Windows Vista Windows Log-in Problem--Acct seems to be corrupt or something.

Windows Vista Home Premium.

Log-in problem: Windows is giving an error when using the correct password. Words to the effect that Windows is unable to log me in. Under Windows XP, we had the option of choosing Safe Mode and then could log into the Admin acct on boot (in safe mode).

Is there a way to log into the Admin acct in Vista from boot?

Fact: We have the correct password. This is not a forgotten-password problem. This is some sort of malfunction or corruption of the OS.

 

I ran a Bart's PE CD and CHKDSK /R found one bad sector on drive C. After "repairing" the file in this bad sector, I am now getting a 'wrong password' error (instead of cannot log you on).

We don't have any important data on the system and we would do a system recovery; but, the owner does not have the recovery CDs either.

Is there no way to access the Administrator account at all?

 

The problem w/ Vista admin account is that you must first be logged in to an account with admin rights to make it show.

It sounds as if the profile for the user is corrupted. Is there another user account with admin priveleges on the machine to log into?
Johanna

 

No other account on the system. Looks like system recovery is inevitable.

 

Microsoft has made no improvements to Windows since Windows 2000. This would have been easily solved with 2000 or XP.

Vista Stinks.

 

I, too, paid about $200 for Vista Ultimate and it now is retired--sitting in a drawer. I get a sick feeling every time I open that drawer an look at that useless piece of junk Microsoft calls an OS and think of all the good uses I could have put $200 to.

All my systems are back on Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

My Vista Gripes:

• The "up" button in Windows Explorer has been removed.
• USB flash drives are difficult to properly disconnect. The majority of attempts to disconnect result in a message from Vista that the device is in use and that I should close programs that might be using it and try again. No amount of closing programs in Task manager will release the drive. I have to shut down the computer to disconnect the flash drive.
• USB flash drive activity lights do not turn off even when the disconnect procedure is successful.
• Windows is always working in the background. I can hear my hard disk tickity-tickity and it never stops. Turning off drive indexing has little to no effect.
• User account controls are a big annoyance.
• The Run menu item is gone from the Start menu.
• The Start button no longer has a name. When trying to help someone over the phone, I have to say "click on the Windows orb" to which I get the reply "What is the Windows orb?" and then I have to describe it and tell them where it is on the screen.
• Vista requires too much memory and is a general resource hog.
• My Palm HotSync Program works on the first try less than half the times and two- to three cycles of ending task on HotSync and restarting it is a typical scenario.
• It seems like the Windows Vista service pack has slowed Vista somewhat.

There are other gripes; but, these are my most annoying.

 

I enabled mine and kept it that way until I retired Vista about two months ago in preference to XP and 2000.

I would need a crystal ball that foretells the future to tell me who will have trouble with their systems and at some point in the future call me for help. Then I could get on the phone and tell each one that I have a magic crystal ball that told me they would call eventually and they should enable their Administrator account to ward off a big service fee.

Passwords and disabling aren't the only ways to protect an account. There are better ways to get to the top of a tree than sitting on an acorn and Microsoft needs to learn that. But, this is what you get when one company is allowed to use predatory marketing, with impunity, to kill off the competition.

 

I think your judgment is clouded by your love affair with Microsoft.

 

It's a joke. Didn't you see the smiley?

 

But, since we've turned in the "serious" direction:

Man has very few "needs ". Those are food and shelter. Everything else falls in the category of "wants ". I want an "up" button. For me, it works faster and more conveniently.

That doesn't always work because there isn't always enough space in the address bar to display all the "crumbs ". The "up" button is always visible and always in the same place.

Hmmm. This seems like and oxymoron. If one doesn't disconnect a device while it is still plugged in, how would one disconnect when it isn't? That's a rhetorical question so I don't expect an answer. What I was referring to was the disconnect procedure that precedes the physical disconnect. I'm sure you are familiar with the procedure--click on the flash drive icon on the taskbar and then click disconnect.

I ran Vista for several months and I turned off all the automated processes I could find in a quest to stop the incessant tickety-tickety. It never stopped. I want my machine to rest when it finishes the tasks I give it. All that tickety-tickety reminds me too much of all the spyware I deal with others' systems during my service calls. I guess I'm just paranoid.

Concerning the Run menu:

I shouldn't have to "put it back ". It shouldn't have been taken away to begin with.

I do; but, I get too many computer illiterates who look for it on the monitor and I have to tell them where it is on the keyboard. Almost all the people who call for help, don't know what a WinKey is, either. And I'm glad they don't. If they knew all this stuff, they might not need to pay me near as often.

As for your assertion that Vista's service pack hasn't slowed the system, I can't argue because I haven't gotten a before-n-after stopwatch chart. I'll just say it seems to me to have slowed somewhat.

In an effort to solve some of the above problems, I did a clean install three times with no change in result.

Additionally, I purchased over a thousand dollars on new hardware and software because of the lack of support for the not-so-old and perfectly good hardware and software that wouldn't run on Vista. I am now back on Windows 2000 and Windows XP and I experience none of the above problems and I am running the same hardware as when under Vista.

So, I reiterate: Microsoft is stuck in a rut and hasn't made a real improvement to Windows Since Windows 2000. In my opinion, Vista is a step backward. I would sell mine for half price and I would not use it again unless someone paid me enough to make the headaches and the continuous and chronic lost productivity worth my while.