I want a second user account with admin privileges so I can get access to the system 
if my regular account with admin privileges gets clobbered.  I don't want this account, 
which I will probably never need to use, cluttering up the logon screen and further 
confusing my already confused brain.

With XP pro, this is easier than falling off a log.  It's called the Administrator 
account and it exists right out of the box.  I guess XP home has the equivalent, 
involving safe mode perhaps.

I can't figure out how to do this with Win7.  Maybe it involves safe mode?  I realize 
I can enable the Administrator account, but then it appears on the logon screen. 
 I figure there are good reasons not to enable the Administrator account anyway.

Tip: Run a free scan for common Windows errors ad

re: Hide user account? Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 10:14 am Posted by Ilya1 (4 messages posted) Read this article http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/09/hide-user-accounts-from-windows-xp.html On Friday, July 17, 2009 at 7:07 am, Steve B wrote: >I want a second user account with admin privileges so I can get access to the system >if my regular account with admin privileges gets clobbered. I don't want this account, >which I will probably never need to use, cluttering up the logon screen and further >confusing my already confused brain. > >With XP pro, this is easier than falling off a log. It's called the Administrator >account and it exists right out of the box. I guess XP home has the equivalent, >involving safe mode perhaps. > >I can't figure out how to do this with Win7. Maybe it involves safe mode? I realize >I can enable the Administrator account, but then it appears on the logon screen. > I figure there are good reasons not to enable the Administrator account anyway. http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/09/hide-user-accounts-from-windows-xp.html http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/09/hide-user-accounts-from-windows-xp.html [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 2:59 pm Posted by Ilya1 (4 messages posted) Just create new key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList create new DWORD (32-bit) parametr - the name matches the users name exactly. The value is one of the following (Decimal format) 0 - hides the user just from the welcome screen 1 - the user is shown [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 5:16 pm Posted by Steve B (1909 messages posted) But how do I access the hidden accounts? On XP Pro, hitting ctrl-alt-del at the logon screen gets me the "standard logon screen". It does nothing on Windows 7. Maybe after I have a hidden acount, the ctrl-alt-del will work on windows 7? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 2:46 am Posted by Ilya1 (4 messages posted) You can get classic logon screen. *Press start *Type: local security policy *Press enter *Expand local policies *Click Security Options *Double-click "Interactive Login: Do not display last user name" *Check Enabled *Click OK I read this here [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 3:06 am Posted by Ilya1 (4 messages posted) You can also create two *.reg files File HideUser.reg [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList "user"=dword:0000000 File ShowUser.reg [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList "user"=dword:0000001 [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Monday, July 20, 2009 at 9:05 am Posted by Steve B (1909 messages posted) Ilya1, your suggestion is a good one for hiding an account. But it doesn't help my situation. I tried it out and found that when hidden, the account was essentially disabled and worthless. I couldn't log on to it, because the ctrl-alt-del does nothing. When running as a non-admin, I couldn't use it's password to elevate my authority. I was only given the opportunity to use my regular admin acccount password. This surprised me, but that's what I found. So I'm back to square one. If my regular admin account gets hosed, I'm up the creek. And so are you. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Monday, July 20, 2009 at 9:27 am Posted by Steve B (1909 messages posted) If I understand the way the classic logon screen works with Win7, I lose the regular logon screen, so I would have to enter username and password every time I log on. That would be a pain. I'd rather just have my second admin account appear on the regular logon screen. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 9:56 pm Posted by NigelHH (1324 messages posted) This is a potential problem they seemed to have almost ignored with Vista. I have looked and looked and, unless in safe mode or classic logon, there is no way to logon to an account not on the Welcome screen. Looks like Windows 7 is the same. I have even seen claims the the original double Ctrl-Alt-Delete in XP was kludge: "a fallback just in case there turned out to be some important logon scenario that the new Welcome screen failed to cover, but which the designers had failed to take into account by simple oversight. Scenarios such as smartcard or fingerprint logon." I think the only way to logon as Administrator is through safe mode - which is enough if you need to fix a corrupt profile, I guess... [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Friday, July 