**Deleted Windows User Account Please Help**

[mcronix]

Hi

I've done a stupid thing by accident and its a long story but the reasons why this happened are irrelevant now and I just need help trying to rectify the problem.

Basically I have deleted my main windows user account which has a lot of important information on which I need (on desktop and my docs etc).

So basically I can't get to any of my files which I need as the path C:\Documents and Settings\xxxx still exists, but it says access is denied. I know they're on my hard drive as it is very full still but at the moment have no way of accessing them. Is there any way I can get to these files? I am running XP by the way.

I hope this is the right forum for this post. Some of these files are very important and I haven't recently backed them up. I have also realized that system restore is not enabled.

I hope there is an answer to this :(

Thanks

[Mike567]

You should still be able to login as administrator.

on the login window hit ctrl+alt+del this will bring up the login screen for typing a user name.

your password should be the one you used on your main acount (if i remember correctly), and with the account you can access any user files.

Other wise you could boot up dos or knoppix and copy the files to a removable drive.

[mcronix]

You should still be able to login as administrator.

on the login window hit ctrl+alt+del this will bring up the login screen for typing a user name.

your password should be the one you used on your main acount (if i remember correctly), and with the account you can access any user files.

Other wise you could boot up dos or knoppix and copy the files to a removable drive.

When I login as administrator (even in safe mode as someone else suggested) the path still says access denied. I'm pretty sure its the main account which was deleted. As for the second half of your post I'm afraid I wouldn't have a clue how to do that. Could you explain further please.

[Mike567]

well its like MSDos if you still have your XP cd you can boot into recovery mode allowing you to use command line to navigate through your files while using that you can copy your files to a external hard drive or something.

basically you use 2 commands really "cd" to navigate to the directory e.g "cd C:/documents/user/" then in their you can use xcopy (i think) like this, "xcopy file.doc F:\"

[mcronix]

well its like MSDos if you still have your XP cd you can boot into recovery mode allowing you to use command line to navigate through your files while using that you can copy your files to a external hard drive or something.

basically you use 2 commands really "cd" to navigate to the directory e.g "cd C:/documents/user/" then in their you can use xcopy (i think) like this, "xcopy file.doc F:\"

When I boot from CD it says I need a recovery floppy disk which I dont have.. :(

[Dencandy]

Hello mcronix. Microsoft tells us its impossible to delete the last Administrator account from within itself or from any other account. If you could Windows XP would be able to commit suicide. So there must be a live Admistrator Account in there somewhere.

When you get the login screen just type Administrator and your usual password, or if that doesn't work, no password at all.

By the why, from what you write mcronix it sounds like you've not deleted your usual Administrator account but have somehow made its Documents and Settings inaccessible to it. If you can get acces to the (normally hidden) main Administrator account you should be able reverse the changes you made that caused you this problem.

I'm sure Pat Willener and some of the other Subscribers & Admin people will be along shortly to give your more detailed advice.

Also, have you got Internet access? If so, go to the Microsoft Help & Support Centre and type in suitable words (like "lost password') in the search box which will also give you some advice.

[mcronix]

Hello mcronix. Microsoft tells us its impossible to delete the last Administrator account from within itself or from any other account. If you could Windows XP would be able to commit suicide. So there must be a live Admistrator Account in there somewhere.

When you get the login screen just type Administrator and your usual password, or if that doesn't work, no password at all.

By the why, from what you write mcronix it sounds like you've not deleted your usual Administrator account but have somehow made its Documents and Settings inaccessible to it. If you can get acces to the (normally hidden) main Administrator account you should be able reverse the changes you made that caused you this problem.

I'm sure Pat Willener and some of the other Subscribers & Admin people will be along shortly to give your more detailed advice.

Also, have you got Internet access? If so, go to the Microsoft Help & Support Centre and type in suitable words (like "lost password') in the search box which will also give you some advice.

Thanks for the reply.

OK I think it might help if I say how this happened..

Whilst in my main user (I only have one for this computer which I believe is also admin) a command prompt was opened and I think the command entered was

net users "username" /delete

I have gone into administrator by typing it in on sign in page (both in normal and safe modes) but it still says access denied. The folder (C:/docsandsettings/username) also says it contains 0 folders and 0 files. Are my files lost forever? :(

[Dencandy]

Sorry, mcronix, I have no experience of networks, so I don't know the full significance of what you did. But from what little I know you've merely stopped a NET USER from accessing the network. Have you tried undoing the instruction by typing /add instead of /delete?

[mcronix]

Sorry, mcronix, I have no experience of networks, so I don't know the full significance of what you did. But from what little I know you've merely stopped a NET USER from accessing the network. Have you tried undoing the instruction by typing /add instead of /delete?

Just tried and that doesnt work. says it already exists, maybe because I made a new one after other account was deleted?

[Seshomaru Samma]

to find out if your files still exist (and retrieve them if they do ) use Knoppix

go here , click on the British/American flag for English. Go to the download page, accept the licence agreement , download the this file: KNOPPIX_V3.7-2004-12-08-EN.iso

Burn it as an image to a CD with any burning software you have (the default XP burning wizard can't do it , you need something like Nero, you can use InfraRecorder which is free) .

Boot from the Knoppix CD, make sure to set the BIOS to boot from CD-ROM - To get into the BIOS settings, you usually have to press one of these keys during boot-up: Escape, F1, F2, F12, or Delete. Usually your computer will tell you which key to use.

Knoppix will allow you to browse the content of your hard disc using an application called konqueror (a bit like Windows' explorer) it also has a web browser (firefox) and many other utilities . Basically it's a whole operating system running on a CD. However because it is Linux based -it names the partition in a different way from Windows. The partition you are looking for, which Windows calls "C" , will probably appear as HDA1 or SDA1 (if you have a D partition it will appear as HDA2 or SDA2).

[mcronix]

Problem fixed. Thanks for all replies

[Dencandy]

Problem fixed. Thanks for all replies

But how did you fix it mcronix? It'll be of help to others.