Hi I have about 30 Vista PCs that are experiencing the same problem. The domain controller has crashed and was restored from backup, but the backup was too old and didn't recover the trust relationships. Now I want to remove these computers from the domain. They each have a local user account called User with no password, but this account is not an Administrator. The Administrator account is disabled as per Vista default. How do I enable the Administrator account without being able to log on as an Administrator? Obviously, I can't log in with the domain administrator because the trust relationship is broken. I have tried loading the SAM registry hive offline (using WinRE), but can't seem to find the enabled flag in the Administrator account because I don't clearly understand the F and V entries. Can someone perhaps explain this to me? I've searched all over but can't find any information on this. Alternatively, is there any way I can access these PCs? Regards root.daemon

Hi There is a procedure that you can use to enable the built-in Administrator account using WinRE. Go to the following website. What do I do: I can no longer log in or elevate to an administrator account: http://www.jimmah.com/vista/content.aspx?id=7 Scroll down to option 3. This is a procedure that you can use from the Repair options on the Vista disk. This is a simple procedure, if you are already familiar with working with the registry hives. Completing this procedure willenable the built-in Administrator account and make it visible on the login screen. This account does not have a password associated with it, by default. Let me know if you need more information. If this post helps to resolve your issue, click the Mark as Answer button at the top of this message. Ronnie Vernon Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience

Thank you. This helped me out as well. I had been looking for how to create or accessanother account on a standalone, single-user computer which had a corrupted profile.

HiGlad you were able to use this procedure to recover.Enjoy. Ronnie Vernon Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience