Malke;1157684 Wrote:
yopumpkinhead wrote:
OK, I don't know why you aren't seeing your user account under
C:\Users.
However, you don't have your machine set up in the best way for Vista.
It is
never best practice to run as "root" ("Administrator" in the Windows
world).
Although this was of course also true with XP, from a practical
standpoint
it wasn't workable since so many programs designed for that operating
system
didn't understand the necessity of running under a Standard user. In
Vista,
you can run as Standard and should.

You particularly don't want only one user account with administrative
privileges on Vista because the built-in Administrator account
(normally
only used in emergencies) is disabled by default. If you're running as
Administrator for your daily work and that account gets corrupted,
things
will be Difficult. It isn't impossible to activate the built-in
Administrator
to rescue things, but it will require third-party tools and working
outside
the operating system.

The user account that is for your daily work should be a Standard user,
with
the extra administrative user (call it something like "CompAdmin" or
"Tech"
or the like) only there for elevation purposes. After you create
"CompAdmin", log into it and change your regular user account to
Standard.
Then log back into your regular account.

If you want to go directly to the Desktop and skip the Welcome Screen
with
the icons of user accounts, you can do this:

Start OrbSearch boxtype: netplwiz [enter]
Click on Continue (or supply an administrator's password) when prompted
by
UAC

Uncheck the option "Users must enter a user name and password to use
this
computer". Select a user account to automatically log on by clicking on
the
desired account to highlight it and then hit OK. Enter the correct
password
for that user account (if there is one) when prompted. Leave it blank
if
there is no password (null).

So go ahead and make the above changes and see what shows up under
C:\Users
now.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
'index' (http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ)

Heh, I know it's bad policy to run as Admin all the time... I had set
up Vista using almost all default settings, and didn't realize this made
my personal user account the default Admin until it was too late. I'd
meant to go back and fix it but hadn't got around to it yet. (Also, I
take it that this is not normal Vista behaviour? I was sort of hoping
that it would be a dumb question and my User folder isn't supposed to
show up, but ah well - all the more reason to upgrade to Windows 7 ASAP,
I suppose....)

I created a separate Admin account and turned off the welcome screen,
as you recommended. Out of curiosity, I tried naming the new account
"Administrator", and it told me that there is already an account named
"Administrator." I don't know if it's referencing the hidden, built-in
Admin account you mentioned, or if Vista decided to make the default
Admin account *my* account, and just changed the display name when I
went through Setup.

After adding the new Admin account, it shows up in C:\Users, but my
personal Username folder still does not. So, my current C:\Users has
Default, Public, and now Admin... but is still missing my normal
account.

If Setup did, in fact, rename the built-in Administrator account to my
personal account, is it possible to move all my documents and settings
to a new, non-Admin account, and restore the built-in account to its
proper status? If I have to, since the computer's only a week old, I can
restore everything to factory defaults and start over, but I'd rather
not as setting it up the first time was frustrating enough....


--
yopumpkinhead

yopumpkinhead wrote:


I created a separate Admin account and turned off the welcome screen,
as you recommended. Out of curiosity, I tried naming the new account
"Administrator", and it told me that there is already an account named
"Administrator." I don't know if it's referencing the hidden, built-in
Admin account you mentioned, or if Vista decided to make the default
Admin account *my* account, and just changed the display name when I
went through Setup.

You cannot name a user account "Administrator" because there is already a
built-in Administrator account. This is account is disabled for security
purposes but it exists.

After adding the new Admin account, it shows up in C:\Users, but my
personal Username folder still does not. So, my current C:\Users has
Default, Public, and now Admin... but is still missing my normal
account.

The only reason I can think for this happening is if you named your normal
account something that included forbidden characters or the name itself was
the same as some other system folder. Or perhaps you named your user account
the same thing as your computer - never a good idea. If you did this last
bit, then just change the name of the computer to something else from
Control PanelSystemComputer Name. Computer names should be shortish and
not include spaces or any punctuation characters.

I'm just reaching here because I've never seen this behavior on any of my
clients' machines.

If Setup did, in fact, rename the built-in Administrator account to my
personal account, is it possible to move all my documents and settings
to a new, non-Admin account, and restore the built-in account to its
proper status? If I have to, since the computer's only a week old, I can
restore everything to factory defaults and start over, but I'd rather
not as setting it up the first time was frustrating enough....

Setup didn't "rename" anything. That's not how it works. I have no idea why
you can't see your user account but I suspect that something else is going
on since you mention that "setting it up the first time was frustrating
enough". Normally installing an operating system - or setting it up on an
OEM machine where it is preinstalled (Dell, HP, etc.) is not particularly
frustrating. So perhaps there were issues that you neglected to mention.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

yopumpkinhead wrote:


I created a separate Admin account and turned off the welcome screen,
as you recommended. Out of curiosity, I tried naming the new account
"Administrator", and it told me that there is already an account named
"Administrator." I don't know if it's referencing the hidden, built-in
Admin account you mentioned, or if Vista decided to make the default
Admin account *my* account, and just changed the display name when I
went through Setup.

