Logon Screens

[dave]

Hi,
I've had a laptop which has XP Professional installed on it, I used it for a
while at work and they changed some settings that meant that instead of using
the usual XP screen to 'select' which user I was - a pop up window came up
that asked for my network id, password and domain.

As well as this when I go into Control Panel, Users - it's not the same set
of screens and options that lets me add, delete & monidfy users.

It looks like my laptop has been set up as a 'network' pc - I've now left
the company but want to know how to change it back so it looks like a normal
windows xp installation - I don't really want to re-install windows !

Can anybody help ?

A

[Malke]

dave wrote:

> Hi,
> I've had a laptop which has XP Professional installed on it, I used it for
> a while at work and they changed some settings that meant that instead of
> using the usual XP screen to 'select' which user I was - a pop up window
> came up that asked for my network id, password and domain.
>
> As well as this when I go into Control Panel, Users - it's not the same
> set of screens and options that lets me add, delete & monidfy users.
>
> It looks like my laptop has been set up as a 'network' pc - I've now left
> the company but want to know how to change it back so it looks like a
> normal windows xp installation - I don't really want to re-install windows

Your laptop was a member of a domain. Now, since you've left the company,
you would like to remove that membership. I understand that you don't want
to do a clean install, but that would be the best solution to entirely
remove company settings.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#reinstall_Windows - What you
will need on-hand

In order to change the machine without clean installing, you must be able to
log in as *local* Administrator or if there is a *local* user account with
administrative privileges. If there is no local user and/or you don't know
the local Administrator password, you'll need to change it to a blank with
NTpasswd.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Once you are logged into the local machine (this means not the domain), then
go to the User Accounts applet and make a local account for yourself. Log
into it. If you want to keep any of the data from your domain user account,
copy it over. I don't suggest copying the account settings in this case.

After you know you can log on locally, go to the System applet in Control
Panel, Computer Name tab, and change from a domain to a Workgroup. Now you
can delete the domain user accounts.

If this sounds too complicated - and there is no shame in admitting this
isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a professional computer repair
shop (not your local version of BigStoreUSA).

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

[dave]

Malke,
Thanks for that.

I have got an adminstrator account and password for the machine, so I can
log on as such, and make the changes as you suggested.

Thanks

"Malke" wrote:

> dave wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> > I've had a laptop which has XP Professional installed on it, I used it for
> > a while at work and they changed some settings that meant that instead of
> > using the usual XP screen to 'select' which user I was - a pop up window
> > came up that asked for my network id, password and domain.
> >
> > As well as this when I go into Control Panel, Users - it's not the same
> > set of screens and options that lets me add, delete & monidfy users.
> >
> > It looks like my laptop has been set up as a 'network' pc - I've now left
> > the company but want to know how to change it back so it looks like a
> > normal windows xp installation - I don't really want to re-install windows
>
> Your laptop was a member of a domain. Now, since you've left the company,
> you would like to remove that membership. I understand that you don't want
> to do a clean install, but that would be the best solution to entirely
> remove company settings.
>
> http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
> http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#reinstall_Windows - What you
> will need on-hand
>
> In order to change the machine without clean installing, you must be able to
> log in as *local* Administrator or if there is a *local* user account with
> administrative privileges. If there is no local user and/or you don't know
> the local Administrator password, you'll need to change it to a blank with
> NTpasswd.
>
> http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/
>
> Once you are logged into the local machine (this means not the domain), then
> go to the User Accounts applet and make a local account for yourself. Log
> into it. If you want to keep any of the data from your domain user account,
> copy it over. I don't suggest copying the account settings in this case.
>
> After you know you can log on locally, go to the System applet in Control
> Panel, Computer Name tab, and change from a domain to a Workgroup. Now you
> can delete the domain user accounts.
>
> If this sounds too complicated - and there is no shame in admitting this
> isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a professional computer repair
> shop (not your local version of BigStoreUSA).
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic"
>

[Malke]

dave wrote:

> Malke,
> Thanks for that.
>
> I have got an adminstrator account and password for the machine, so I can
> log on as such, and make the changes as you suggested.

You're welcome. It will be easy, then.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"