Category: Windows

Even creating a Windows User of the same name and password as on the old computer, I couldn’t access parts of the drive, for example “My Documents”. The password uses a security id, and the security ID for the user has changed.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810881 has the solution:

1. Turn off Simple File Sharing (Security tab, used below, won’t display with this on):
   1. On the Startmenu, click My Computer.
   2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the View tab.
   3. Under Advanced Settings, click to clear the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box, click OK.
2. Right-click the folder that you want to take ownership of, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Security tab. If a Security message appears, click OK.
4. Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
5. In the Name list, click your user name, Administrator if you are logged in as Administrator, or click the Administratorsgroup.Take ownership of the contents of that folder: click to select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
6. Click OK. You may receive the following error message, where Folde ris the name of the folder that you want to take ownership of: “You do not have permission to read the contents of directory Folder. Do you want to replace the directory permissions with permissions granting you Full Control? All permissions will be replaced if you press Yes.”
7. Click Yes.

Now you are the owner of that folder.

I added a user to a friend’s WinXP computer. Next time I tried to log on, the Administrator user no longer showed on their computer! They Need That! All of their documents they are working on, are under that account.

Some support sites say that when there is another user created (in Control Panel, User Accounts) with administrator privileges, the Administrator account is automatically not shown on the Windows Login screen.

Here’s how to make the Administrator user show on the login screen:

In a Registry editor (such as RegEdit, if you don’t know how to run that, then you shouldn’t attempt this yourself, you can mess things up Very Easily in RegEdit).

Find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

Add a new DWORD Value:
Name: Administrator
Value: 1

Save the changes (automatic in RegEdit) and when you log out, you will have Administrator as one of the login choices.

If you don’t know all the login names for a WinXP computer (and probably most other versions of Windows), you can find them easily. (Of course, you still have to know the password…)

Press Win-R (or Start, Run) and type CMD, then press Enter. The Command window appears (used to be called the DOS window).

Type: Net user, and press Enter.

You will see all the User Accounts that have been defined (in Control Panel, User Accounts) on this computer.