Administrator Account Setup (XP)

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In trying to help a lady setup her computer I advised her to set up a separate limited account for use by her grandchildren and then ran into problems.

Her login screen had one user named “Administrator” with no password. I then tried to set up a separate limited user account for the granddaughter, but the limited option was grayed out and I was advised that she needed an Administrator account before setting up another account. This was totally new to me, and I found that rather curious as she already had an Administrator account. However, I went ahead and set up another Administrator account under her name and was then able to create a second limited account. However, now the sign-in screen only shows the newly created Admin account, and she no longer has access to all her files under the original Admin account.

I can’t recall at the moment whether she had XP Home or Pro, and I am not familiar with Pro so perhaps this is something different than the Home edition.

Any advice on how to proceed — especially with regard to getting back her original Administrator account, but also retaining a limited account?

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I am assuming that she is using XP Home and that is the cause of the trouble. From here…….

The built-in Administrator account is hidden from Welcome Screen when a user account with Administrator privileges exists and enabled. In Windows XP Home Edition, you can login as built-in Administrator in Safe Mode only. For XP Professional, press CTRL + ALT + DEL twice at the Welcome Screen and input your Administrator password in the classic logon window that appears.

To have the Administrator account display in the Welcome Screen, try any of these two methods:

Method 1: Using TweakUI Power Toy for Windows XP (There are links in the article to DL TweakUI)

Open TweakUI and click “Logon” option in the left pane. Put a checkmark against the option “Show Administrator on Welcome Screen”. Click OK to close TweakUI. Logoff and see if Welcome Screen lists Administrator login. Changes are immediate and you can use the Winkey + L to switch back to Welcome Screen to see Administrator account is listed.

Use this procedure to hide/unhide any user account from the Welcome Screen. Please remember, you can still login to a hidden account using CTRL+ALT+DEL classic logon method, but cannot Fast User Switch to a hidden user account.

Method 2 – Manual registry edit
Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe

Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows NT CurrentVersion Winlogon SpecialAccounts UserList

Use the File, Export option to backup the key.

Right-click in the right pane and select New DWORD Value.

Type-in Administrator as the value.

Double-click Administrator, and assign a value of 1

Close Regedit

You may use this procedure to hide/show users in the Welcome Screen for any user account. Type the account name accordingly in step 5.

For Windows XP Home Edition: While you can configure Windows XP Home Edition to show Administrator account in the Welcome Screen, you cannot login as Administrator in Normal mode. Boot into Safe Mode to login as Administrator. Please see the following Microsoft Knowledgebase article:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=290109%5B/url%5D

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So it seems that after running Tweak UI it will display the “hidden” admin acount on the welcome screen. However, the last para in your message says:

“For Windows XP Home Edition: While you can configure Windows XP Home Edition to show Administrator account in the Welcome Screen, you cannot login as Administrator in Normal mode. Boot into Safe Mode to login as Administrator.”

Thus, it seems that although it displays it, you cannot login except in Safe Mode.

So, I think what I should do is not show the present “hidden” account, but leave the new password protected Admin account in place and move all the user files currently in the hidden account to the new Admin account. I assume that I’ll probably have to log-in in Safe Mode under the hidden account and then move the files to the new Admin account. I’ll give that a try.

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I try the TweakUI trick first and see if it overrides the native Windows settings and displays the Administrator account in “normal” mode first, before going to all that trouble. If you can get them both open in Safe Mode, you can simply transfer the data from one account to the other. The settings you might have to redo manually, but all the installed programs should be available to the other accounts unless installed only for that user.

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Chuck,
You need to make a second account that has “Admin” permissions, NOT the one called “Administrator”. The second “Admin” account with a strong password can be hidden using TweakUI. I think you may find out that the current user account may already be a “Limited” type. You will need to use the NEW admin account to make any changes to the system that the Limited can not.

I think all you did was make “The Administrator” visible by using TweakUI, and NOT make another one as you can NOT have two accounts with the same name.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Actually all I have done so far is create a new Admin account. When I did that the previous admin account disappeared! BUT when logged in under the new admin account the lady’s files weren’t there. I suspect they remain under the administrator account found only in the Safe mode. Tomorrow I will chase the problem and let everyone know what I found out.

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Chuck,
Is the new Adnim accout name “Administrator” or is it somethine else?

