removing 'locked' Administrator account

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ZollyMonsta

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#13589 18-May-2007 22:50

Well I screwed it. :(

Did something tonight to one of my machines, which meant all my users were locked out.
Managed to find a security hole (thanks to google) which meant I could re-activate one of the administrator accounts.

However, I still have an account 'Administrator' which is locked out. And this user account does not show up under control panel, so I cant remove it or anything.

Any ideas how I can removed the 'Administrator' account, while logged in under my other account which has administrator privledges?

When Windows Boots it keeps defaulting to the 'Administrator' account, and pops up saying it cant login due to account restrictions.
If I click ok, I go to the welcome page, and can click my name (the other adminstrator account) and login.

Windows is working, its just a pain this other 'ghost' account is there and I cant fix it or remove it.

Any ideas how to 'unlock' the 'Adminstrator' account?

Enuff rambling from me :)

Cheers,
ZollyMonsta

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

Saptha

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#71223 19-May-2007 00:14

its pretty strange that you cant see user accounts in CP , when i face this admin password problem i used to reset it trough boot CD with linux core files , then it can edit windows registry offline
try with this Download
may be ur sam and reg already corrupted then this will not help.
anyway good luck just give a try :)

lurker

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#71225 19-May-2007 00:27

Try booting up in Safe mode, then logging on as Administrator - which should work fine. Then you should be able to fix up your user accounts from there. That Administrator account being unavailable due to account restrictions is normal.

Edit - sorry I may not be reading your post correctly (it's late for me :) ), did you set things to bypass the Welcome Screen, and automatically logging on as Administrator? If that's the case then maybe you should use TweakUI to check Autologon settings. Or hold the <Shift> key while the system is booting, if it doesn't happen again then it confirms Autologon is being used.

I'll get some sleep before I do any more half-thought out replies :)

freitasm

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#71236 19-May-2007 09:24

Have you tried NET USER /ACTIVE:YES ?

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shay

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#71249 19-May-2007 10:09

maybe it's still defaulting to the Administrator account because of auto login have a look in this part of windows Go to start Run
And type control userpasswords2 click Ok the user accounts should show up in there and u can remove/reset passwords much much more i hope this information helps.

ZollyMonsta

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#71254 19-May-2007 10:36

lurker: Try booting up in Safe mode, then logging on as Administrator - which should work fine. Then you should be able to fix up your user accounts from there. That Administrator account being unavailable due to account restrictions is normal.

Edit - sorry I may not be reading your post correctly (it's late for me :) ), did you set things to bypass the Welcome Screen, and automatically logging on as Administrator? If that's the case then maybe you should use TweakUI to check Autologon settings. Or hold the key while the system is booting, if it doesn't happen again then it confirms Autologon is being used.

I'll get some sleep before I do any more half-thought out replies :)

Yep, did this.. got into safe mode and Administrator was listed. reset password. There doesn't appear to be any option to unlock a user? However, when I boot normally, Administrator is still locked. The problem at the moment is that Administrator seems to be the default login when windows boots, but pops up the popup about account restrictions.

I think I've sussed it now... did a google... and found this page.. http://santa-reviews.blogspot.com/2007/05/bypass-windows-xp-login-screen.html

I now have windows booting direct to desktop, using 'my-name' login. Cannot remove the 'faulty' 'Administrator' login due to 'Account Restrictions'. Still, it's working now and not stopping at the login screen, and didnt need to re-install..

Thanks for your assistance :)

Cheers,
ZollyMonsta
(runs off to make a ghost image of the boot disk)

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

ZollyMonsta

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#71255 19-May-2007 10:37

shay: maybe it's still defaulting to the Administrator account because of auto login have a look in this part of windows Go to start Run
And type control userpasswords2 click Ok the user accounts should show up in there and u can remove/reset passwords much much more i hope this information helps.

Yep, that worked (see above). Phew! Thank goodness for security flaws too, which enabled me to have at least one working Admin account to be able to reset. :)

Check out my LPFM Radio Station at www.thecheese.co.nz - Now on iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Radio Garden

As per the usual std disclaimer.. "All thoughts typed here are my own."

Quic Broadband

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