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Creating a user account after XP installation

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9 replies

by crescendo68

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I was given a computer for me to troubleshoot recently. The owner stated that her brother had installed an additional HDD but she was unable to login because when he reformatted and reinstalled XP he did not create an Admin account. As a matter of fact there are no user accounts at all. When I press ctrl-alt-del twice I get the dialog box to Log on to Windows. This is where it gets kinda odd... In the dialog box is the owners name in the username box. I asked them about the password, they provided several, none worked. However, I used several password recovery programs and they all say the same thing. There are no users therefor no password to reset. Now that I have provided a little background my question is... Is there a way to create an Admin account after the installation without losing any info stored on the HDD? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

9 replies

by crescendo68

First off, thank you for your reply. Yes I did try that but I get the same thing. When you get to the screen where you would choose which user to load there is nothing there, not even the Admin account. I tried booting from the XP disc to repair the installation but when it asks me to enter the Admin password....nothing. I just cannot seem to get to the desktop. I could take pics of the various screens that I encounter if that would help you in any way. I know that is kindof a silly offer but I am completely stumped with this one!

by go$cr3wy0ur$31f

do you and semblance of admin rights on any accounts? if you do it should be very easy to create an "administrator" account through the command prompt. or atleast you could add another account to the administrators group. if your not sure of what commands to use, thay can be found with a simple google search.

hope this helped!

by computercookie

from one HDD only, and then try the other.

Boot to command propmpt to discover which drive has her data on it. See if you can boot from that disk only.

Boot from the secondary HDD her brother installed and reload her OS onto it, boot with her disk as a slave and take owership of the files and transfer to the new boot drive, format the secondary.

by crescendo68

Thank you. That's a great approach!! That's why i like this site, there is such a wealth of knowledge!!

I know I am gonna sound like an idiot, but how do you boot to the command prompt again??

by computercookie

safe mode with command prompt or if you can't boot to safe mode you will need the 6 Floppy boot disk for XP.

by crescendo68

I knew I was gonna feel like a dummy :) I should have know that one!!

Thank you for your help. Ok...I'm goin' in....

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