fast switching user screen

I have a problem activating the welcome screen. Not really the welcome screen but the account users listed. When it's activated (fast user switching) I see myself and 2 others listed which is fine, but when I log off and come back I'm gone but they're still there. I was the administrator but changed the other 2 to the same so I could get back on. If I try to create a new user with my name it says it's all ready used. Any ideas?

 

Be happy to try to help but I have no idea what you meant with " I was the administrator but changed the other 2 to the same so I could get back on. "

Please say exactly which accounts you have loaded on the PC (account name), if all are set as active (rather than disabled) and a step-by-step description of what happens when you do what.

 

sorry. When you run win XP with multiple users you can logon in one of two ways. The traditional way, in which you type your name and/or password. The other is where you can use what is called "fast user switching" or the "welcome screen" which lists the users on the computer and keeps track of their personal settings such as there homepage, screen saver and other personal settings and favorites. You can also set a picture for the individual users.

When you have multiple users at least one needs to be an administrator so they can run maintanence on the puter and the others can be "limited" or administators also. If you have children or roommates who use the puter then you make them "limited" so they don't ***** things up or go where they don't need to.

When I use the traditional way (which works fine) of logging on, it asks for a name and/or password and you sign on. If another person wants on then you sign off and they sign on.

Now here comes my problem. With the "welcome screen" and "fast user switching" activated you can switch users without having to log off. Think of it as a way to minimize and let someone else on while your stuff stays running. Easy enough and very handy. My problem occurs when I try to switch users
I have three people on the system, Bob, Leanna, and Rich. If I activate the welcome screen and fast user switching I "bob's user account" does not show up, while Leannas' and Richs' does. Now with them being limited I/we have very limited access to the puter. That is why they are now listed as administrators so I can fix my account. If I try to create an account under my name it says that it is already there.

I need help in getting my welcome screen icon back (which is there but not seen) and I would like to make rich and leanna limited once again. They should all be active except my guest account which I turned off.

I also need to transfer user files and settings from account Bobs to Bob. I made a new account trying to figure things out on my own. Any help would be nice and sorry for the length of this post.

 

Hey BBob, the user Bob, is that the original administrator account renamed to Bob (I think that's what you meant in your first post) or is it a separate account in the administrators group?

If it's the original administrator account, then there's your problem right there... XP by default does not show the administrator account on the Welcome screen - supposedly to keep it from being used on a day to day basis... the same way that you are not supposed to use the root account on a Unix system other than for maintenance.

You can get to the administrator account from the welcome screen, you would need to press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice and then you get your usual logon screen back (Win 2000 look) and can then just write in the username and password for the desired user.... I'm unsure if this in any way affect Fast User Switching.

 

Thanks for the reply and yes it is the original administrator and that would probibly explain why I don't see it and can't get it to reappear. With that being the case I want to.

1)find all user accounts and there associated files? (both "bob" and "Bobs" don't show up) under Documents and settings I have the option of: administrator,all users,allusers.WINNT,default user,defaultuser.WINNT,guest,Leanna,Rich. My info is under administrator.

2)Transfer the settings from Bob to Bobs?

3)Instead of bob and bobs would it be administrator and bobs?

4)Would that make them both show up or not?

My main goal is to use the fast user switching. I have now activated fast user switching and see Bob,Leanna,Rich as users and will restart to see if they stay there. If so then all I care to do is transfer my settings from the user (bobs or administrator) to bob. will edit the post in a moment.

ok I just logged off and signed back on and had to disable fast user switching. I seem to be the administator and must have renamed it bob hopeing to have an icon to log on.

1) bob must be the name for the administrator to log on.

2) I deleted "bobs" as there wasn't anything there.

I don't want to waste anyones time on something that may be simple. All I need to do is have three users (bob,leanna,rich) with bob being an administator,leanna and rich limited.

I also need to transfer my info from administrator to what will be a newly created user "bob" without it disappearing.

is that possible? because when I try that it says "bob" is already there.

Please help me and keep it simple for I am a simple man

 

If you Right Click on My Computer and choose Properties you can go to the Advanced tab and choose the Settings button under the User Profiles heading.

Then you can pick one of the users in the list there and choose to copy it's settings to another user, in this case from Administrator to Bob I believe.

I'm not too sure if this copies documents, or only user settings, but if Bob is a part of the Administrators group it should be no problem to copy those files later.

 

Hello LAAGE,
I did what you suggested and it lists 4 users bob 211MG,guest 3.86MB,leanna 3.18 GB,rich 18.6MB. I should have at least as much as leanna does on the puter 3+ GB's of data. Not sure what that tells us but thats what it says and I don't have an administrator account listed which is where my info is.

 

If you go via Control Panel > User Accounts, what users do you have listed there?
And does the list correspond with what you have in the User Profiles window you were looking at previously?

P.S.
I missed your edit.

You need to rename the administrator account back (I recommend you do not call it Administrator, but admin or somesuch) and then create a new user with the name you wish to use... you may need to reboot to let the user database purge the old administrator account name properly.

Once you have created the new user, you add it to the administrators group.

You then log on with one of the other accounts (which were also in the administrators group (?)) and do as I told you in the earlier post. But this time from the Administrator/admin account to the newly created account Bob(?).

 

It lists for possible users Bob (administrator), Leanna (administrator), Rich (administrator), Guest (Guest account is off). It doesn't list the size of the users.

 

LAAGE I think you lost me somewhere. I don't see any way to change the name of the account useing either one of the suggestions you gave. for now I am useing the administators account. I appreciate your patience and will try what you suggest. I.m confusied on how to do it?

I tried to rename it in D:documents and settings and it said that I couldn't do it.

 

here is what i've done. Created a new account named "bobs" and it does show up on the welcome screen. So all I need to do is transfer my info from "bob or administrator" to my new folder "bobs ". I will follow your steps above and see what it does. I just don't want to transfer what ever setting it is that will make it disappear from my welcome screen. Thanks again to all.

 

The Administrator account is not normally displayed on the Welcome screen with fast user switching enabled.

To access it, press Ctrl-Alt-Del, release just the Del key, and press Del again. This will display a standard Windows 2000–style log-on.

You can now log on as Administrator or any other user name.

 

I never explained how to rename the account, I took for granted that you knew how to do that, since you'd already done that once before (Administrator to Bob).

But, let's go through renaming then: you go via Control Panel > User Accounts > Advanced tab > Advanced button, go to the Users folder, right click the account you wish to rename (the original administrator account) and choose Rename, call it admin or something like that.

Once you've done this, reboot the machine (better safe than sorry), then you create a new user with the name you wish to use, don't log in as that user yet, but add it to the administrators group.

Log in as one of the other users in the administrators group, then right Click on My Computer > Properties > Advanced tab > Settings button under the User Profiles heading.

Then you can pick one of the users in the list there and choose to copy it's settings to another user, in this case from Administrator or admin or whatever you renamed the original administrator to, to the new account you've just created.

 

everything seems to be working itself out. Just need to set a few more preferences and I should be cruising. thanks for the help