Windows doesn't auto recognize default user account and use it. It uses "Other User" instead.

[gardenman]

I had a thunderstorm today and shut down my system for the first time in 8+ days. Later when I booted up, it got to the login screen and instead of showing my account it showed "Other User". It asked for both Username and Password.

[img=]https://s18.postimg.org/rifxiwnbd/image.jpg[/img]I don't use a password, so I just typed in my regular username and it loaded my account up just fine, even though it said it's loading "Other User".

[img=]https://s18.postimg.org/dzkryts4p/image.jpg[/img]I was the only user and it's set as an admin account. So I decided to create a 2nd user account with admin privileges just in case, and reboot. (I have not tested the 2nd account yet.)

It's still doing the same thing. Says Other User and asks for both username and password.

I've done several virus/malware scans and come up clean. I did an Error Check and it [found no problems].

I have 3 restore points: 3, 8, and 12 days old. I prefer not to use them. System Restore has previously overwritten my documents with older copies. I also have a full system backup from 14 days ago and I wouldn't use it unless I had no choice.

What should I do? Any ideas? Is there any registry edits that I can do to make Windows recognize my user account and use it as the default account and stop showing "Other User"?

I have looked through this but it didn't help: https://www.eightforums.com/user-accounts-family-safety/15794-phantom-other-user-shows-up-startup.html I look through the fix for Win7 (on same page) and the registry entries were different on my Win10.

System specs: Win 10 Home 64-Bit (1607), 2010 Alienware Aurora (first version), Watercooled Intel i7 920 (factory) OC'ed to 3.5 GHz, NVidia GTX 770, 12 GB of RAM, 1.35 TB HDD.

System reset or [reinstall] are NOT options that I would even consider.

 

[maxwellmelon]

right click on the windows icon

select control panel (this is not the same as going into windows settings it looks like the older window version control panels)

select "user account"

select change your account name and enter new name

 

[gardenman]

Thanks for the reply.

I tried it. It didn't help. I changed my name from "User1" to "User2". I've been typing in "User1" to login since it screwed up. After I changed the name, I logged out. I still see the "Other User" prompt. I typed in "User2" (the new name) and it didn't recognize it. I typed in the original "User1" name and it let me log back in.

Anyway, I didn't see the regular button to click on past that which is what I'm wanting.

I changed the name back to how it was.

I've also logged into the new account that I created earlier. Once I logged out, it's still the same, it only shows the "Other User" prompt rather than a list of accounts.

 

[gardenman]

I've decided to do some testing in a virtual machine (VM) to try to figure out what's going on. Since it's a VM, it makes it really easy to backup and restore (the virtual hard drive can be put into a single zip file.) I can really mess things up and easily restore the VM back to how it was.

Spoiler

ATTEMPT #1
VM doesn't have the system restore points.
I was hoping it did so I could try this without messing my system up.

ATTEMPT #2
Deleted 2ndary account (recently created).
Changed Username once again.
Didn't work.

ATTEMPT #3
Typed at (admin run) command prompt:
net user defaultaccount /active:yes
Didn't work.

ATTEMPT #4
Opened netplwiz
Clicked account -> properties.
Group Membership (tab).
Choose Admin. <-- Wasn't chosen.
Choose OK.
Choose OK (log out, back in)
Didn't work.

ATTEMPT #5
Opened netplwiz
Uncheck "Users must enter a user..."
Didn't work. Turned option back on.

ATTEMPT #6
Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Change AutoAdminLogon to 1.
Didn't work.

ATTEMPT #7
Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Change DefaultUserName (add 123 to end of your login name).
Log out, Log back in.
Change DefaultUserName back to normal.
Didn't work.

ATTEMPT #8
Regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Added DefaultPassword as a String (left it blank).
Didn't work.

ATTEMPT #9
https://neosmart.net/wiki/other-user/
Deleted the reg keys with S-1-x-xx.
Didn't work. Restored Reg keys.

ATTEMPT #10
Using boot disc... command prompt...
Copied C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack
to C:\Windows\System32\config\
Reboot.
It says "Getting devices ready". It says "Hi, we've updated your PC".
It shows my account name and the button! It worked! I signed out, its still showing my correct acount and lets me logon by simply pressing the button. This is what I want!
WORKED!

^ All of that testing was done in the VM.

Attempt 10 worked, but I'd rather not do this on my system because of the whole "getting devices ready" and the files that I restored from the regback folder were a few weeks old.

So it's obvious that the problem lies within the registry. The real question is, what registry key is causing the problem? I would love to simply export a registry key from my 2 week old backup and import it into my system and have things FIXED. I know this is do-able, but which key? I compared the following keys (between current messed up system and fixed VM system) and they looked mostly the same:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

I'm going to take a break as my head is spinning. Later, I might load my 2 week backup and export as many login registry keys as I can find and then test them in the VM again to see if I can figure which registry key is causing the problem. Or I might just try the System Restore (which I probably should have done to start with).

Does it sound like I'm determined to fix this?

Update: FIXED. I went with #10 listed in the Spoiler above. [Here] is a basic tutorial of what I did in case someone else needs this later on. I had to reinstall my graphics driver because the backup registry that I used was when I had an older version of the driver.

I had hoped to just export a few reg entries from a backup and import them to fix it, but it turned out to be rather complicated. I used Regshot to compare the registry file (the messed up version and the good copy in the RegBack folder) and it turned out there was 77000+ changes between the two.

I looked through these and seen several that pointed to the profile data, but it would have taken hours/days to go through it all. If I would have caught the problem much sooner then I might have had a chance. Like I said, it had been 8 days since I had rebooted.

I still don't know what caused the problem. Anyway, it's fixed.

 

[mcveymeister]

YOU ARE A GOLDEN GOD
I've been in a blind panic trying to fix this for over 20 hours.

After probably 100 different fix attempts this did it.

Thank You Very Very Much

I got there by ignorantly allowing Tweaking Repair to muck with my registry.

 

[gardenman]

Great! I'm glad I could help someone with my misery... lol.

After you restore the registry from the backup (that is auto-created by Microsoft), you may need to re-install any new software installed since the registry backup date.

But other than that, everything went well and I'm still using the same system today.

For anyone else trying this, be sure to read the warnings on the link. If any of those files are 0 bytes, then you will essentially be overwriting your registry with a blank file (that's like deleting your registry) and you will have no choice but to reinstall Windows afterwards.

I'm pretty sure that I later tracked down my original problem to O&O ShutUp 10, which is one of the Windows 10 Privacy programs that also modifies the registry like the Tweaker that you used.

Anyway, I'm glad you got your system fixed.

 

[mcveymeister]

Well you saved my bacon!
Once again, my humble thanks for taking the time to post your solution in such detail.

I remember watching Tweaker running through and re-assigning what seemed like thousands of permissions, and I thought "This is probably going to end in tears"

I was able to get into my computer using the Bob.omb disk, which is nice because it is a portable mini-windows installation that is bootable, and I was able to copy the files without having to do so thru command prompt, but fair warning, the Bob.omb utility is of dubious nature since it contains a bunch of utilities that basically allow you to boot any computer from a usb and raid its contents, change and learn passwords, etc, and it set off a bunch of malware alarms when I burned it to the usb on my laptop, which has COMODO running on it, so they might be false alarms for all the cracking and sniffing apps embedded on it.

At any rate, it's one more argument that "Registry Cleaners" are mostly portals to Computer Hell.
What's funny is that Microsoft's official response to this problem is to almost overwhelmingly recommend a clean install, which would have sent me into hours upon hours of painful re installation and re-configs.

Kudos to You, Gardenman! May whatever you grow feed you well...