Lost User Account on Upgrade Installing and Upgrading Vista Discuss Lost User Account on Upgrade in the Windows Vista forums; Yesterday I upgraded from WinXP to Vista Ultimate. It went relatively well -- a few minor hiccups but... the one problem I have is that it seems to have lost my ...

[linco]

Yesterday I upgraded from WinXP to Vista Ultimate. It went relatively well -- a few minor hiccups but...
the one problem I have is that it seems to have lost my User Account. It gives me a fresh 'Administrator' account with no settings. My previous User Account, called 'Linco' is still on the machine in a directory called Users, but it does not show up as an Account that can be logged on to. I tried to create a new account called 'Linco' hoping that it would use that directory but I get an error message saying that it can't create that account because the name contains foreign characters (it doesn't). Then, I created a new account called 'Linm' and then renamed it to 'Linco'. I log on using 'Linco' but all of it's settings are stored in the directory called 'Linm".

I can see the user Account Linco in Computer Management/Users and it looks like a normal User Account.

So, how do I get my old account with all of my settings back? Do I just drag and drop everything into a new Account or ??

Lin

[Snuffy]

Every body by DEFAULT is a Standard User... Even if your the Admin.. there are at least two ways to defeat this: 1. leave the original user there, then switch user --> log as ADMIN. --- that means you do not have to bother with the UAC... 2. Turn of the UAC...(not recommended)

[linco]

Thank you, but that didn't really address my problem. The Account is still there, and it is an Administrator Account, however, it does not appear on the LogIn page so I cannot use it! I want to get all of the settings that are stored in that Account so that I can use them again!

[Snuffy]

Have you tried to TaKE OWNER of that Dir/files. so that you the Admin of Vista own the old XP Dir/files
ORB -> cmd - right click "run as admin"

TAKEOWN [/S system [/U username [/P [password]]]]
/F filename [/A] [/R [/D prompt]]

Description:
This tool allows an administrator to recover access to a file that
was denied by re-assigning file ownership.

Parameter List:
/S system Specifies the remote system to
connect to.

/U [domain\]user Specifies the user context under
which the command should execute.

/P [password] Specifies the password for the
given user context.
Prompts for input if omitted.

/F filename Specifies the filename or directory
name pattern. Wildcard "*" can be used
to specify the pattern. Allows
sharename\filename.

/A Gives ownership to the administrators
group instead of the current user.

/R Recurse: instructs tool to operate on
files in specified directory and all
subdirectories.

/D prompt Default answer used when the current user
does not have the "list folder" permission
on a directory. This occurs while operating
recursively (/R) on sub-directories. Valid
values "Y" to take ownership or "N" to skip.

/? Displays this help message.

NOTE: 1) If /A is not specified, file ownership will be given to the
current logged on user.

2) Mixed patterns using "?" and "*" are not supported.

3) /D is used to suppress the confirmation prompt.

Examples:
TAKEOWN /?
TAKEOWN /F lostfile
TAKEOWN /F \\system\share\lostfile /A
TAKEOWN /F directory /R /D N
TAKEOWN /F directory /R /A
TAKEOWN /F *
TAKEOWN /F C:\Windows\System32\acme.exe
TAKEOWN /F %windir%\*.txt
TAKEOWN /S system /F MyShare\Acme*.doc
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /F MyShare\foo.dll
TAKEOWN /S system /U domain\user /P password /F share\filename
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /P password /F Doc\Report.doc /A
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /P password /F Myshare\*
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /P password /F Home\Logon /R
TAKEOWN /S system /U user /P password /F Myshare\directory /R /A

[linco]

Originally Posted by Snuffy

Have you tried to TaKE OWNER of that Dir/files. so that you the Admin of Vista own the old XP Dir/files
ORB -> cmd - right click "run as admin"

TAKEOWN [/S system [/U username [/P [password]]]]
/F filename [/A] [/R [/D prompt]]

/A

OK, sorry for sounding dumb, but how do I do this? What does ORB mean?
Thanks,
Lin

[Snuffy]

Originally Posted by linco

OK, sorry for sounding dumb, but how do I do this? What does ORB mean?
Thanks,
Lin

The ORB is the little circle in the lower left hand corner... with the Windows insignia...when you place your mouse over the ORB it says "START".
The rest of the commands are DOS.. and to me the easiest way to take ownership of any file or directory... : A Sample.

To take ownership.:

1. Start/Run and type cmd
2. Type cd\
3. Type cd windows\system32
4. As a user, Run this command,
takeown /f Spoolsv.exe

This has given you ownership of the file. Enter the System32 directory via Windows Explorer and right click the file.
Go to the Properties/Security Tab and edit/add an entry for everyone and give them all full access. (tick all the squares).
You will find you can now delete the file.

[linco]

I got an error message saying: "The current User does not have ownership privileges on the file Spoolsv.exe."

This is really frustrating! I'm just trying to get all my settings back! I might as well have done a clean install and started from scratch as I don't have any of my settings from WinXP.

Lin

[linco]

Snuffy;
Is it possible that it is 'hiding' that account? Linco was my default account in WinXP. I had it set to automatically LogOn to that Account and not to show it on the LogIn screen (using TweakUI). Is it possible that during the Upgrade, it migrated the account and settings but somehow kept the "Do not show on LogIn" setting? The account seemsto be there but I just can't use it!

Lin

[Snuffy]

1. No you do not have ownership of the file spoolsv.exe that is why i showed you how to take ownership... There is more than one way to take ownership...
2. It is possible that once hidden it will remain hidden...
Now to find hidden is really easy... example.
d:\allmystuff\important\porn is where you have your porn files hidden.. but only ]porn is hidden everything else is in view...
change to d:\allmystuff\important You will not see porn. (it is hidden)
click in the http file it will turn blue... then you add manually \porn enter
you are now in "d:\allmystuff\important\porn " and you can see all your porn pic. unless you hid all of them... Now mom can not see them unless you tell her the link to d:\allmystuff\important\"hidden" porn
or you can simply open control panel, tools, view, then click show all hidden files and save then back out... off course now your mother can see you have "porn photos or movies" ..

I have mothers call me and simply say... take all the smutt/porn out of his computer... Saying I know he has that nasty stuff somewhere. then pay me to remove it..

or again you can ORB -> cmd (run as admin) then type "d:\allmystuff\important\porn -h " which will also remove the hidden attribute.
Using the "cmd" function is detailed in "How to use DOS" .
Oh, you were told there was "NO DOS IN VISTA..."