Re: Newbie question about setting up XP - coming from win98se background

From: Sharon F (sharonfDEL_at_ETEmvps.org)
Date: 12/18/04 

Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 16:17:41 -0600

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 13:43:01 -0500, niteowl wrote:

> The "niteowl" (without the +) folder I can't access, gives me an error
> message, saying it is "not accessible, Access is denied" Why?
>
> It appears to me that Kalehli and Maurine are the limited account's
> folders, the "Niteowl.ALLAING" is the administrative account, and the
> one I use, I think, when I boot up. Is the Default User the hidden
> admin acct?

You've reinstalled Windows to the same folder. It looks like "niteowl" is
your old account. "niteowl.ALLAING" is the new one. Same goes for the other
accounts - the ones that do not have "dot-something" after their name are
from a previous install. TIP: While logged on to an account you can type
%userprofile% in the Start> Run box and Windows Explorer will open with the
focus on that user's folders. That's one way to check which folders are in
use if there are similar names.

Also, Control Panel> User Accounts will show you which group each account
belongs to.

XP is protecting the old account for its owner. It doesn't know that
niteowl and niteowl.ALLAING are the same person. Take ownership of the
"niteowl" folders and you will regain access to the files they contain. Jim
mentioned this in his reply to you.

Hidden admin account folders: Folders are created for an account the first
time that it is logged on to. In other words, you won't see folders for the
hidden administrator account until then (..\Documents and
Settings\Administrator\ and subfolders).

To log on to that account with XP Pro:
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome screen.
The Win2000 style logon prompt will appear.
Type Administrator into the user name field. Leave the password field blank
if a password was not assigned during setup. 

-- 
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

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