Windows Vista Deleted Administrator Registry Key

I have a used PC with Windows Vista Home on it. I changed the Administrator name & added two secondary users. Anytime I attempted to DL programs to update the security on the machine the DL would dissappear. (I have since found out this was the old security software doing this). In searching for the DL's I found deeper in the Structure that the Admin account was still listing folders for User: (old username) & the other old secondary users. I read around & found that changing the name through the normal way was just cosmetic.....Thus I had a list of folders for the new names & the old names.

I then followed some really bad advice to access the real Vista Admin account & delete the Registry key showing the old admins name.... obviously this has deleted my renamed entry also. The claim was that when I logged back in it would recreate those folders with my new admin account name.

Now, I cannot log into any username.

I have researched & it sounds like I should log into Safe Mode, the real Vista admin account should show up (assuming since the reg key for the Admin user account is gone), then I should be able to create a new User Admin account while in safe mode. Log Out & be able to Log In normally.
Is this correct?

Also, I had made a registry backup with Spybot previous to all this stupidity. Would it be a better idea to access this in safe mode & just roll back?
Can that be done?

 

Give it a try it cant hurt. What path in the reg. did you navigate to get to the admin. key.

 

this is what i followed:

 

Is what you deleted start with this S 1-5-21. Try the registry back up that you created. Safe mode would be better.

 

Yes, something very similiar at least.... I will have to do safe mode as I get an error whenever i attempt to log on the normal way. I am only hoping that safe mode will let me in.

 

Good Luck and keep us updated.

 

I am in. Booted into safe mode... it did not give me a special admin account. so, i just logged into my normal one that I renamed & deleted in the registry..... not sure how that worked.

spybot was listed in the programs menu but there was no application listed or backups.
found my ccleaner registry backup. loaded it & i am in.
it removed a bunch of shortcuts & is very slow now so something is still wrong but at least i can get in & never take advice not found on here again!

remaining issues:
how do i get rid of the 4 old user accounts that don't belong which are listed under C:\Users?
why is this thing so slow?
why does windows update fail every time?
and i am sure more that I am forgetting......

 

This will show you how to delete accounts.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/93026-user-account-delete.html

Then go through this list of instructions to correct any problems with updates.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

And here to insure you have the latest version of the update agent.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949104

Then from Start type cmd into the search box, right click on cmd.exe and select Run as Administrator. At the command prompt type sfc /scannow. (You will need your Vista OS disc for this)

This will provide a test to check your system for issues that may stop some updates.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821

 

Thanks... will do the updates this weekend hopefully. I don't have the vista disc.

currently, i am running it through spybot, comodo, & malware bytes to get any of that junk off. then i'll do the updates......hopefully.

removing those old users folders took many hundreds of mb's of junk off. so, it's already moving a little faster. going to check the ram this weekend too. any advice on where to study that? not sure how to tell overclock amounts & all the other rules that go with it.
It has a 1.50 GHZ processor....cheapo? VIA Esther
It has 958 MB RAM

i have bunches of ram laying around just not sure how to tell what to use.

 

Ram

www.crucial.com

 

None of this software will remove junk files, they are all for Malware, but, as you have just got the PC, it is woth running them. Be sure that you do have two anti virus programs monitoring the system at the same time as this can cause problems.

Do not be tempted to run any System Registry cleaners, thinking it will speed up the PC, many that claim they will, won't.

To clean all the junk off and tidy up the hard drive follow this set of instructions:

Does this PC have a recovery partition? if so it would be worth your while restoring it to factory settings. The Vista licence key sticker (which should be somewhere on the PC) will have OEM on it if the PC was preinstalled when new, that being the case it will have a recovery partition, or it would have been supplied with recovery discs which you should have been given with it. Please supply the make and model number.

If your PC is running without freezes or crashes of any kind then there is no reason to suspect that there is anything wrong with the momory. Increasing the amount of memory won't speed it up, it will just allow it to function better when playing games or any other memory hogging applications. You need to check on your motherboard specs to find out how much memory it can take, 1GHz is quite adequate for general daily use.

You say the PC is slow, as you only have a 1.5Ghz CPU it is never going to be fast. You may be able to fit a faster CPU but you will have to check on what your motherboard can take.

 

thank you for all the info.
I assume you meant to say:

???

I only run the ccleaner. All those registry cleaner commercials & ads crack me up so, yeah I know to avoid those.

I am only going to use this for excel files, some internet research, & minimal other things. It's on my workbench in the basement so nothing special.... but I don't think I should have to wait 60 seconds for control panel to open for instance... things are just slow in general. I don't expect it to be a super PC but there is a lot of hang time.

 

Sounds like I can get it reacting a lot quicker! Will dig through my pile of RAM tonight & upgrade.. thanks!

 

i'm stuck...
ran fix it-failed
ran fix it aggressive - success
dl'd newest update agent
search for updates failed 800722EFE

I have scanned this PC twice with malware bytes/ spybot/ comodo. nothing has been found. even attempted turning off the firewall after allowing windows update in it failed. Turning it off didn't help either. What's wrong. I see 800722EFE mentioned as a virus elsewhere but I am not coming up with a virus when running my scans.

Update Thursday morning..... left it searching all night. woke up this morning & it was on dl update 59 of 86.

thanks for all your assistance & input.

 

You might like to run through this link, it may help but now you have said how long it takes for control panel to open I am beginning to suspect you may have a faillling hard drive or your system is infected.

Try this and see if it helps.

http://blogs.msdn.com/andrekl/archi...ing-updates-in-windows-vista-server-2008.aspx

You are correct, thanks.


EDIT Just noticed your edit so lets see if it works this time, you may not need to follow my suggestion above. I doubt though that this will have any effect on the speed of things.

 

probably not.... had my wife check it awhile ago.... stuck on 59 still.

 

Shut the PC down (not restart) and allow it to install the updates it has downloaded and then go into Windows Update and search for more updates to download.

Report back with progress.

If you can borrow a Vista disc (it must be the same Vista version as you have installed and be the same or higher Service Pack level) you could run a Repair Install. You can make a Slipstreamed disc if you cannot get one with the correct Service Pack level, I will give you the instructions if required.

It may be worth your while to run a check on your hard drive. Follow this guide:

 

i have 43 updates left. at this point three shut down & reboots have not gotten me any further. the HD is making an awful noise now as well. it was not doing that until running all night last night through the updates. i believe i am just going to scrap it..... i have a nice power supply, 1GB of RAM (the dual kind) & a good vid card sitting on my bench. this dying pc has a DVD player. so, i might just start piecing a new one together. was hoping not to have to spend $ on an op system but i can't spend anymore time on this thing without certainty that it will be usable. thanks again for all the assistance.

 

Well, if you are going to abandon the this PC, use the same OS. MS might balk, but you can tell them what happened and all should be well.

 

It certainly sounds as if your hard drive is the problem. You will have to buy a new one and a new Windows disc for installing the OS if you going to build yourself a new PC so if you just get those items first you may well be able to revive this PC without having to replace anything else.