XP accounts... wtf

[Canai]

Ok so I usually just use the default 'Administrator' account on my xp pro system, but last night I went to create an account for my roomate, and it told me that I had to make an admin account first so I though, 'ok fine whatever.' I made an admin account and then made a limited one for the roomie. I restart, and the 'Administrator' account is gone, replaced by my admin account I created. I log in, everything is reset to xp defaults, all my stuff is now gone. so I go and try to delete the new account to get back to my 'Administrator' one, and it won't let me delete it, even when I start in safe mode and log in as 'Administrator.' So I raided the documents and settings folder and copied everything over to the new account so I have my bookamarks and start menu and shortcuts and whatnot, but WTFH is this dumb shiat when I can't delete an account I created? should I also copy my 'ntuser.bat' file from the documents and settings folder, since my 'Administrator' one is 4mb and the new one is 1mb?

 

[Forsythe]

If you right click My Computer and select administrate, there's where you can delete the user.
If you click ctrl+alt+delete twice, you can type administrator, and your password and log in to your old account.

 

[InlineFive]

The default Administrator account is not meant to be used and it will hide itself after another Administrator is created.

In your case deleting the second Administrator account you created should solve the problem. All of your files and such still exist.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Canai
Ok so I usually just use the default 'Administrator' account on my xp pro system, but last night I went to create an account for my roomate, and it told me that I had to make an admin account first so I though, 'ok fine whatever.' I made an admin account and then made a limited one for the roomie. I restart, and the 'Administrator' account is gone, replaced by my admin account I created. I log in, everything is reset to xp defaults, all my stuff is now gone. so I go and try to delete the new account to get back to my 'Administrator' one, and it won't let me delete it, even when I start in safe mode and log in as 'Administrator.' So I raided the documents and settings folder and copied everything over to the new account so I have my bookamarks and start menu and shortcuts and whatnot, but WTFH is this dumb shiat when I can't delete an account I created? should I also copy my 'ntuser.bat' file from the documents and settings folder, since my 'Administrator' one is 4mb and the new one is 1mb?

Windows isnt' being dumb, your not using it correctly. Install walks you thru creating your 'admin' account which is the one you should be using. The administrator account didn't disapper, it was just removed from the welcome screen. You can use tweakUI to re-add it there (but I'd recommend using a different account and just migrate your stuff over)

Bill

 

[Smilin]

Using the builtin admin account as your primary account is what is dumb here.

Don't do that.

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: Smilin
Using the builtin admin account as your primary account is what is dumb here.

Don't do that.

why is that dumb?

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: Smilin
Using the builtin admin account as your primary account is what is dumb here.

Don't do that.

why is that dumb?

Security. Running under a non-Admin account will prevent a lot of unwanted nasty things from happening simply because your regular user account doesn't have permission to do it.

 

[ITJunkie]

Since your using XP pro, you can also just turn off "fast-user switching/Welcome" screen and make everyone log in using ctrl-alt-delete. Then it's easy to log in as administrator.
Though, as others have said, it is a security issue.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: Smilin
Using the builtin admin account as your primary account is what is dumb here.

Don't do that.

why is that dumb?

It is just very, very poor security practice. I'm too lazy to go into all the details for you, sorry. Any chance you'll just trust me??

On my machine that account is actually a guest account used as a decoy. The real one has been renamed.

Although this is more server/domain related here is some brief info about best practices for the admin account:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/securi...ty/administratoraccounts/aapgch03.mspx



edit:busted link

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: Robor

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: Smilin
Using the builtin admin account as your primary account is what is dumb here.

Don't do that.

why is that dumb?

Security. Running under a non-Admin account will prevent a lot of unwanted nasty things from happening simply because your regular user account doesn't have permission to do it.

I always run on admin simply because I'm always changing things and I could never stand not having full access to my comp heh. I guess I fail to see the difference between the default admin account and creating an admin account.

edit: Security-wise, I keep tabs on all connections to my comp and run spybot / adaware daily.

