[byepeeps]

Hi,

I'm running XP and am confused about user accounts. I have two but only one is showing when I select user accounts in the control panel and I only have the choice of logging in to one account. How do I make the other appear?

Hope you can help

Alex

 

[UNIKSERV]

How do you know you have two accounts? Is your computer a member of a domain?

Joe

 

[byepeeps]

I'm not sure. I created an extra account in user accounts but it's not shown when i go into it.

Under documents and settings I have two administrator files. I just want to get rid of one. I try to delete it and it says it's a system file, yet I can't find it in user accounts.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

Are both accounts not "administrator".

 

[giovannicosta]

Thats normal, boot in to safe mode by doing the following,
reboot the pc,
repeatedly press the F8 button,
select safe mode
then have a look, there will eb administrator (hidden normally) and another account
reboot again and windows will start normally

 

[giovannicosta]

The default Administartor account is hidden from view in normal windows, any further accounts you create will now appear, glad to help.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

What version of XP do you have, Home or Pro?

 

[byepeeps]

Hi,

thanks for replies. I did go into safe mode and can see what you mean but this isn't the extra administrator I was talking about. I created a new user account and called it Administrator211206, it shows under documents and settings but not when I click on user accounts.

I was trying to do this http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2109p156id111652.htm but it all turned out a bit messy and now all I want to do is delete/get rid of 'Administrator211206'.

I'm on XP Pro by the way.

 

[UNIKSERV]

I'm not sure. I created an extra account in user accounts but it's not shown when i go into it.

Under documents and settings I have two administrator files. I just want to get rid of one. I try to delete it and it says it's a system file, yet I can't find it in user accounts.

If you boot into safe mode you should be able to delete the one you're not logged in as.

Joe

 

[Bob Cerelli]

Or if you want to hide or unhide the names of users that are displayed on the initial logon screen:

1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList
3. Add a DWORD with the name of the user account you want to hide
4. Make sure it has a value of 0
5. If there is an existing account, you can unhide it by giving it a value of 1

 

[byepeeps]

Tried the safe mode and the 'Administrator211206' still cannot be deleted. I don't really want to hide it, just delete it. Would it help if i did a print screen of the documents and setting folder to show the two administrator files?

 

[Bob Cerelli]

Are you sure the account isn't already deleted and just the home directory for it remains?

 

[byepeeps]

that could be true actually but I can't delete the directory

 

[Bob Cerelli]

If you log on with another account that has admin rights, you should be able to do that. What error message comes up when you try?

And did you delete the account or not?

 

[UNIKSERV]

Try booting into safe mode again and using killbox http://killbox.net/ to try deleting the folder.

Joe

 

[byepeeps]

thanks, i'll give that a go once I've finished installing everything.

 

[Bob Cerelli]

When you log on with another account that has admin rights, what exactly is the problem with deleting the directory?

Do you get a file in use error which is what that other software is for?
Or do you get an access denied error?

 

[byepeeps]

When I try to delete one of the accounts the message that comes up says it is a system file and windows needs it to run properly. Thing is all the programs I've downloaded go to the desktop of the other account.

The two account names are Administrator.TEMP and Administrator211206. In normal use I can only see the user account called Administrator.TEMP. In safe mode I can see Administrator.TEMP and Administrator. Everything seems to be saved to Administrator211206. Even when I'm logged in as Administrator.TEMP the default place for recived files for example is in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator211206\My Documents\My Received Files.

I thought about using killbox but I don't want to ruin anything.

I'm extremely confused!

 

[Bob Cerelli]

Can you explain how exactly you got two administrator accounts with those names. Something critical is being left out. Did you really create them on your own? Or did you do something like multiple installs and have them created automatically?

 

[byepeeps]

I had to reinstall and wanted to do this http://pcworld.about.com/magazine/2109p156id111652.htm
When I reinstalled XP I had to name the computer. I named it TEMP and that's where the Administrator.TEMP came from. I created Administrator211206 in trying to complete the instructions from the link above but I got confused and that's where I am now.