Windows XP Help

TeganRainIsGod

Hi,

I recently got a broadband connection onto my desktop.
I had an avast anti virus protection on it, not sure if it was the current version but it was definitely recent, only got it about six months ago.

anyway i turned off the pc last night and it said it had to install some updates and shut down.

i turned my computer on today and it loads up grand, however when comes to the welcome/ login screen (the screen where it has all the user names) there are no user names, its just the welcome screen but with no ability to log on. essentially all the user names have been deleted and i have no way of creating new ones and no way to log into my profile.

anyone know what this could be??

a virus??

how to fix it??

any assistance appreciated

thanks

Fysh

You can try and log on using the built-in Administrator account - press control, alt & delete together twice and you should get a logon window. The username is Administrator, the password will be what was set up when Windows was installed but it's often left blank so try logging on with no password.

If that works, go to Control Panel > User accounts and see if the accounts are there - they shouldn't be disabled by any automatic updates, but it's hard to say what it might be.

If that doesn't work, reboot and hit F8 before Windows starts, then try Safe Mode and see if the same thing happens. If Safe Mode has the same problem, start up with F8 again and try "last known good configuration" to revert back to a working system.

If it's still not working at this point you'll probably want to get a bootable password blanker CD so you can reset the Administrator password on the systme, log on in Safe Mode and run System Restore...

TeganRainIsGod

Fysh wrote: »

You can try and log on using the built-in Administrator account - press control, alt & delete together twice and you should get a logon window. The username is Administrator, the password will be what was set up when Windows was installed but it's often left blank so try logging on with no password.

If that works, go to Control Panel > User accounts and see if the accounts are there - they shouldn't be disabled by any automatic updates, but it's hard to say what it might be.

If that doesn't work, reboot and hit F8 before Windows starts, then try Safe Mode and see if the same thing happens. If Safe Mode has the same problem, start up with F8 again and try "last known good configuration" to revert back to a working system.

If it's still not working at this point you'll probably want to get a bootable password blanker CD so you can reset the Administrator password on the systme, log on in Safe Mode and run System Restore...

Thanks for your reply.

tried pressing control alt delete twice and nothing happened.

when to safe mode and it has the same problem.

also tried ''last known good configuration'' and it still brought me back to the same screen!!:(

TeganRainIsGod

You'll have to excuse my lack of tech savviness!!!

what exactly is a
bootable password blanker CD??

I was just having a look around on the internet, anyone know if these would do the job??

http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Fysh

It's just occured to me that if this is a Vista machine, the built-in Administrator account is disabled by default, which probably compounds your issue.

Personally I usually use the <snip>

TeganRainIsGod

im just downloading <snip> now and ill let u know how it goes. its an xp machine also.

thanks very much for your help.

TeganRainIsGod

<snip>

the five user names come up plus three others called
''guest''
'' support'' and
''help assistant''


i can then click into any of the 8 eight profiles..
and the options are....

-user must change password at next logon
-password never expires
-account is disabled
-account is locked out
-clear this users password


There is a box next to each of the five options. there is an 'X' in these two boxes:
-password never expires
-clear this users password


two options are ''greyed out'' and i can't select/highlight them:
-user must change password at next logon
-account is locked out



then it says underneath ''press Y to save changes and exit''.... some of the screen appears slightly cropped aswell, or maybe there's no instructions, but i dunno how to make any changes either, i've tried pressing different keys but i cant add in 'X's or or remove them in the respective boxes. so essentially i havent been able to make any changes when in there

any ideas how i should proceed from here???

thanks again for your help.

Fysh

Once you get to the point you describe, you just need an X in the "Clear this user's password" for your own user account. You can also do it for the Administrator account, if you want. Make sure the "account is disabled" option is clear on whatever account/s you want to use. Use the arrow keys to move between options and the space key to set or remove the X.

Then you just need to press Y to save the changes - you should see a message at the bottom of the screen to confirm that this has been done, but it usually only takes a few seconds. Once that's done, hit Esc a few times to get out of the program, restart as normal and hopefully your accounts should be available.

TeganRainIsGod

Still no joy.

I've done all the above and the accoutns still wont show.

I think im just gonna take it into town someplace and see if they can do anything

Thanks very much for your help, i appreciate you taking the time to assist.

Capt'n Midnight

WARNING

That CD contains a lot of copyrighted software

I would hate to think how much it would cost to buy all those apps individually.

Capt'n Midnight

http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html FREE password reset disk