Re: lost administrator account

I'm trying to resurrect my son's PC. I took your advice and got to the
Administrator account. That is good. However, even when signed on as that I
have no access to Control Panel (so I can fix Users and remove unwanted
software). It is not on any menu and even when I type CONTROL.EXE on teh Run
command, I get a Restrictions error "This operation has been cancelled due to
restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system
administrator"

Any ideas?


"Bruce Chambers" wrote:

ML wrote:
We have Windows XP Professional on our computer. I have one account on my
computer. It is titled administrator and all my work is there. Another
family member tried to set up another account and accidentally designated it
as an administrator type account. Now when my computer boots up, this other
account is the only one there. I found my files and internet settings in a
folder so I could "recreate" those things. However, I cannot find all my
emails, address book, or Outlook settings. Does anyone know how to either
restore my computer to its previous configuration, or find my email
information.
I tried system restore to an earlier day this week and it said no major
event had happened and there was nothing to restore. I know I should use my
own non-administrator account for daily use and will do that once I fix this
problem. Thank you.


As you've discovered, once any additional user accounts have been
created, the built-in Administrator account will no longer be displayed
on the Welcome Screen. This is a default security feature.

The built-in Administrator account really was never intended to be
used for day-to-day normal use. The standard security practice is to
rename the account, set a strong password on it, and use it only to
create another account for regular use, reserving the Administrator
account as a "back door" in case something corrupts your regular account(s).

By design, the only way to log into the Administrator account of
WinXP Home is to reboot into Safe Mode. For WinXP Pro, pressing
CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome Screen will produce the standard login
dialog box.

A wiser course of action would be to create another user account
for your daily use (as you've done), and copy desired the files and
settings from the Administrator account to this newly created user profile.

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151


--

Bruce Chambers

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