 

[Smilin]

There is a predifined & wellknown SID for the builtin admin account. Other accounts in the administrators group do not have this.

The "administrator" account is the first one attacked since the name is known ahead of time (half the difficulting of breaking into something is finding out the username. The password is the other half. With the administrator account the battle is half won already).

It cannot truly be disabled or deleted so brute force password attacks don't stop on the 3rd attempt...give it a try. Set your account lockout policy to some X number of attempts. type the wrong password over and over. The only thing you'll get is a pause after a certain number of attempts...then you'll be allowed to try more.

If you damage the administrator account you are screwed. If you damage your own account admin account you jump over to the builtin to fix yourself.

.
.
.

Really, to fully explain every aspect of this would be tedious. Just know that it is a "bad practice" and don't do it. It's bad enough running as *any* admin account, but *the* admin account is just a big, big no-no.

 

[Canai]

Ok I guess I'll stick with an alternative admin account.. I've never used one other than the default so thanks for the security heads up.

 

[Jojo1971]

Windows isnt' being dumb, your not using it correctly.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Canai
Ok I guess I'll stick with an alternative admin account.. I've never used one other than the default so thanks for the security heads up.

Good call. Don't forget you can jump over to the previous account in c:\documents and settings and pull over your documents, desktop contents, favorites etc. There is actually a copy account feature too if you need some really obscure stuff like some odd app setting.

As a side note: This whole mess will get a lot better in Vista. It truly disables the real admin account and lets you run like an admin all the time but with a split security token that prompts you whenever something is being done that requires more than general user privledges.

 

[Canai]

Ok so I have one last question... how do I do the account copy thing? several of the programs I use (mainly ozone) seem to have come unregistered in my new account.

 

[Smilin]

System Properties, Advanced Tab, User Profiles 'settings' button

Use the "copy to" button.
Specify the path of \documents and settings\targetuser
Use the permissions button to grant that guy permissions.

Important note:
When you do this you cannot be logged on as either the source or target user. ie.. might need to create a third admin account to do this.
Also note: You are clobbering anything already there. If you have already partially moved into a new account keep this in mind.

Other than docs & settings files the big thing that gets moved over here using this is the user.dat hive file which contains all the user's registry settings normally stored under the Hkey_current_user registry branch.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Canai
Ok so I have one last question... how do I do the account copy thing? several of the programs I use (mainly ozone) seem to have come unregistered in my new account.

You can copy one profile over the other. Log in with your new account so you create a profile. Log out and log in as another user (but not the user profile you will be copying as it will be in use). Go to Control Panel and then System. Click the Advanced tab. Click the Settings button in the User Profiles section. Highlight the name of the profile you want to copy. Click the Copy To button. Click the Browse button and navigate to /Documents and Settings/ProfileYouWantToCopy. Click the Permitted to use button and change it to 'Everyone'. Click OK. It will copy your old profile to your new profile. Log out and log back in you should have all of your My Docs, Favorites, desktop settings, etc.

By the way, this can also be done to the Default User profile so anyone who logs into the machine will get a standard pre-configured profile (handy in corporate environments).

*NOTE - You have to have 'Show hidden files & folders' enabled to see the Documents and Settings folder.

Edit: Beat me to it Smilin!

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Robor

Edit: Beat me to it Smilin!

I forgot the "gotta log in as the target once first so it exists" part.

 

[Canai]

ok so I already manually copied all of the documents and settings folder except for ntuser.dat, so would it be good to just copy that over to my new account and overwrite the one alraedy there? I haven't done much other than some torrenting and some steam updates on my new account and I'm guessing my software reg problems are going to be remedied by the stored reg settings. I'm prolly going to do the copying when I get home from school today.

And thanks guys for all the help.

 

[Modular]

Is it possible to rename the default "Administrator" account? I only ask because I'm not sure I ever setup a different one. The account I login with is not called "Administrator" though.

Sorry for the highjack

 

[Smilin]

Yes, it's possible and recommended.


Rename it to something else ("TemporaryGuest" or something).

Then create a new regular user account and call it "administrator" but drop it in the guest group.