I DO NOT HAVE ANY USER NAMES ON MY WELCOME SCREEN.
I was tring to set up a user for myself besides admin and that is where all my problems started.

Welcome to Techspot I hope you enjoy it here.
It sounds like you did not check the 'Users must enter a user name and passwrd to use this computer ' on the user accounts page for each user including Admin.
If this doesn't work there are other things that can affect this but I would need more info.
Remember the Admin user and user #1 can't have the same name
Tell us how it works out

How to add the administrator account to the windows logon screen.

If you never set of an administrator password, just don't enter one.

THANKS. I TRIED TO GET AWAY WITHOUT ENTERING A PASSWORD BUT THAT DIDN'T WORK. IF I HAD A PASSWORD I FORGOT WHAT IT IS. DUMB? MAYBE OR MAYBE OLDTIMERS DESEASE. ANY IDEAS? THANKS

Just to clarify: When you get a welcome screen, are you automatically logged into XP? Or do you have a screen that asks for a login, but shows no usernames to log into (other than manually typing in an account?)

I am at the Welcome Screen where it asks me to click on the user icon to log on. Unfortunately there is no user icon shown. I can initiate ctrl-Alt-Del and get a screen that asks for my user name and password. Unfortunately I do not recall ever establishing a password. I never went into the computer and deleted the user names. It just happened. Why??? I have tried using the XP CD and the Recovery section but after going through the many minutes that takes I come back to the same place. Help?
Thanks

Thanks for trying but I tried typing in Administrator as the User Name and simply pressed Enter without any Password and I still cannot get in. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

As far as I know You probably have to format that drive and do a fresh install.FYI XP has a password recovery floppy disk you can make in case you ever have memory loss again.
There might be password recovery software availible but it would surely cost a few bucks.

One thing to try is to run through your obvious passwords. The ones that you use routinely at websites and all (I assume you don't do random passwords).

If you DID set a password, and just don't remember doing so (Something I do often on my caffiene induced hazes after 72 hours), you might hit it. Be sure to try all of your capitalizations and all.

Oh, and be SURE that you are using a capital A in Administrator. Windows can be stupid about that in certain circumstances (I think the default XP install disables "administrator". Many corps add "administrator" to the admin group just to be lazy..)

Windows XP No Usernames displayed. Administrator Password does not work

Techies,
I have hunted around on the net for the solution to this and have not found any.
I feel slightly sorry for the original poster here as it wasn't the fact that he had forgotten his administrator password at all.
The symptoms are as he descriped. XP welcome screen with no usersnames displayed. In my case they were there one day, gone the next. All four users.
Cntr-alt delete allows me to type administrator and the password but it doesn't work. I have NOT forgotten the password. Blank password does not work either.
Safe mode (using F8) does not work. You can't get in because of the same problem. No usernames.
So I tried repairing the XP install from CD. Didnt' work same problem.
Then I tried a new install to the same location and on the first boot I get the same problem, no usernames displayed.
I suspect a corrupt registry, so tonight I am going to tinker with boot floppy and some files and will let you know if I get anywhere if I can get to the c drive. I am hoping it's FAT32 and not NTFS (Its actually not my PC, but a friends)

AJ

Guys this is NOT a "forgotten password during a caffeine induced haze" problem.
I think the problem was a corrupt registry which stores the user information.

Just for your information, I ended up making a parallel windows xp install onto the same disk which was indeed NTFS. Then once booted I managed to copy the data from the old "Document and settings\user\userfolder\my documents\your documents" or whatever the directory is called. Of course all the software had to be installed once again to get the registry sorted.
I never found out what the real solution to the problem was. I did not have a backup of the registry and when I was attempting a repair to the original operating system I got in through the back door (using Shift F10) and ran regedit on the old registry but could not see where the problem was.

Basically a rebuild and copying data from the old installation got me back up and running. I will now take a copy of the registry in case this happens again.

But can I just say that the symptoms of the original problem were this (hard though it is to believe if you have not seen this first hand)

The system boots to the normal blue welcome screen which normally lists all your users down the right hand side of the screen, BUT, there are no users listed, no icons, none of those stupid little pictures of the skateboarder and deck chairs. Nothing, only a shutdown icon I believe (bottom left). Cntrl alt delete twice will give you a login box (the user shown being the last successful user login) but this or Administrator (or administrator) with remembered password DOES NOT WORK.
Safe mode does not allow you in for the same reason.

I just hope that this description saves others beating their head against a brick wall.


AJ

Dear Nadgers,

Someone above already posted the fix. Go to the registry and add in entires for all users who were previously there. For example, if you had a user called James with a full name of "James Smith" add a DWORD value in the registry called James with a value of 1.

:
To Make the Administrator Account Always Visible on the Login Screen


[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.
Data Type: DWORD// Value Name: Administrator
Setting for Value Data: [0 = Disabled / 1 = Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

I'll say it again some of these posts should be closed

I have exactly the same problem, most likely caused by a virus. I removed the HD and set it up as a slave in another system. Then removed all viruses, trojans and malware.

Xerxel, in an above post, mentions a registry edit. Problem is, I am not able to edit the registry. With the HD in another system, I can only access the registry on the boot drive. When I place the HD in the original system, I can not get past the welcome screen.

Do I really have to do a new install of XP like "ajfish" in a previous post? Is there a way to edit the registry when the drive is not booted?

Thanks for the reply.

I have tried all iterations of safe Mode, but the same Welcome Screen minus User Names and Icons comes up. So, it will not load profiles and I can not get beyond this.

I tried this Boot CD to reset my NT Password and tried to reset my User Passwords. http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

Resetting the NT Password worked OK and I was able to get into the Recovery console without entering a password. However, there were no User Passwords on the system, not even administrator. If they are not present, I can't reset them. The Config file must be corrupted and Users have to be reestablished.

Next step is this procedure with the BartPE Boot disk: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/peboot.htm

I will keep you posted. By the way, this is the first problem I have posted. Have been reading this board for a while. Thanks for all your help.
Regards,
Tony