Single User can't login

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Boot the computer into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen press CTRL-ALT-DEL twice and enter Administrator. Leave the password blank, unless you know you've set a password on the built-in Administrator account.

User accounts do not appear on the Welcome Screen, in a normal boot, because
1) The account is hidden, using a tool such as TweakUI for XP
2) The account has been disabled.

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com
--------------------------------
Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
--------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
Unsolicited e-mail is not answered.

"Don_g" <Don_g@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:AAA80507-EA69-46DB-AE5B-D22C6BE4341A@microsoft.com...
>I have a computer running XP Home SP2.
> It is set up as single user, but now when I boot, I get a window that says
> 'To begin, click your user name'. There are no names (or icons) anywhere on
> the right side to click on, so the pc can't be used. I tried booting in safe
> mode, but get the same screen.
> I also tried using Alt+Ctrl+Del to get a login window, but that comes up
> with 'Owner' as the user, & gives an error if I press enter.
> I don't know what has changed (I don't use this PC).
> It was reformatted by Compac factory repair a couple of months ago, & they
> set it up as a single user machine.
> Any suggestions would be appreciated

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

I tried logging in as administrator, both in regular and in safe mode, before
posting my question - the pc was reformatted by CompUSA (my earlier post said
Compac, which was erroneous) factory repair, so they set up all users
(including administrator). I tried logging in as administrator, with no
password, in both modes, but that didn't work.
I think I have a reformatting task in my very near future.

"Doug Knox MS-MVP" wrote:

> Boot the computer into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen press CTRL-ALT-DEL twice and enter Administrator. Leave the password blank, unless you know you've set a password on the built-in Administrator account.
>
> User accounts do not appear on the Welcome Screen, in a normal boot, because
> 1) The account is hidden, using a tool such as TweakUI for XP
> 2) The account has been disabled.
>
> --
> Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart Display\Security
> Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
> http://www.dougknox.com
> --------------------------------
> Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
> http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
> --------------------------------
> Please reply only to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
> Unsolicited e-mail is not answered.
>
> "Don_g" <Don_g@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:AAA80507-EA69-46DB-AE5B-D22C6BE4341A@microsoft.com...
> >I have a computer running XP Home SP2.
> > It is set up as single user, but now when I boot, I get a window that says
> > 'To begin, click your user name'. There are no names (or icons) anywhere on
> > the right side to click on, so the pc can't be used. I tried booting in safe
> > mode, but get the same screen.
> > I also tried using Alt+Ctrl+Del to get a login window, but that comes up
> > with 'Owner' as the user, & gives an error if I press enter.
> > I don't know what has changed (I don't use this PC).
> > It was reformatted by Compac factory repair a couple of months ago, & they
> > set it up as a single user machine.
> > Any suggestions would be appreciated
>

I found a solution that worked for me. I have an "Ultimate Boot CD for Windows". I booted off that. I went into the Registry Restore Wizard (Start, Programs, Registry Tools, Registry Restore Wizard). There, I could roll back the registry. I had to roll it back many steps, but eventually, after rolling it back several steps, I was able to log on. At first, I thought I had lost all my files, but XP had set up new user directories under Documents and Settings. The new user directories had the computer name appended onto the user name, the old user directories were still there with the original names, and all my files were in old user directories. But when you log in, the user directory you see is the one with the computer name appended to the end, not the original one.