Guest Colin Posted July 4, 2007 Posted July 4, 2007 Both user names on my laptop have vanished from the Windows startup screen. If I try ctrl-alt-del option it wants a password which has never been set. I can't logon as Administrator either. Can I go into recovery mode using the Windows XP disk and correct this by editing the appropriate file?
Guest Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM Posted July 4, 2007 Posted July 4, 2007 Re: Windows XP logon user names missing "Colin" <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:1DA037C4-CC8F-41B6-AACA-8D095D21024C@microsoft.com... > Both user names on my laptop have vanished from the Windows startup > screen. > If I try ctrl-alt-del option it wants a password which has never been set. > I > can't logon as Administrator either. > Can I go into recovery mode using the Windows XP disk and correct this by > editing the appropriate file? > Try leaving the password field blank and pressing Enter. -- Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM Do not send mail.
Guest Colin Posted July 4, 2007 Posted July 4, 2007 Re: Windows XP logon user names missing Tried already, no success. "Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM" wrote: > "Colin" <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:1DA037C4-CC8F-41B6-AACA-8D095D21024C@microsoft.com... > > Both user names on my laptop have vanished from the Windows startup > > screen. > > If I try ctrl-alt-del option it wants a password which has never been set. > > I > > can't logon as Administrator either. > > Can I go into recovery mode using the Windows XP disk and correct this by > > editing the appropriate file? > > > > Try leaving the password field blank and pressing Enter. > > -- > Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM > Do not send mail. >
Guest Rock Posted July 5, 2007 Posted July 5, 2007 Re: Windows XP logon user names missing "Colin" <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote > Both user names on my laptop have vanished from the Windows startup > screen. > If I try ctrl-alt-del option it wants a password which has never been set. > I > can't logon as Administrator either. > Can I go into recovery mode using the Windows XP disk and correct this by > editing the appropriate file What does, "I can't logon as Administrator either" mean? Is this XP Home or Pro? How are you trying to login to the Administrator account? Have you tried starting in Safe Mode or Last Known Good Configuration? What is the history of the problem? -- Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
Guest Colin Posted July 5, 2007 Posted July 5, 2007 Re: Windows XP logon user names missing Same result trying to start in safe mode and in Last Known Good Configuration - both user names missing or hidden. It's XP Home. I had restarted the laptop after my wireless broadband connection had stopped communicating. The laptop had gone to sleep after running a Java application - the live timing from the FIA for Formula 1 racing. Coincidentally (or not), I suffered a corrupt registry on the laptop after using the live timing on a previous race. I was trying to logon as Administrator just as a desperate way to get in and fix the User Accounts. No one has answered my original question - can I fix this by editing a file in DOS? "Rock" wrote: > "Colin" <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote > > Both user names on my laptop have vanished from the Windows startup > > screen. > > If I try ctrl-alt-del option it wants a password which has never been set. > > I > > can't logon as Administrator either. > > Can I go into recovery mode using the Windows XP disk and correct this by > > editing the appropriate file > > What does, "I can't logon as Administrator either" mean? Is this XP Home or > Pro? How are you trying to login to the Administrator account? > > Have you tried starting in Safe Mode or Last Known Good Configuration? What > is the history of the problem? > > -- > Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell] > >
Guest Nightowl Posted July 5, 2007 Posted July 5, 2007 Re: Windows XP logon user names missing Colin <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote on Thu, 5 Jul 2007: >No one has answered my original question - can I fix this by editing a file >in DOS? Hi Colin Go here: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ for an excellent utility that will allow you to boot from a floppy or CD and reset your Administrator password. Once you can log in as Admin, you can sort out your user accounts. Hope this helps -- let us know how it goes :-) -- Nightowl
Guest Colin Posted July 5, 2007 Posted July 5, 2007 Re: Windows XP logon user names missing Thanks for the sugestion, Nightowl. I had a look and it looks pretty complicated. I'm wondering if it is the right solution as I have never set passwords on the user names and certainly not on the Admin. In fact, I'm not sure if Administrator exists in Winows XP Home edition. I get confused as I have Windows XP Pro on my PC but Home on the laptop. "Nightowl" wrote: > Colin <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote on Thu, 5 Jul 2007: > > >No one has answered my original question - can I fix this by editing a file > >in DOS? > > Hi Colin > > Go here: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ for an excellent > utility that will allow you to boot from a floppy or CD and reset your > Administrator password. Once you can log in as Admin, you can sort out > your user accounts. > > Hope this helps -- let us know how it goes :-) > > -- > Nightowl >
