Re: Users Are Gone, Can't Login

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance


It should not matter if it is XP Pro or Home, because it sounds like the
users have either been disabled in the SYSTEM settings, or they have
been deleted, or possibly the SAM file was changed by a virus or a
user.

as Dixonian69 began stating, try this:

Shut the computer down,
Start it up again, and hit the F8 key repeatedly, right when the power
comes on... press it once every second or so until the black screen
comes up with the options. Using your arrow keys, select "Safe Mode"
first in this attempt, and then when it boots it may pass the user
login screen, or it may ask for Administrator's Password. Try doing
this without any password (Unless you specified an Administrator
password at some point) and see if it lets you in. You should be able
to repair or restore the computer to an earlier time, but this will get
you in. If the administrator account does have a password (If your
blank password fails) you will need a tool to blank the admin
password.***sounds like this is your case Stan, because you are not
entering the correct password Try a blank password (no characters)
first***

You can use a boot disk like ERD commander, or a program called
ASTRUMI..(you will need to burn either ISO to a disk) which is a linux
disk that will allow you to "BLANK" the admin password and then try to
login with no password again in safe mode.

If all else fails, you can use a sam file from another XP home/pro
system with similar user accounts installed on it. (I have not tried
this but others have had somewhat successful attempts).

If you DO get in by the admin attempt, try to enable the user accounts
again, or simply create a new one not the same as any of the last
users.

Navigate to the C:\Documents and Settings\ and see if your usernames
are still on their folders. You should be able to enable the accounts
again, or create NEW accounts with the SAME IDENTICAL usernames IF the
folders are still there. (I have not tried this either)

In any case, getting to a desktop is your main objective. If you still
fail then I would suggest either 1. Using another XP machine, plug your
hard disk in as secondary (use the jumper on the drive to set as either
"Slave" or "CS"(Cable Select) and from there you will more than likely
be able to recover all your important files.


--
mikesg
Posted via http://ms-os.com Forum to Usenet gateway

.

Relevant Pages

  • RE: local admin account password
    ... Subject: local admin account password ... > 4) Only use domain accounts so delete the local ones. ... > The DB file would be encrypted with EFS so only the limited user SQL ... > backup user can make a zip backup of the DB whenever it gets changed ...
    (Focus-Microsoft)
  • RE: local admin account password
    ... Say you have more then 1000 systems, how do you handle the local admin ... Only use domain accounts so delete the local ones. ... The DB file would be encrypted with EFS so only the limited user SQL ... There would be basically two stored procs, ...
    (Focus-Microsoft)
  • local admin account password
    ... Only use domain accounts so delete the local ones. ... 5)My main idea/plan is to store all the passwords on a central SQL server. ... This way you can easily have a different random passwords for the admin ... There would be basically two stored procs, ...
    (Focus-Microsoft)
  • Re: Admin vs limited user account
    ... properly with limited user account (it does work fine with admin users). ... Quite simply, the application doesn't "know" how to handle individual user profiles with differing security permissions levels, or the application is designed to make to make changes to "off-limits" sections of the Windows registry or protected Windows system folders. ... "If your game or application works with admin accounts, but not with limited accounts, you can fix it to allow limited users to access the program files ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Users Are Gone, Cant Login
    ... I did not have early restore points to choose from. ... disk and go from there. ... Using your arrow keys, select "Safe Mode" ... > system with similar user accounts installed on it. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)