I have just tried making second “Administrator” named account and the Home system will NOT allow me to.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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post 629,570 I went ahead and set up another Administrator account under her name and was then able to create a second limited account

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I first tried copying all files in the Administrator “My Documents” folder over to the new admin account along with desktop shortcuts. However, I soon discovered that some of the shortcut links would no longer load certain data files (such as Quicken, etc.). So I downloaded Tweak UI and got the original Administrator account to show up on the Welcome screen.

I then tried to delete the new admin account I had added, but there is no delete option! So it seems that once you add the first regular admin account you can’t get rid of it. Also, you can’t change it to a Limited account — the optiion is greyed out. XP insists on keeping one admin account there along with the original Administrator account found normally in the Save mode.

I imagine that one could probably manage to successfully transfer all files and links from the Administrator account to a new admin account, but it would take more time and patience than I have.

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You MUST now always have at lest one “Admin” account. Then from it you can make the limited account(s).
Since you now have only one Admin account, you can NOT delete it.

As for Quicken, see if you can find the data file(s) and back them up. Quicken, is a “Single User” program unless you buy more licenses or installed for multi-users. One work around, is to backup the data files and do a uninstall if you can and then reinstall it. You may want to contact Quicken if you can get hold of them and see if there is a method of changing users.[indent]

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I imagine that one could probably manage to successfully transfer all files and links from the Administrator account to a new admin account, but it would take more time and patience than I have.

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That is what you are going to have to do, as there is NO other way. When a system is NOT set up correctly, one is going to have lot’s of headaches.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Please understand. I have TWO admin accounts. One is the one you find in the Safe mode. The other I had to create before it would let me add any other (admin or limited) accounts. However, it wouldn’t let me add a limited account when all I had was the Safe mode admin account. First I had to create another admin account and then I could add other accounts. Also, even though I have the two admin accounts, it won’t let me delete the non-Safe mode one (or the Safe mode one for that matter).

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Chuck,
Since you are on a HOME system, things are different, if you were running the PRO version then YES, you could login to the “Administrator” account in the normal mode. This is why it is hidden and TweakUI was set to make the “Administrator” account visible for those that require “IT” support for that machine. On a Pro machine with the Administrator account hidden, all one has to do is use “Ctrl-Alt-Del” while at the “Welcome Screen” and the standard Win 2000 login pane would open. Here you could type in the account name “Administrator” and the required password. By the way the HOME version does NOT require a password where the Pro version does.

In the NORMAL mode you have one and only one Admin type of a account at this time unless you have made more since your last post. You MUST have at least ONE admin type of an account in the NORMAL mode at all times now that you made this account for the normal mode use, you can NOT delete the new one you have made until you make a addition one in the normal mode, which will get you nowhere.

When in the safe mode the ONLY account you can use is THE “Administrator” account. This account now that you have added a admin account in the normal mode, can NOT be used any where except in the SAFE MODE.
While in the safe mode you may be able to move any and all of the files under C:Documents and SettingsAdministrator to a different folder that any account in the NORMAL mode can access.

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Also, even though I have the two admin accounts, it won’t let me delete the non-Safe mode one (or the Safe mode one for that matter).

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This is correct, you can NOT do what you want to do and there is NO why other than a clean install to the OEM factory settings and start over with NO user account and then you will NOT be able to add any other accounts, without getting into the same mess you are in now.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Thanks for all the info Dave. I think you have it all down fairly accurately. However, I disagree with one statement. In the Safe mode I can log into both the Administrator account and also into the other admin acccount that I created. The Administrator account only shows up in Safe mode.

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Hi Chuck,
I jump in a little late (since I’ve been away from the Lounge), and it is good to see you seem to be on the right track, finding what was the cause and how to solve (despite some blurry info. here).

What you say in your first four paragraphs post 629,724 is so true. You had to create an account with admin. privileges, so there could be something to build from in Normal mode. The first I was thinking about when I read your first post was that this must be a system with no accounts (left) with admin. privileges. Either they had been removed or no account with admin. privileges had been setup.

As you now know, that is the only time the built-in Administrator account will show up on the Welcome screen (and of course when going to use it: in Safe Mode). On Pro systems it can be toggled by creating a value in the registry and setting it to 1, or by using some tool, as mentioned by Doc.

But I can’t see why you were advised all this about Tweak UI/or manual regedit, and what is has to do with it. The problem wasn’t how to show the Administrator account on the Welcome screen. It could of course have been the other way around, an account had been hidden. First, it’s not the probable cause, that some user with little knowledge have used the methods to hide some account from Welcome screen (and even if an account is hidden, one can log on to it as long as it exist). But of course, if one do find user accounts, via Control Panel, and profiles in WE, then Tweak UI can be used to put them back on the Welcome screen. But now that wasn’t the initial cause.

