Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain (More info?)
A very strang thing happened to my computer today (I have a Dell, and running
Windows XP Professional). I've had this computer for ~2 years with no
problems, but when I turned on the computer today, my user account (which was
an administrator account) was not on the login screen. Instead there was a
user account called "administrator", but the password for that was not any of
the passwords I have used before. I therefore could only login through the
Guest account - when I did that something like the following popped-up:
"One of the files containing the system's registry data had to be recovered
by use of a log or alternate copy. The recovery was successful." I clicked
"ok" and logged in as Guest.
Using Windows Password Recovery I was finally able to "recover" the password
for the "Administrator" account (it was "password"), but once I logged in, I
had no administrator privileges!!! Also, none of my original document files
were associated with this account, and all the programs ran as if Windows XP
was just installed. I'm pretty sure my files are not lost though, since in
the "Document & Settings" there is a folder with my previous username, I just
can't access it though I'm logged in the "Administrator" account!
I rebooted and used the F8 function to run the computer in safe mode.
However, in safe mode, NO user accounts whatsoever appeared at the welcome
screen - all I could do there was turn off the computer / re-start. I tried
rebooting the computer to the "last known good configuration" but that just
returned me to the same welcome screen as before (Admin & Guest). Since I
don't have administrator status even when signed into the useraccount titled
"administrator", I only see my own account in Control Panel's User Accounts,
and I can't run System Restore.
I then attempted to use the "Run As" function in Windows Explorer to run a
program with my original username and password, but it's not being
recognized. What's even more strange though is that "Run As" listed the
"current user" as "MyOriginalUsername\Administrator" - but I don't have
administrator privileges and my files are not associated with this user
account so access is denied!
If anyone has any idea what happened or if there's anything to be done to
recover my user account, please let me know! I'm completely dumbfounded.
A very strang thing happened to my computer today (I have a Dell, and running
Windows XP Professional). I've had this computer for ~2 years with no
problems, but when I turned on the computer today, my user account (which was
an administrator account) was not on the login screen. Instead there was a
user account called "administrator", but the password for that was not any of
the passwords I have used before. I therefore could only login through the
Guest account - when I did that something like the following popped-up:
"One of the files containing the system's registry data had to be recovered
by use of a log or alternate copy. The recovery was successful." I clicked
"ok" and logged in as Guest.
Using Windows Password Recovery I was finally able to "recover" the password
for the "Administrator" account (it was "password"), but once I logged in, I
had no administrator privileges!!! Also, none of my original document files
were associated with this account, and all the programs ran as if Windows XP
was just installed. I'm pretty sure my files are not lost though, since in
the "Document & Settings" there is a folder with my previous username, I just
can't access it though I'm logged in the "Administrator" account!
I rebooted and used the F8 function to run the computer in safe mode.
However, in safe mode, NO user accounts whatsoever appeared at the welcome
screen - all I could do there was turn off the computer / re-start. I tried
rebooting the computer to the "last known good configuration" but that just
returned me to the same welcome screen as before (Admin & Guest). Since I
don't have administrator status even when signed into the useraccount titled
"administrator", I only see my own account in Control Panel's User Accounts,
and I can't run System Restore.
I then attempted to use the "Run As" function in Windows Explorer to run a
program with my original username and password, but it's not being
recognized. What's even more strange though is that "Run As" listed the
"current user" as "MyOriginalUsername\Administrator" - but I don't have
administrator privileges and my files are not associated with this user
account so access is denied!
If anyone has any idea what happened or if there's anything to be done to
recover my user account, please let me know! I'm completely dumbfounded.
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