I purchased an "open box" PC from a discount store. My problem is that I cannot get rid of the original puchaser's account. I deleted the user but it still appears in the account profiles. Attempting to delete this user in "Documents and Settings" produces a message that it is a system file and cannot be deleted. When the logon screen appears it defaults to this person. Everything on the PC runs okay but seeing this other person is extremely annoying. Is there anyway to change this without doing a complete restore from the provided CD's? Running XP Home Edition.
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Cannot delete account profile. 2
- Thread starter deadass
- Start date
Do you know the Administrator Password? (could be blank)
If so, on booting , at the Welcome Screen, press CTR-Alt-Del twice and you will be able to log in as Administrator.
Then you can delete every user account in there and create your own.
If they did not give you that password, complain !! The solution is out there.![[morning]](/data/assets/smilies/morning.gif "[morning] [morning]")
If so, on booting , at the Welcome Screen, press CTR-Alt-Del twice and you will be able to log in as Administrator.
Then you can delete every user account in there and create your own.
If they did not give you that password, complain !! The solution is out there.
- Thread starter
- #3
Thank you Marcs41. Maybe I didn't give enough information. I AM the administrator. I have deleted the account in question in Users in Control Panel. The account still appears in Control Panel-System-Advanced-User Settings. MY account does not appear there. The ctrl-alt-del you suggested did nothing at all.
Hang on, you say you are the administrator?
Then what is your account name?
How do you log in on the welcome screen? What's the name you click on?
About the other thing:
Click Start - Log off
You should be on the Welcome screen. Again , press CTRL-ALT-DEL TWICE
You should get the win2000 login prompt. The solution is out there.
Then what is your account name?
How do you log in on the welcome screen? What's the name you click on?
About the other thing:
Click Start - Log off
You should be on the Welcome screen. Again , press CTRL-ALT-DEL TWICE
You should get the win2000 login prompt. The solution is out there.
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- #5
Type Control Userpasswords2 in the Start, Run Box and see if the resulting window offers you a way to remove this user.
Click to delete the selected user account. Deleting a user account prevents that user from logging on to the computer in the future.
Click to delete the selected user account. Deleting a user account prevents that user from logging on to the computer in the future.
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- #7
marcs41, doesn't that only work with Pro? To get to Administrator account with Home, you need to boot into safe mode.
deadass, (nice name) what marcs41 is saying is that there is a built-in account named Administrator. This is not the same as a username account with administrative priveleges. To remove the former user info: Start, Run, control userpasswords2, Advanced tab, Advanced button, double click the Users folder, right click on the user & delete. Don't delete any of the others listed - like Guest.
deadass, (nice name) what marcs41 is saying is that there is a built-in account named Administrator. This is not the same as a username account with administrative priveleges. To remove the former user info: Start, Run, control userpasswords2, Advanced tab, Advanced button, double click the Users folder, right click on the user & delete. Don't delete any of the others listed - like Guest.
- Thread starter
- #9
Wow. Linney I tried your suggestion and deleted the account "Bridget". Upon reboot I got a system error and a memory dump. Another reboot produced a file check, no errors found and another memory dump. After a couple more tries I booted up in safe mode. Unbelieveably "Bridget" came up as the default logon. Did a system restore and now all is as it was. When attempting to delete or rename this users directory under documents and setting I get a message stating that I am changing a system file and cannot go any further.
Thank you for your suggestion. Do you have any other ideas?
Thank you for your suggestion. Do you have any other ideas?
- Thread starter
- #11
smah
I went back and tried your suggestion. The advanced button reports that it only works with Pro not Home. However I unchecked the box requiring a password. The default logon is now administrator not Bridget.
Although Bridget does not appear in control panel-user accounts, it does appear in control panel-system-advanced-user profiles-settings. My account does NOT appear there nor did it appear in the run-control userpasswords2 routine you suggested. It IS in user accounts.
Thank you for your help.
I went back and tried your suggestion. The advanced button reports that it only works with Pro not Home. However I unchecked the box requiring a password. The default logon is now administrator not Bridget.
Although Bridget does not appear in control panel-user accounts, it does appear in control panel-system-advanced-user profiles-settings. My account does NOT appear there nor did it appear in the run-control userpasswords2 routine you suggested. It IS in user accounts.
Thank you for your help.
- Thread starter
- #13
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- #17
OK, now I'm sure of what's going on. You're still using the exact same XP account even though you've changed the logon name. That's why xp blows up when you deleted it - you're still using it.
You can either live with it or:
Boot into safe mode as Administrator.
Change the account name in Control Panel, Users to something else - bridget, oldname, deadass or whatever.
Create a new user account however you'd like.
Here's the part to be careful about. You can move the individual document files and important stuff to the new, correct account name with explorer. I don't have the info handy about copying over settings, passwords and all the other important stuff within the old account. And I probably won't have time to research it today, but it's out there somewhere. Maybe someone else will jump in.
Wait a week or so using your new correct account to make sure nothing important is still in the old account. Once you're satisfied that you've got everything moved to the new, correct account, you will be able to delete the old account from Control Panel without any trouble.
You can either live with it or:
Boot into safe mode as Administrator.
Change the account name in Control Panel, Users to something else - bridget, oldname, deadass or whatever.
Create a new user account however you'd like.
Here's the part to be careful about. You can move the individual document files and important stuff to the new, correct account name with explorer. I don't have the info handy about copying over settings, passwords and all the other important stuff within the old account. And I probably won't have time to research it today, but it's out there somewhere. Maybe someone else will jump in.
Wait a week or so using your new correct account to make sure nothing important is still in the old account. Once you're satisfied that you've got everything moved to the new, correct account, you will be able to delete the old account from Control Panel without any trouble.
- Thread starter
- #19
To resolve this issue, you must create a new user profile. To do this, follow these steps but leave out the last few steps about renaming it back to original name.
Error Message: Windows Cannot Load Your Profile Because It May Be Corrupted (Q318011)
Error Message: Windows Cannot Load Your Profile Because It May Be Corrupted (Q318011)
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