User account issues with XP

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Guest

I'm trying to help my dad with his new laptop. He's been working on it for a
few months under the "Administrator" user id. Now I was creating separate XP
accounts for him and my mom, but as soon as I created the first one, the
"Administrator" account disappeared. I can see all the files when I go to
the C: drive, but how can I get that account back as a sign in option. I
tried creating a new account called "Administrator" but it says it already
exists. I want the old account information back. How can I do this?
 
Easy, there are several options.

By default, XP doesn't display the Administrator account on the Welcome
screen, especially when more then one account is defined, as you have found.
:-)). However, you can add this account by performing the following steps:


1.. Start a registry editor (e.g., regedit.exe).
2.. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList subkey.
3.. From the Edit menu, select New, DWORD Value.
4.. Enter Administrator as the Valuename, 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. Using these
same steps you can also prevent an account from appearing on the Welcome
Screen, thereby creating a "hidden" account. Enter a new Valuename equal to
the accountname and set the corresponding registry account value to 1 to
display the account or 0 to hide the account.
For example, to hide the account for user Bob, add a value named "bob" to
the registry subkey identified in Step 2 and set the value to 0.

Another way to have the Administrator account appear on the Welcome Screen
is by having the Administrator account as the only group member in the local
group Administrators.

hth

george
 
Hi,

Once regular user accounts are created, the administrator account is removed
from view, though it still exists. To access the default administrator
account:

In WinXP Pro, hit ctrl+alt+delete twice at the logon screen and type it in.

In WinXP Home, you must restart and enter Safe mode by hitting F8 at
startup. The administrator logon will be one of the options.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Ignore this, as it was meant for another poster.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
KrisP23 said:
I'm trying to help my dad with his new laptop. He's been working on
it for a few months under the "Administrator" user id. Now I was
creating separate XP accounts for him and my mom, but as soon as I
created the first one, the "Administrator" account disappeared. I
can see all the files when I go to the C: drive, but how can I get
that account back as a sign in option. I tried creating a new
account called "Administrator" but it says it already exists. I
want
the old account information back. How can I do this?
Click to expand...


As you've learned, once any additional user accounts have been
created, the Administrator account will no longer be displayed on the
Welcome Screen. This is a default security feature. By design, the
only way to log into the Administrator account of WinXP Home is to
reboot into Safe Mode. For WinXP Pro, pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at
the Welcome Screen will produce the standard login dialog box.

The built-in Administrator account really isn't intended to be
used for day-to-day normal use. The standard security practice is to
set a strong password on it and use it only to create another account
for regular use, reserving the Administrator account as a "back door"
in case something corrupts your regular account(s).

A wiser course of action would be to create another user account
for your father's daily use, and copy desired the files and settings
from the Administrator account to this newly created user profile.

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151

--

Bruce Chambers

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