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Loss of Administrator Account?

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7 replies

by kuhlio

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I am runnning Windows XP Pro on my home machine, and somehow the Administrator account has disappeared. I have no way (that I know of) of logging in as Administrator, but I do have an account with Administrator rights. When I try creating a new user named Administrator, it says that the user name already exists. I have no idea how to go about restoring the Administrator account so that I might be able to log in under that name. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

7 replies

by gigelul

Hi,
I think that you renamed the Administrator account with a different name.
Check in user manager\administrators group what accounts are there.
If you need a second user with admin rights, simply create a new user and add this new user in LocalAdministrators Group.
Also from User Manager you can change the password and others user options.
I don't have an XP box to give you the exact path.

by kuhlio

I already have a second user created with administrative rights. As for the possibility of havving renamed the Administrator account, I don't think that is possible since anytime I try to create a new user named "Administrator" Windows prevents it from happening because the user name already exists. Under user manager, there are only two logons available, and those are "Guest" and "Erik". Thanks though.... =)

by keithnva

In Win XP multiple users can have administrator rights so you don't have to be called "administrator." Also, if you boot into save mode the administrator account will reappear. In regular mode, the Admin acct is hidden if fast switching log-on/off is enabled. To see the admin again, require users to use a password, which brings up the Ctrl-Alt-Del log on. Then you can type in Administrator and log on with that name.

by gigelul

Since administrator account can't be removed (only rename option is available) "Erik" is the original Administrator account and you can't create a new account named Administrator.
You can rename "Erik" account as Administrator and then create a newaccount "Erik".
Finaly you will have: Administrator, Erik and Guest accounts.

by gigelul

Administrator is a reserved name by the OS.
No matter if you renamed it! You can't use the Administrator name for other new account.
THIS IS YOUR PROBLEM!

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