Question why Admin acct disappeared-Reinstall failed. Help..

G

Guest

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

I was trying to help soneone on Win XP home. Perhaps I am an idiot and
my parents were correct. Not sure.

PC was used by a few people and he wanted all accounts to be deleted
and a new Admin account added.

Well I notice and I guess by design, when you delete an account or
change its name-that the profile name listed in Windows Explorer still
exists. I guess that makes sense so no data is lost.

However we renamed a profile and then went into My Computer and
changed it to so it said Anne/Anne instead of Pam/Jeff.

I for some reason did something wrong (id10T) and had no admin account
anymore. It changed the rights of the person to Guest and thats how I
could boot into the system.

Then when I tried to change the rights I could not since I was not an
Admin. I tried to log in as Administrator and it said password was
incorrect (tried blank-did not work).

What to do?

Tried a repair with XP Home disk and it asked for Windows key and then
it said System could not be activated. Strange sequence of events.

Besides breathing-what did I do wrong? I feel bad for helping out this
person and these things occurring.

Thanks Joe
 
G

Guest

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

Hi Joe,

You still have an admin account, you're just locked out of it. You need it
back to fix this, try restarting in Safe mode (do you know the default admin
account password?) and logging on there. Password help:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_passwords.htm

As to the accounts, yes if you indicate not to delete data, the folders will
remain. Once you recover the data you want, you can delete the user folders
after the account has been removed (you can't delete the folder while the
user account still exists).

As to reinstalling/reactivating, is this a regular retail version, or a
preinstalled one?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Joe Donaldson" <tryitoz@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:33cea2e8.0407191357.14ef2f10@posting.google.com...
> I was trying to help soneone on Win XP home. Perhaps I am an idiot and
> my parents were correct. Not sure.
>
> PC was used by a few people and he wanted all accounts to be deleted
> and a new Admin account added.
>
> Well I notice and I guess by design, when you delete an account or
> change its name-that the profile name listed in Windows Explorer still
> exists. I guess that makes sense so no data is lost.
>
> However we renamed a profile and then went into My Computer and
> changed it to so it said Anne/Anne instead of Pam/Jeff.
>
> I for some reason did something wrong (id10T) and had no admin account
> anymore. It changed the rights of the person to Guest and thats how I
> could boot into the system.
>
> Then when I tried to change the rights I could not since I was not an
> Admin. I tried to log in as Administrator and it said password was
> incorrect (tried blank-did not work).
>
> What to do?
>
> Tried a repair with XP Home disk and it asked for Windows key and then
> it said System could not be activated. Strange sequence of events.
>
> Besides breathing-what did I do wrong? I feel bad for helping out this
> person and these things occurring.
>
> Thanks Joe
 
G

Guest

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

Thanks will try it
Joe

"Rick \"Nutcase\" Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message news:<e4wFvVkbEHA.904@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl>...
> Hi Joe,
>
> You still have an admin account, you're just locked out of it. You need it
> back to fix this, try restarting in Safe mode (do you know the default admin
> account password?) and logging on there. Password help:
> http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_passwords.htm
>
> As to the accounts, yes if you indicate not to delete data, the folders will
> remain. Once you recover the data you want, you can delete the user folders
> after the account has been removed (you can't delete the folder while the
> user account still exists).
>
> As to reinstalling/reactivating, is this a regular retail version, or a
> preinstalled one?
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>
> "Joe Donaldson" <tryitoz@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:33cea2e8.0407191357.14ef2f10@posting.google.com...
> > I was trying to help soneone on Win XP home. Perhaps I am an idiot and
> > my parents were correct. Not sure.
> >
> > PC was used by a few people and he wanted all accounts to be deleted
> > and a new Admin account added.
> >
> > Well I notice and I guess by design, when you delete an account or
> > change its name-that the profile name listed in Windows Explorer still
> > exists. I guess that makes sense so no data is lost.
> >
> > However we renamed a profile and then went into My Computer and
> > changed it to so it said Anne/Anne instead of Pam/Jeff.
> >
> > I for some reason did something wrong (id10T) and had no admin account
> > anymore. It changed the rights of the person to Guest and thats how I
> > could boot into the system.
> >
> > Then when I tried to change the rights I could not since I was not an
> > Admin. I tried to log in as Administrator and it said password was
> > incorrect (tried blank-did not work).
> >
> > What to do?
> >
> > Tried a repair with XP Home disk and it asked for Windows key and then
> > it said System could not be activated. Strange sequence of events.
> >
> > Besides breathing-what did I do wrong? I feel bad for helping out this
> > person and these things occurring.
> >
> > Thanks Joe
 
G

Guest

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

Have you tried system restore?
"Joe Donaldson" <tryitoz@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:33cea2e8.0407191357.14ef2f10@posting.google.com...
> I was trying to help soneone on Win XP home. Perhaps I am an idiot and
> my parents were correct. Not sure.
>
> PC was used by a few people and he wanted all accounts to be deleted
> and a new Admin account added.
>
> Well I notice and I guess by design, when you delete an account or
> change its name-that the profile name listed in Windows Explorer still
> exists. I guess that makes sense so no data is lost.
>
> However we renamed a profile and then went into My Computer and
> changed it to so it said Anne/Anne instead of Pam/Jeff.
>
> I for some reason did something wrong (id10T) and had no admin account
> anymore. It changed the rights of the person to Guest and thats how I
> could boot into the system.
>
> Then when I tried to change the rights I could not since I was not an
> Admin. I tried to log in as Administrator and it said password was
> incorrect (tried blank-did not work).
>
> What to do?
>
> Tried a repair with XP Home disk and it asked for Windows key and then
> it said System could not be activated. Strange sequence of events.
>
> Besides breathing-what did I do wrong? I feel bad for helping out this
> person and these things occurring.
>
> Thanks Joe
 
G

Guest

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

Yup, that made it worse actually.
Joe

"BangaloreUser" <BangaloreUser@nwtraders.msft> wrote in message news:<u7h537LcEHA.3792@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl>...
> Have you tried system restore?
> "Joe Donaldson" <tryitoz@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:33cea2e8.0407191357.14ef2f10@posting.google.com...
> > I was trying to help soneone on Win XP home. Perhaps I am an idiot and
> > my parents were correct. Not sure.
> >
> > PC was used by a few people and he wanted all accounts to be deleted
> > and a new Admin account added.
> >
> > Well I notice and I guess by design, when you delete an account or
> > change its name-that the profile name listed in Windows Explorer still
> > exists. I guess that makes sense so no data is lost.
> >
> > However we renamed a profile and then went into My Computer and
> > changed it to so it said Anne/Anne instead of Pam/Jeff.
> >
> > I for some reason did something wrong (id10T) and had no admin account
> > anymore. It changed the rights of the person to Guest and thats how I
> > could boot into the system.
> >
> > Then when I tried to change the rights I could not since I was not an
> > Admin. I tried to log in as Administrator and it said password was
> > incorrect (tried blank-did not work).
> >
> > What to do?
> >
> > Tried a repair with XP Home disk and it asked for Windows key and then
> > it said System could not be activated. Strange sequence of events.
> >
> > Besides breathing-what did I do wrong? I feel bad for helping out this
> > person and these things occurring.
> >
> > Thanks Joe