Regards,

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Oh my.

Dave,
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When in the safe mode the ONLY account you can use is THE “Administrator” account.

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False. If you have one or several other (self-created) accounts with admin. privileges, for instance, you can use them in Safe Mode, see my screen shot from Welcome Screen in Safe Mode.

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My error, I have been in to the safe mode only a few times and I do NOT recall seeing the other “Admin” accounts.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Chuck,

You can move the data over to the new Administrator account, but the shortcuts and other settings you will have to reset manually when logged in under the new Administrator profile. Different regestry settings and all that tired old stuff.

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Right Doc. It was easy to copy the My Documents folder and such over to the new admin account. Also the desktop shortcuts. However, some of the shortcuts wouldn’t work because they were accessing files in the original Administrator profile and just as you said one would have to sort out all those settings. It wasn’t worth it, so I used Tweak UI to show the Administrator account on the welcome screen.

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I’ll know a bit more later today after working on the machine. However, to reiterate:
1. The computer originally had one account named “Administrator” that showed up on the Welcome screen. I believe that this is the one that normally only shows up in the Safe mode.
2. I tried to create a limited account, but that option was not available. A message indicated that I needed to create an admin account.
3. I created a new Admin account with a different name. The original Administrator account no longer appeared on the Welcome screen.
4. I then created a limited account with no problems.
5. Next I will try to get all the user files in the original Administrator account copied over to the new admin account that I created. I hope that does it.

This has certainly been a learning experience. I’ve been curious about this for a year or so ever since I ran on to the “Administrator” account in Safe mode. I couldn’t figure out how it got there or why it was there, as I had never seen or read anything about it.. In retrospect it seems logical in that it is a default account because if one doesn’t create (or delete all other) admin accounts there has to be at least one active admin account for XP to run.

I also believe that this default admin account starts out with no password so anyone who knows how to enter the Safe mode would have total access. Thus, it would be a major security breach until the user goes in and establilshes a password for this account.

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Look for the “Owner” in the “Documents and Settings” folder from Windows Explorer ( My Computer). Some OEM’s make this the default user folder name. If it is there see if there are any files in the sub folders. If so you should be able to copy and/or move them from.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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The built-in Administrator account is hidden from Welcome Screen when a user account with Administrator privileges exists and enabled. In Windows XP Home Edition, you can login as built-in Administrator in Safe Mode only.

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[/indent] Dave,

I think when Chuck created a new Administrator account it caused the default or built-in Administrator account to be hidden from the Welcome Screen and only visible in Safe Mode as the article I linked to states. I’m thinking that TweakUI will bring it back into view and make it accessable. From there he can move or copy the necessary data to the newly created profile and then could make the new profile a Limited User. That way, if I am reading all this correctly, the limited account and the Administrator account would both remain on the Welcome Screen because the built-in administrator account would now be the only Administrator on the computer.

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Doc,
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I think when Chuck created a new Administrator account it caused the default or built-in Administrator account to be hidden from the Welcome Screen and only visible in Safe Mode as the article I linked to states. I’m thinking that TweakUI will bring it back into view and make it accessable.

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It’s true that when you create an account with admin. privileges (Home or Pro version) then there is no need to show the built-in Administrator account. And away it goes.

But, why use Tweak UI at all to bring it visible, since you can’t log on to it in Normal Mode anyway (visible or not) on Home? Why not use it in Safe Mode?

And your first and second reply to Chuck; you show how one can show the built-in Administrator account on the Welcome screen. What does that have to do with this? The built-in is already there (caused by no accounts left).

Better would be to search for other, hidden, accounts (from Safe Mode Administrator) and if one finds one see if they have been hidden (your tips the other way around i.e. via Tweak UI or a DWORD value 0). As a matter of fact, when thinking about it, that isn’t the case. If you hide the accounts from the Welcome screen it will not trigger the built-in Administrator account to appear, since in fact then there still exist accounts with admin. privileges.

So left is: no accounts with admin. privileges. Use built-in Administrator account. Log on in Safe Mode. Create a new account with admin. privileges (that can be shown in Normal Mode). Hunt down files and transfer to the new account. Finished. The only question would be where to find the lady’s files, it’s hard to imagine that someone have used the Administrator account on a Home machine in day to day use since it needs Safe Mode.

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Excellent info, thank you Doc

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