User account help

[Justin726]

So a couple days ago my wife set up a new user account on my computer for our son. Each account had it's own password. Everything worked fine for a couple days. But then today, my original account seems to be gone and only the new account is available. When I click Start-Log off-Switch Users only the new user account shows up. So this means all my documents and internet favorites are not on this account. I can still access them all by typing in the path DocumentsandSettings\administrator\MyDocuments\MyPictures.......

Right now I don't care about haveing two user accounts or not. I just need to be able to access my documents and pictres from an account without having to search for them. Is there any way to get rid of this new user account and get back to my original one. I don't know where the hell it went to or how it got removed. My original user account was there when I left for work, but when my wife checked later today it had disappeared. She said there was some message on the computer that it had done some kind of automatic update or something like that.

[mbodell]

It looks like you were using the default administrator account. Once you create a new admin account, the default one disappears from the login page.

How to fix it:
Vista:
My Computer (right click) -> Manage -> Local Users and Groups -> Users -> Administrator (right click) -> Properties. unclick disable account


XP:
download tweak ui here
Then Open TweakUI and goto the Logon option in the left pane. Check the option to show administrator on welcome screen. Close TweakUI, logoff and see if the welcome screen lists the administrator login. Other disabled accounts can be recovered this way also.

[Justin726]

Cool, I'll try the XP fix when I get home tonight. Thanks.

[mbodell]

If the tweakui doesn't work easy for you, there is another way to do it. pm me if you can't get it working.

[Fast Glass]

Would system restore be able to recover the account?

[mbodell]

No, DO NOT DO A RESTORE!!! All that will do if anything is erase his son's account.

His account isn't gone. It is just disabled from the login screen because he created a new admin account and windows defaults to that to protect the system. Windows xp expected people to create a new user name when they install the os and it hides the admin account to protect the computer. In vista the admin account is disabled by default. It is an easy fix, just not that common of an error. You can also edit the registry to fix this, but its better to try tweakui first.

[Justin726]

Tweakui worked great and was really simple. Everything is back to normal. Thanks for the help!!!

[mbodell]

Glad I could help.