I accidentally deleted my domain name (or user name ) from what I thought was the administrator account on my computer and have been having problems with this terrible OS (Windows XP Home Edition) ever since.After reading so many different forums and postings everywhere you can imagine, I am led to believe that the account was actually the built-in administrator account as Windows XP Home edition does not have an administrator account. Please correct me if I am wrong.Now I no longer have administrator access nor can I make any changes or install any programs and I am extremely frustrated.My account is now showing as a guest account although all my files are still available. Thank goodness the files were shared (at least that's what HP told me) not sure if I believe all they said.When I ran net user to list all users on my computer, there was NO administrator account listed. I see my guest account, another account I have on the system with limited access, and four other files that don't make sense. I also tried to access the account from Safe mode several times and still do not see it.This is the information that was gathered from the net user command: User shows my "guest account name"; Full name is blank; Comment shows "Built-in account for administering the computer/domain"; Account active, "yes"; Local group membership, "Administrators"; Global group membership, "none".So, I did a search on the Internet looking for more answers and came across a website that listed a probable solution (something new) because I assumed it was a registry issue (something else HP advised, in addition to the OS being corrupt, when trying to add the administrator account) , which involved my going to HKEY_Classes_Root to check permissions for each user and possibly add permission for my supposedly administrator and guest account. So, I went into the registry under HKEY_Classes_Root to check users listed and found the following Group or user names:1. Administrators ("my computer name"\Administrator)2. Creator Owner - None3. System4. User ("my computer name"\users).So I followed the instructions and when it came to the part to "Find Now" I clicked on the button to find user accounts on my computer and found the following:Adminstrator - "My Computer Name"Guest (shows Red X)Guests (network)Help Assistant (shows Red X)Helpservers (network service)HP_Owner (remote interactive logon)"My Guest User Name" (service)"Other user name" (system)and some other user information.....not relevant.Now I have a virus on the "other user name account" that I cannot remove nor can I run my antivirus program because of the Administrator issue. I also tried to backup my files online and cannot do that because I cannot install any programs due to....yes, the Administrator issue.Can someone please, please tell me what can be done to resolve this issue? I am at my wits end. I do not believe it requires my removing, repairing, and reinstalling my entire OS. There has got to be solution to this problem. And I do hope it's not the same answers I keep reading in so many forums that seem to give the same answer over and over. I also apologize if I sound a little rude, but I am so very frustrated with this XP thing. I have had several computers and different OS systems, of which I have NEVER had any problems, but this XP thing is by far the worst I have ever seen in the history of my experiences with many computers.PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!joaynn 2 people need an answerI do too

I understand your frustration. However, one of the most difficult parts of trying to provide tech support through a forum like this (or by email or even telephone) is accurately communicating between the person with the problem and the person trying to help. Although your post is long, it raises more questions than it provides information.For example:I am led to believe that the account was actually the built-in administrator account as Windows XP Home edition does not have an administrator account. Please correct me if I am wrong.Windows XP Home indeed DOES have a built-in Administrator account, but by default this is accessible only in Safe Mode. Somehow, you have managed to (a) rename this account to whatever you mean by <my "guest account name">, (b) make it accessible in normal mode, (c) leave it in the Administrator group, but (d) remove administrative privileges from the account.Also, I don't know where under <HKEY_Classes_Root> you looked. As far as I can tell, there's nothing there about user permissions. What website had the instructions that you followed?I suspect that the root cause of your problem may well be "the" virus (there may be more than one) that has infected your computer, rather than anything you did with respect to your user account. If you are able, I suggest running each of the following free applications:Malwarebytes Anti-Malware: malwarebytes.org [update after installation]SUPERAntiSpyware: superantispyware.com [update after installation or use theportable version , which doesn't need installation]Multi-AV -- Instructions here:http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/01/09/scan-your-computer-with-multiple-anti-virus-for-free/Although you are probably correct that reinstalling Windows is not necessary, that is the solution that many remote support people (including those in forums like this one) fall back on when they can't figure out what's going on. At this point, your best option would be to take your computer to a compentent local professional (not a BigComputerStore/geeksquad type of place) and let someone actually look at it. Tell them you do not want to reinstall Windows. Ask them if they can do a "repair install" instead (although this may not fix things in the event of a severe virus infection). The difference between a repair install and a "clean install" or "restore to factory settings" is that the latter two options delete all your data and all of the applications that you installed since you bought the computer. A repair install -- if it works as intended -- preserves both data and applications. But it's always a good idea to back up data before doing anything like this.

LemP excerpt post:For example:I am led to believe that the account was actually the built-in administrator account as Windows XP Home edition does not have an administrator account. Please correct me if I am wrong.Windows XP Home indeed DOES have a built-in Administrator account, but by default this is accessible only in Safe Mode. Somehow, you have managed to (a) rename this account to whatever you mean by <my "guest account name">, (b) make it accessible in normal mode, (c) leave it in the Administrator group, but (d) remove administrative privileges from the account.________________________________________________________________________________________Joaynn posted:Thank you for the reply. First, I would like to apologize "again" for the long post, the level of frustration I exhibited when submitting my request for assistance, and as you put it, "raised more questions than information provided". Secondly, I came back to the forum to report that I seem to have resolved the issue.:-)Under the suggestion of my sister's friend who works with computers, I was advised to go back into safe mode to access the built-in Administrator account. So I didwith some resistance. Upon doing this, I immediately realized the Administrator account was set up similarly just as you described above: · Had been renamed (by me, of course) with the same exact user name of my "guest account"; each with a different password· Accessible only in normal mode· Not sure what you mean here,(c) leave it in the Administrator group, but (d) remove administrative privileges from the account (Hopefully I can get some clarification on this)What I do know is there are two accounts on my system with the same user name with two different passwords and I still don't know how it happened. Side note: The reason I called it a "guest account" is because this is what I saw after I accidentally erased the Administrator user name when I looked for the account in the Control Panel, User Accounts. And technically,this is how my problem started. So, after talking with the guy, I entered a password I sort of remembered I had assigned to the account some years ago and was able to access the Administrator account in Safe Mode; Proceeded to do a system restore and now I have regained access to Administrative privileges with my computer. Thank you again for your response. One thing I have learned in all of this: "BACK UP MY FILES" to avoid any other problems in the future.

Excellent! Glad you got things sorted out.