Guest Nightowl Posted July 5, 2007 Posted July 5, 2007 Re: Windows XP logon user names missing Hi Colin Yes, Administrator does exist in XP Home, but can only be accessed in safe mode. By default in Home it has a blank password. I'm a bit confused now as I thought you had said earlier that you had tried safe mode and that you "couldn't log in as Administrator either". Does the (built-in) Administrator show up on the Welcome screen when you boot to safe mode? If not, did you try holding down Ctrl and Alt and hitting Del quickly twice to get the login box, then typing Administrator in the name field and leaving the password field blank? Colin <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote on Thu, 5 Jul 2007: >Thanks for the sugestion, Nightowl. I had a look and it looks pretty >complicated. I'm wondering if it is the right solution as I have never set >passwords on the user names and certainly not on the Admin. In fact, I'm not >sure if Administrator exists in Winows XP Home edition. I get confused as I >have Windows XP Pro on my PC but Home on the laptop. > >"Nightowl" wrote: > >> Colin <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote on Thu, 5 Jul 2007: >> >> >No one has answered my original question - can I fix this by editing a file >> >in DOS? >> >> Hi Colin >> >> Go here: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ for an excellent >> utility that will allow you to boot from a floppy or CD and reset your >> Administrator password. Once you can log in as Admin, you can sort out >> your user accounts. >> >> Hope this helps -- let us know how it goes :-) >> >> -- >> Nightowl >> -- Nightowl
Guest Colin Posted July 5, 2007 Posted July 5, 2007 Re: Windows XP logon user names missing Yes, I did say that I had tried safe mode. Unfortunately, I was unable to logon. "Nightowl" wrote: > Hi Colin > > Yes, Administrator does exist in XP Home, but can only be accessed in > safe mode. By default in Home it has a blank password. > > I'm a bit confused now as I thought you had said earlier that you had > tried safe mode and that you "couldn't log in as Administrator either". > Does the (built-in) Administrator show up on the Welcome screen when you > boot to safe mode? If not, did you try holding down Ctrl and Alt and > hitting Del quickly twice to get the login box, then typing > Administrator in the name field and leaving the password field blank? > > > Colin <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote on Thu, 5 Jul 2007: > > >Thanks for the sugestion, Nightowl. I had a look and it looks pretty > >complicated. I'm wondering if it is the right solution as I have never set > >passwords on the user names and certainly not on the Admin. In fact, I'm not > >sure if Administrator exists in Winows XP Home edition. I get confused as I > >have Windows XP Pro on my PC but Home on the laptop. > > > >"Nightowl" wrote: > > > >> Colin <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote on Thu, 5 Jul 2007: > >> > >> >No one has answered my original question - can I fix this by editing a file > >> >in DOS? > >> > >> Hi Colin > >> > >> Go here: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ for an excellent > >> utility that will allow you to boot from a floppy or CD and reset your > >> Administrator password. Once you can log in as Admin, you can sort out > >> your user accounts. > >> > >> Hope this helps -- let us know how it goes :-) > >> > >> -- > >> Nightowl > >> > > -- > Nightowl >
Guest Rock Posted July 22, 2007 Posted July 22, 2007 Re: Windows XP logon user names missing "Colin" <Colin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote > Yes, I did say that I had tried safe mode. Unfortunately, I was unable to > logon. <snip> And what does I was unable to logon mean? Does the Administrator account show up on the Welcome Screen in Safe Mode? Do any accounts show up? I have no idea what the "live timing" is or what effect it might have. How did you recover from the corrupt registry the last time? As to your other question, no there is no simple file edit you can do from DOS to fix this. Have you tried the password reset utility that nightowl referenced? Here is an article with info on how to recover from a corrupt registry that prevents XP from starting How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry that Prevents Windows XP from Starting: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=307545 How to Troubleshoot Registry Corruption Issues http://support.microsoft.com/?id=822705 Do you have a full backup of important data? If not do that first. That can still be done even though the system won't boot. Here are some ways: 1. Take the drive out of the computer and attach it through an appropriate adaptor to the USB port of another Windows XP or 2000 computer. It should read the drive ok, so you can copy the data. A variation of this is to put the drive in an external drive enclosure and connect that to the other computer. 2. Create a bootable Bart's PE disk, boot from that, then copy the data to external USB drive or flash drive. 3. Download a bootable Linux distro called Knoppix. Create a bootable CD from that, boot from it, and copy the data to USB drive or flash drive, or if the computer has two CD drives, one of which is a burner, then use the k3b burning program on the Knoppix CD to burn the data to CD. 4. Take it to a competent computer tech to backup the data. If the system still isn't booting then the next step is to do a repair install: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm And if all else fails a clean install: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html -- Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]
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