I came across another computer with an account issue, where the main account would not load. To add to the problem, the (Windows XP Home) User Account Control Panel module also had a problem loading. Luckily, I’ve been around long enough to that the Windows net handles much of the authentication of Windows via command line.
I had to restart in Safe Mode, and luckily the built-in Administrator account had no password. I logged in as Administrator, and inevitably added a new user like this:
net user
net localgroup administrators
Running this will show you the available users; and then the user status:
net user
net user
Everything worked as I wanted; I installed a few new applications such as Microsoft Security Essentials, and Google Chrome; and then updated the system to the latest security patches. It always amazes me how people don’t maintain these things. :/
Even though the old account did not work, I did not want to delete to avoid the possibility of information loss, and also the possibility of trying to access it and the inevitable phone call that follows “My computer does not work…”.
Although it’s not available in the gui of Windows XP Home Edition, you can disable an account via the command line like so:
net user