24, 2009 at 5:57 am Posted by Steve B (1909 messages posted) Yes, I miss XP's ace in the hole, namely the Administrator account. You say you can log on to Administrator via safe mode. I'm not so sure. I could be wrong, but I think that only works if all the other admin accounts have their disabled bit turned on, or some other thing like that. I'm concerned about my admin account getting clobbered. Maybe the password gets clobbered. I don't think Win7 is smart enough to figure that out and allow safemode login to Administrator. I think I will create a second admin account that will be hidden from the logon screen, but will be usable by a non-admin account to run programs using the "Run as different user". Ilya1 explained to me how to run regedit this way, so I can unhide the second admin account. For whatever reason, we communicated via PM, so you won't see the posts here. You may know this already, hold down the shift key and right click on an .exe file. In this case it would be the System32\regedit32.exe file. It seems a bit Rube Goldbergesque to me, but it works. I guess Microsoft thinks it would be extremely rare to have the admin account get clobbered, or maybe Microsoft just doesn't think. :) Anyway, I feel naked and exposed running with just one account that can give me admin access. I was a Boy Scout and my motto is "Be Prepared". :) When I figure out how to do an unattended install of Win7, I will have it generate the second admin account along with the usual ones. On Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 9:56 pm, NigelHH wrote: >This is a potential problem they seemed to have almost ignored with Vista. I have >looked and looked and, unless in safe mode or classic logon, there is no way to logon >to an account not on the Welcome screen. Looks like Windows 7 is the same. > >>I think the only way to logon as Administrator is through safe mode - which is enough >if you need to fix a corrupt profile, I guess... [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Friday, July 24, 2009 at 6:08 pm Posted by NigelHH (1324 messages posted) I tried safe mode and found I was misinformed. It just shows the usual accounts on the welcome screen. Looks like the idea of two accounts is good, but probably even better is regular backup using Automated System Recovery or other backup apps. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 6:08 am Posted by Steve B (1909 messages posted) Yes, I think you would find if you disable all admin accounts, the Administrator account would appear on the logon screen. I wouldn't try it though, unless you are prepared to re-install, if it shouldn't work. I guess system restore is most people's ace in the hole. I've never used it, and I probably won't use it. It's just my style. I keep my important data on a different partition from the OS installation partition, and I back up my important data periodically. I'm not very concerned about the OS getting clobbered. I can always re-install it. I just think it is foolish to make it depend on only one admin account. Actually, I have two hard drives in my computers and I have at least one install of the OS on each one, so it would be very unlikely that I couldn't boot up one of them. But again, I want an alternate admin account, just in case. It's sort of like carrying a spare tire in the trunk of my car. On Friday, July 24, 2009 at 6:08 pm, NigelHH wrote: >I tried safe mode and found I was misinformed. It just shows the usual accounts on >the welcome screen. > >Looks like the idea of two accounts is good, but probably even better is regular >backup using Automated System Recovery or other backup apps. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 6:25 am Posted by Steve B (1909 messages posted) To be clearer, I should have said "if you disable all admin accounts, and boot up in safe mode........" [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Hide user account? Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 3:04 am Posted by Izomiac (1 messages posted) Sorry for bumping this topic, but it shows up high enough on Google that I found it and managed to use it to lock myself out of my admin account. It's a quick fix if you know what to do, but I'm doubtful that most would. My goal was to activate the Administrator account ("net user Administrator /active:yes"), demote my primary account to a "Standard User", then hide the Administrator user from the Welcome Screen. Using the registry edit above worked for the latter with one critical side effect... it also hid the user from UAC. So I was left with a standard user and no administrator account to elevate to (UAC "Ok" button disabled). I didn't try safe mode, but the fix is easy enough otherwise. Boot from the Windows install DVD and use the repair option (the Administrator account will work for this), then select the command prompt. Type "regedit" and select the HKLM key. Go to File->Load Hive, type a name, and select your boot drive's \Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE registry hive. From there, fix the registry edit, unload the hive, and reboot. On Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 6:25 am, Steve B wrote: >To be clearer, I should have said "if you disable all admin accounts, and boot up >in safe mode........" > [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows 7 Discussion Forum