Changing User Name (System Wide) in XP Home

Hello...

Selling my old Dell 8250 to a friend; & as part of the file/folder cleanup & prep...I wanted to change the PC's User Name from mine to his.

I first went to User Accounts...changed it there...& it now reads as his name everywhere except under 'Documents & Settings'. So, I broke out the XP bible (Bott & Siechert) to find out how to get to the Administrator Account.

But Windows won't let me change it there.

So I tried to manually rename the affected folders under 'Documents & Settings'...but Windows won't let me change it there either (claiming it's a system file).

Hoping there's a way to accomplish this...I don't want my name popping up on my friend's machine.

Thanks,

mark4man

 

Pete...

HELP!!

I knew I should have stopped screwing around w/ this. I now have a HUGE problem...I CANNOT access my old machine...I deleted my old account, but my old account keeps coming up on a log on screen...asking me for a password...but my old one doesn't work. Thing is...in safe mode...I was able to use the new account (my friend's) to get in once. Now I'm really, really upset; & it's very difficult for me to remember what I did.

I set-up the old machine, turned it on...& went to advanced user accounts (Control Prompt: control userpasswords2). I deleted my old account (let's call it MF, for reference). The other account was also there in that dialog, so I renamed it (to A1, for reference); & created a password for him (for my friend, the buyer...as I read in the Bott/Siechert book that without administrator password protection, PC's are security vulnerable).

Then I rebooted; & an empty logon screen came up (where it doesn't display any accounts, but asks you to click on a user...where there are none). So I look that up in the Bott/Siechert book; & it explains it; & tells the reader to log on using safe mode...so I did. A log on screen comes up in safe mode, w/ my friend's account (A1), so I type in the password & it boots to the safe mode desktop. Then I went into advanced user accounts again, looking to clean out anything related to myself in order to sell this machine one & for all. I found a Microsoft .NET password; & deleted it. Then I rebooted.

Instead of the new A1 account coming up...my old account (MF) came up, asking me for a password. Now I panic; & try a bunch of maybes. None work. So I went looking in my old paperwork from year's ago; & found the one Dell gave me. I typed that in. The log on screen grayed out...like it was going to work...stayed that way for a while; & then spit it back at me (saying the user name or password was incorrect). So I tried the new account's user name (A1) & password...& the log on screen grayed out again for a long time; & spit it back at me.

I now CAN NOT access my old computer.

What do I do now?...I need to hack into my old PC & get thing straightened out !!!

Please help...thanks,

mark4man

 

Bad news...really BAD news. Tried rebooting from the installation CD; & I can't get in without logging on. [Why the f is that?]

Nothing works. I can't even do a repair w/o getting in as the administrator.

I guess I'm going to have to do a complete reinstallation of the OS (as you said). I've got the product key (Dell pastes it to the bottom of the tower.)

[Backing up a bit...in hopes of another solution...but assuming now...as a last resort...since I can't get in w/ the installation CD, all my options are gone, correct]?

And I have to now do a complete reinstallation of the OS, correct?

How is that done if one cannot access the OS installation CD. Can the primary drive be reformatted from the BIOS? How does that work?

mark4man

 

those are the boot disk setups available from Microsoft, right? Why can't I use the XP Home SP1 (which my OS actually is)?


BTW - I CANNOT reboot from the Dell OS disk...I've tried it 7 ways to Sunday. I even went into boot setup & selected the CD-ROM...& IT WON'T BOOT FROM THE CD-ROM. The log on screen is overriding EVERYTHING. I HAVE to reformat (to get rid of everything related to the existing OS). I've already resigned myself to loosing everything; & having to reload all the programs I was going to let him have for free.

BTW2 - I even tried the offline NT password editor (freebie)...burnt the CD-R & the whole 9 yards...& the account that continues to come up in the log on screen is not even in there...not on the list of sams from the registry...NOWHERE. So, you're right...something's *terribly* wrong & it looks like a reformat/clean install is my last option. Just want to get started tonite...New Year's Eve...yes, I have no life.

Wait a minute...Microsoft says those boot disks are for computers that can't boot from CD-ROM. That's after the fact, right? I have to reformat 1st. getting very confused.

 

Create a password reset file'

Before you get into this mess with your new computer you should create a password reset file and keep it on a floppy or a memory stick.

 

Guys...

The Dell is back up & running (thanks in large part to the help received here...thanks!!!)

How I did it (the BIOS workaround) was to DISABLE the two other boot sequence options (floppy & C drive).

With that...the machine booted from the OS installation disk. So...first thing I attempted was a REPAIR. This was my first choice, as I had an informational detailing how to get into advanced user accounts at a certain point in the repair sequence. This was a "breech a Windows security hole" method...but when I tried it...the access to user accounts was denied.

So...now able to access the OS install disc, I performed a complete reformatting & reinstallation of the OS.

Then I reinstalled all the programs my friend wants.

But there's one more weird thing happening:

At boot up...after the Dell BIOS screen flashes by...another safe mode looking screen comes up that reads: Please select the Operating System to start; & Windows XP Home Edition is listed twice (w/ the top choice selected). If I hit enter (or simply allow the time to run out), the machine boots to the desktop & all is fine.

In my reinstall sequence, there were two partitions listed. There was a smaller FAT32 partition; & then there was the primary drive itself (C), listed as NTFS. I deleted both partitions (to insure that all remnants of me were gone from the machine); & selected C for the reformatting (NTFS) & OS installation.

I went back into the BIOS to make sure I re-enabled the floppy & the C drive in the boot sequence...so I'm not sure what's going on w/ this...never seen it before.

Any ideas on this malady?

Thanks,

mark4man


BTW - Yeah...sorry on the emotion thing. My head was spinning & my thoughts reeling.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm assuming here it's as simple as a deletion of the last line?

[actually...this should be the part where I shut up & listen to the expert.]

mark4man


BTW - Someone suggested that I have mistakenly installed two versions of XP on the same drive (which is disastrous). I don't think that's the case, as I deleted both partitions & reformatted everything prior to the install. Would that boot.ini indicate such a calamity? Is there a way to know for sure?

Thanks for everything.

 

I didn't install twice. In the installation sequence, two partitions came up...the FAT32; & C, as an NTFS. I selected the FAT32 & deleted it. I then selected the C/NTFS & deleted that. The dialog then indicated that it was reformatting the C drive & would then install Windows.

I'm afraid to boot to that selection, actually...I'm tired of all the troubles.

But there are no other partitions on that drive in Disk Management.

mark4man

 

I did...sort of. I edited it myself, manually (tried the bootcfg /delete/ ID# command prompt thing...per Windows' official instructions...didn't work).

Opened up the actual file & simply removed the second OS entry & saved it. The Dell works fine now...boots up just like it used to. All is well...the machine now goes out the door.

Thanks,

mark4man