Missing User Accounts/Windows Login

This has now happened to 2 of my computers in the last month.

When I power up my computer the Windows XP shows to be loading as normal.
However, when I get to the user account login page no user accounts show up
to select so I am stuck. When I press alt+ctrl+del it get the Windows XP
login box but I apparently don't know the user name or password. I have
tried every password and user name that I might have used setting up the
computer.

I tried logging on is safe mode and safe mode with commands and get the same
thing.

On my other computer it goes directly to the Windows XP login box and I have
the same problem there. Both of the computers are ones that I bought new and
set up but are now a couple years old. I have been running current antivirus
software on both and on the desktop I removed the hard drive and installed it
in another computer I have and scanned it and found no obvious problems.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

oldtimesnick wrote:
This has now happened to 2 of my computers in the last month.

When I power up my computer the Windows XP shows to be loading as
normal. However, when I get to the user account login page no user
accounts show up to select so I am stuck. When I press
alt+ctrl+del it get the Windows XP login box but I apparently don't
know the user name or password. I have tried every password and
user name that I might have used setting up the computer.

I tried logging on is safe mode and safe mode with commands and get
the same thing.

On my other computer it goes directly to the Windows XP login box
and I have the same problem there. Both of the computers are ones
that I bought new and set up but are now a couple years old. I
have been running current antivirus software on both and on the
desktop I removed the hard drive and installed it in another
computer I have and scanned it and found no obvious problems.

When you 'installed the hard drive in another computer' - did you browse to
the documents and settings directory and see what the usernames were...
Chances are in your favor that the directory names there will match the
actual usernames.

Also - did you try logging in as the user "administrator" with no password
after you pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the welcome screen to get the
classic logon prompt?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Yes and Yes. I was able to get into my desktop in safe mode but have other
problems. I believe that I found the problem which is specific to Dells but
can't get access to any programs like Registry Editor. Get message saying
that I am not authorized to access that file.

On the laptop, I never had a password or additional user account so when I
signed on yesterday it was a surprise to get a Windows welcome screen with no
accounts and then not be able to get in through windows sign in with
alt+ctrl+del. Everything I try says that they don't match.

It appears I must find someway to get around the sign in so that I can clear
things out.

"Shenan Stanley" wrote:

oldtimesnick wrote:
This has now happened to 2 of my computers in the last month.

When I power up my computer the Windows XP shows to be loading as
normal. However, when I get to the user account login page no user
accounts show up to select so I am stuck. When I press
alt+ctrl+del it get the Windows XP login box but I apparently don't
know the user name or password. I have tried every password and
user name that I might have used setting up the computer.

I tried logging on is safe mode and safe mode with commands and get
the same thing.

On my other computer it goes directly to the Windows XP login box
and I have the same problem there. Both of the computers are ones
that I bought new and set up but are now a couple years old. I
have been running current antivirus software on both and on the
desktop I removed the hard drive and installed it in another
computer I have and scanned it and found no obvious problems.

When you 'installed the hard drive in another computer' - did you browse to
the documents and settings directory and see what the usernames were...
Chances are in your favor that the directory names there will match the
actual usernames.

Also - did you try logging in as the user "administrator" with no password
after you pressed CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the welcome screen to get the
classic logon prompt?

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html