Vista - Administration lock out...

Upon booting up Vista (HP) insted of going to opening Users page my computer
now takes me to a page that asks me to press the Ctrl, Alt and Delete
buttons. After this, it then asks me to enter my administrators name. But
worst of all, from here it will not allow me onto the opening desktop page.
It keeps telling me that my administrators name(s) and passwords are
incorrect - which they are 100% not - before asking me again for the correct
name. Sometimes it trys to open up and says 'welcome' as if it is normally
opening up but then it returns to the Ctrl, Alt and Delete page. I've tried
F8 memory reinstalation - nothing. Anybody any ideas... please.

Phil

This is strange. Unlike Windows XP, the CTRL+ALT+DEL at the login screen is
disabled in Vista. In Vista Home Premium, it takes specific changes in the
registry to enable this option at login.

Reboot and press CTRL+ALT+DEL when you are prompted. In the login box, type
Administrator for the user name, leave the password box empty and press
Enter. If everything is working properly, this should log you on with the
Built-in Administrator account. Does this work?

If not we need more information.

You said F8 doesn't work. Does this mean that you cannot login in Safe Mode?
Was this version of Vista pre-installed on the system when you purchased it?
If not, do you have an Installation Disk for Vista?


--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"Phil Aces" <PhilAces@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:47DBBA2E-67EC-4777-B176-236F139F2992@xxxxxx

Thanks for the advice.... the story now

"Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:
Secondly, once logged in, of the TWO user accounts that were set up I am
only able to access ONE. This is to say that I am unble to switch between the
Two accounts that were set up - the switch user function doesn't work.
Perplexing. Furthermore, I have been unable to set up any other user
accounts. (I should say I have but I am unable to access them)

As for the other points you raised... Using F8 does work in that it brings
me to the CTRL+ALT+DEL at the login screen. Yes Vista was pre installed.

The question for me seems to be - how do I disable going to the
CTRL+ALT+DEL login screen? Then I might be able to get to my original user
account.

Phil

We can likely fix this by changing a couple of registry keys, but first, I
need some more information.

After you press CTRL+ALT+DEL at the log in screen, do you see a box where
you have to enter an account name as well as a password or do you see the
picture with your account name??

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"Phil Aces" <PhilAces@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news377D8FE-F277-46FB-BFBE-A1DCEA931E99@xxxxxx

"Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:
Ronnie.

Yes I do see a like a large plain box and then two smaller boxes where you
have to enter an account name as well as a password.
I hope that helps.
Phil

"Phil Aces" <PhilAces@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B63071BC-2F21-43C0-A865-F1FD701E7A1E@xxxxxxPhil

OK, I neeeded that information just make sure that it was behaving as
expected. Here is a procedure that you can perform to get back to the
default behavior. I will include the instructions for making a backup of the
registry keys that you will be changing.

Go to Start and type regedt32.exe In the results, right click
regedit32.exe and select the Run As Administrator option.

Navigate to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Before you do anything else, you want to backup this registry key in case
something goes wrong. With the "System" key selected, go to File/Export. In
the Save dialog box, Select the Desktop in the 'Save In' line. In the 'File
Name' box, type: CAD and click the Save Button. This will save a backup of
the registry key to your Desktop as CAD.reg.

In the right side window, Double click the following value: DisableCAD
In the Value Data box, change the value to a 1 (one) and click OK.

Next, double click the following value: DontDisplayLastUserName Change the
value data for this value to 0 (zero) and click OK.

Exit the registry editor and reboot the computer.

This should get rid of the CTRL+ALT+DEL and the login box at start up.

Let me know the results.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

Hi Ronnie...

I've saved a backup of the CAD. successfully.

A slight problem.... Once I've followed the path and reach \System... in the
right side window there is no value: DisableCAD. (As far as I can see!)

What there is in amongst the other values are:

disable lockworkstation...
disable statusmessages...
undockwithoutlogon...
validateadmincodesignitures...

I have found the value.... DontDisplayLastUsreName...

"Phil Aces" wrote:
I've found DisableCAD... (used the 'find...' command). I've now done
everything you have said and haypresto everything is back to normal...
except...
I clicked on my desktop icon expecting to find all of my old setting and....
nothing. And I mean nothing... A blank black screen looks back at me. The
only thing present is the windows start up logo is still in the corner. When
I press on this only 3 options come in to view.
If I click on the dest top I am unable to bring up any instructions for
personnalising the way the decktop looks and soforth... I can access the
internet throught the button on my keyboard... but when I come to close the
internet the computer tells me that this procedure can only be performed by
the administrator.... but this account - my account - is the original
administration account. Gauling. This computer is new and has never had any
bugs or viruses - I thank Windows One care for this - I just can not get my
head around this.

"Phil Aces" <PhilAces@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:04588FD7-AAC3-472D-ACF7-1BAC7BD1C17A@xxxxxxPhil

It's apparent that something is happening that is way beyond normal,
expected behavior.

You might want to run the System File Checker utility to make sure that all
of the system files are intact.

Go to Start and type: cmd.exe In the results, right click the cmd.exe
and select the Run As Administrator option. In the command window, type:
SFC /SCANNOW and press Enter.

This will take awhile to run so be patient.

After it is complete, exit everything and reboot the computer.

If no joy with this, go to Administrative Tools and select the Event Viewer.
Look at Custom Views/Administrative Events and also Windows
Logs/Applications for any red error messages that have a current date and
time. If you find any, double click the error and select the Copy Button at
the bottom/left. Paste the results back here, in a reply.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User