Hello, I have Windows 7 Starter SP1. I have previously successfully enabled and then logged on, to the built-in administrator account, and then when I had finished using it, disabled it again. Unfortunately today, I found that when I enabled the built-in administrator account, it no longer appears on the Welcome screen. I went through the process of enabling it by doing: Start/Search "CMD"/right-click CMD/Run as administrator. net user administrator active:yes It confirms: "The command completed successfully." However, when I log off and log back on (or do shut down and restart), the Welcome screen does not display any option for the Built-in Administrator account. I have also tried doing the above in Safe mode, and also using Command Prompt from a Rescue disk. As background information: The reason why I wanted to access this account today, was because I attempted to defrag a partition listed as "(1% fragmented)" and after Defrag appeared to complete while at "Pass 2", the partition is still shown as 1% fragmented. I would appreciate advice how to resolve the issue with the built-in administrator account. Regards, Robert339

See if this link is helpful? http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-security/how-to-make-windows-7-show-user-list-on-login/63cea659-f6a0-412d-a0b1-952a26c1df44 Robert Mann MCSE, MCSA, HP ASE

Hello RobertMann, Thank you for your response. The link you provided has 2 solutions offered, both of which are for issues that I believe do not match the one that I have posted here. The first solution offered at that link does not match my issue and would involve the risk of editing a key in the Registry. The second solution offered there, is wrong. It purports to cause all accounts to be displayed on the Welcome screen, but instead it results in the Welcome screen not even being displayed. I would welcome a solution to the issue I have posted. Regards, Robert 339

Hi, To fix the issue, I think you need to modify the registry. Here is the details information: 1. When booting computer, please keep pressing F8 to enter Advanced startup options. 2. Select Repair Your Computer to enter System Recovery Options. 3. Open Command Prompt, type regedit to open registry edit. 4. Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then click File -> Load Hive -> it will open C:\Windows\System32, then select config folder and select SOFTWARE file to load. 5. Once load the software hive, we need to give it a unique name. For example, RegFix for obvious reasons. 6. After that, the RegFix key will display under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Then Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\RegFix\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon 7. Under Winlogon key, if you find any sub-key named SpecialAccounts, please delete the sub-key. If anything is unclear, please feel free to let me know.Niki Han TechNet Community Support

Hi, To fix the issue, I think you need to modify the registry. Here is the details information: 1. When booting computer, please keep pressing F8 to enter Advanced startup options. 2. Select Repair Your Computer to enter System Recovery Options. 3. Open Command Prompt, type regedit to open registry edit. 4. Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then click File -> Load Hive -> it will open C:\Windows\System32, then select config folder and select SOFTWARE file to load. 5. Once load the software hive, we need to give it a unique name. For example, RegFix for obvious reasons. 6. After that, the RegFix key will display under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Then Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\RegFix\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon 7. Under Winlogon key, if you find any sub-key named SpecialAccounts, please delete the sub-key. If anything is unclear, please feel free to let me know.Niki Han TechNet Community Support

Hello Niki Han, Thank you for your response. I have not yet had an opportunity to look into what you have written but wish to thank you for that information. Meanwhile, I would like to discuss the possible cause for this issue. I know the date when I last successfully accessed the built-in Administrator account, which was April 18, 2012. Since I was last able to use that account on April 18, 2012, I have made no changes to the system other than install all Important Microsoft Updates through Windows Update. A full scan with Windows Defender finds no threats. A full scan with Avast finds no threats. I beleive Microsoft may wish to ensure that this issue has not been caused by any of the following 30 updates. If it has been caused by one of these updates, then Microsoft should consider issuing a further update to correct this. - - - Extract from Windows Update History for period April 18, 2012 and the date I noticed this issue of May 18, 2012, Starts: - - - - Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.125.1635.0) Installation date: 13/05/2012 19:31 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft Silverlight (KB2636927) Installation date: 10/05/2012 15:44 - - - - Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - May 2012 (KB890830) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:51 - - - - Update Rollup for ActiveX Killbits for Windows 7 (KB2695962) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:45 - - - - Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.125.1373.0) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:45 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft Silverlight (KB2690729) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:45 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 suites (KB2596880) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:33 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (KB2597161) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:32 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft Office Word 2007 (KB2596917) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:31 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 suites (KB2596672) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:31 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 suites (KB2597969) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:29 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 suites (KB2597162) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:28 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft Office 2007 suites (KB2596792) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:27 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1 on Windows 7 SP1 x86 (KB2604115) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:16 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008 x86 (KB2656405) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:16 - - - - Security Update for Windows 7 (KB2688338) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:12 - - - - Security Update for Windows 7 (KB2660649) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:12 - - - - Security Update for Windows 7 (KB2659262) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:11 - - - - Security Update for Windows 7 (KB2676562) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:11 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1 on Windows 7 SP1 x86 (KB2656411) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:11 - - - - Security Update for Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008 x86 (KB2604121) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:11 - - - - Security Update for Windows 7 (KB2690533) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:04 - - - - Security Update for Windows 7 (KB2658846) Installation date: 09/05/2012 22:04 - - - - Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.125.1137.0) Installation date: 06/05/2012 14:54 - - - - Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.125.1090.0) Installation date: 03/05/2012 23:48 - - - - Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.125.886.0) Installation date: 02/05/2012 15:09 - - - - Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.125.655.0) Installation date: 28/04/2012 23:55 - - - - Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.125.402.0) Installation date: 25/04/2012 01:08 - - - - Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.125.146.0) Installation date: 20/04/2012 16:10 - - - - Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.123.1936.0) Installation date: 18/04/2012 15:55 - - - - - - - - End of Extract from Windows Update History - - - -

Hello Niki Han, Thank you for your instructions which I have since tried. I have tried your instructions, and also with the alteration of trying them from a System Repair Disk Command Prompt. Unfortunately, for both attempts, at the end of Step 5, I get the following message: "Load Hive Cannot Load X:\Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process." Regards, Robert339

Robert, I noticed an error in your initial post. Specifically, in your post you said: <<I went through the process of enabling it by doing: Start/Search "CMD"/right-click CMD/Run as administrator. net user administrator active:yes It confirms: "The command completed successfully.">> You should confirm that you actually logged on to the administrative command prompt with an account that has administrator credentials. Second, the correct command line command is: Net user administrator /active:yes Do not omit the backward slash '/'. If either of the above conditions were not met I don't know why you would get a message that the command completed successfully and yet the account is not accessible. But command prompt messages can on occasion communicate less than we think they do -- in other words, commnicating that the command itself was successful, even if the command didn't accomplish what we set out to do. Good luck.

Hello RolandW-MS, Thank you for your response. The account was an administrator status account. (In any event by default, UAC prompts for credentials for standard accounts.) Your second query is important. I certainly intended to use the correct syntax, as I have done previously, but I cannot now recall if I included the "forward slash" (it is a forward slash for Switches), or not. Therefore the thing to do, would of course be to try again making certain that the whole command is correctly input. Unfortunately, the machine is currently out-of-action because a faulty power adapter has damaged the machine's power supply. I'm currently using a different machine. I shall try again, if the cost of repair is worth getting the machine running again. Meanwhile, it would be best if my message (regarding the possibility of updates having caused this), be ignored. Regards, Robert339

Hi Robert339, I notice you load hive in X:\Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE. Please try to load in C:\Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE for a test. X drive is in memory, not your system drive.Niki Han TechNet Community Support