| >>
| >> XP is protecting the old account for its owner. It
doesn't know
| >> that
| >> niteowl and niteowl.ALLAING are the same person. Take
ownership
| >> of the
| >> "niteowl" folders and you will regain access to the
files they
| >> contain. Jim
| >> mentioned this in his reply to you.
| >>
| >> Hidden admin account folders: Folders are created for
an
| >> account the first
| >> time that it is logged on to. In other words, you won't
see
| >> folders for the
| >> hidden administrator account until then (..\Documents
and
| >> Settings\Administrator\ and subfolders).
| >>
| >> To log on to that account with XP Pro:
| >> Press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome screen.
| >> The Win2000 style logon prompt will appear.
| >> Type Administrator into the user name field. Leave the
password
| >> field blank
| >> if a password was not assigned during setup.
| >>
| >> --
| >> Sharon F
| >> MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User
| >
| >I may be wrong but seeing accounts such as
niteowl.ALLAING
| >indicates that at some time this machine was joined to a
domain.
| >If a local account named niteowl was used to join the
domain it
| >would lead to the creation of the niteowl.ALLAING
account. It
| >looks like now he's back to a workgroup or he's just
logging on
| >locally.
| >
| >Nepatsfan
| >
|
| So, can those .xxxxx folders be deleted after copying the
contents to
| the "original" folders??
|
| or should I just leave them alone?
|
| thanks,
| niteowl
 
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