You cannot name a user account "Administrator" because there is already a
built-in Administrator account. This is account is disabled for security
purposes but it exists.

After adding the new Admin account, it shows up in C:\Users, but my
personal Username folder still does not. So, my current C:\Users has
Default, Public, and now Admin... but is still missing my normal
account.

The only reason I can think for this happening is if you named your normal
account something that included forbidden characters or the name itself was
the same as some other system folder. Or perhaps you named your user account
the same thing as your computer - never a good idea. If you did this last
bit, then just change the name of the computer to something else from
Control PanelSystemComputer Name. Computer names should be shortish and
not include spaces or any punctuation characters.

I'm just reaching here because I've never seen this behavior on any of my
clients' machines.

If Setup did, in fact, rename the built-in Administrator account to my
personal account, is it possible to move all my documents and settings
to a new, non-Admin account, and restore the built-in account to its
proper status? If I have to, since the computer's only a week old, I can
restore everything to factory defaults and start over, but I'd rather
not as setting it up the first time was frustrating enough....

Setup didn't "rename" anything. That's not how it works. I have no idea why
you can't see your user account but I suspect that something else is going
on since you mention that "setting it up the first time was frustrating
enough". Normally installing an operating system - or setting it up on an
OEM machine where it is preinstalled (Dell, HP, etc.) is not particularly
frustrating. So perhaps there were issues that you neglected to mention.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

yopumpkinhead;1158256 Wrote:

Heh, I know it's bad policy to run as Admin all the time... I had set
up Vista using almost all default settings, and didn't realize this made
my personal user account the default Admin until it was too late. I'd
meant to go back and fix it but hadn't got around to it yet. (Also, I
take it that this is not normal Vista behaviour? I was sort of hoping
that it would be a dumb question and my User folder isn't supposed to
show up, but ah well - all the more reason to upgrade to Windows 7 ASAP,
I suppose....)

I created a separate Admin account and turned off the welcome screen,
as you recommended. Out of curiosity, I tried naming the new account
"Administrator", and it told me that there is already an account named
"Administrator." I don't know if it's referencing the hidden, built-in
Admin account you mentioned, or if Vista decided to make the default
Admin account *my* account, and just changed the display name when I
went through Setup.

After adding the new Admin account, it shows up in C:\Users, but my
personal Username folder still does not. So, my current C:\Users has
Default, Public, and now Admin... but is still missing my normal
account.

If Setup did, in fact, rename the built-in Administrator account to my
personal account, is it possible to move all my documents and settings
to a new, non-Admin account, and restore the built-in account to its
proper status? If I have to, since the computer's only a week old, I can
restore everything to factory defaults and start over, but I'd rather
not as setting it up the first time was frustrating enough....

Hi again,

I was wondering if anyone had an answer to my questions.... My Username
folder still does not show up in C:\Users. Could this be a result of
Vista reassigning the hidden, built-in Administrator account as my
personal account during setup? If so, is there a way to transfer all of
my documents and settings to a new account and return the built-in
account to its normal hidden state?

Thanks very much!


--
yopumpkinhead

yopumpkinhead;1158256 Wrote:

Heh, I know it's bad policy to run as Admin all the time... I had set
up Vista using almost all default settings, and didn't realize this made
my personal user account the default Admin until it was too late. I'd
meant to go back and fix it but hadn't got around to it yet. (Also, I
take it that this is not normal Vista behaviour? I was sort of hoping
that it would be a dumb question and my User folder isn't supposed to
show up, but ah well - all the more reason to upgrade to Windows 7 ASAP,
I suppose....)

I created a separate Admin account and turned off the welcome screen,
as you recommended. Out of curiosity, I tried naming the new account
"Administrator", and it told me that there is already an account named
"Administrator." I don't know if it's referencing the hidden, built-in
Admin account you mentioned, or if Vista decided to make the default
Admin account *my* account, and just changed the display name when I
went through Setup.

After adding the new Admin account, it shows up in C:\Users, but my
personal Username folder still does not. So, my current C:\Users has
Default, Public, and now Admin... but is still missing my normal
account.

If Setup did, in fact, rename the built-in Administrator account to my
personal account, is it possible to move all my documents and settings
to a new, non-Admin account, and restore the built-in account to its
proper status? If I have to, since the computer's only a week old, I can
restore everything to factory defaults and start over, but I'd rather
not as setting it up the first time was frustrating enough....

Hi again,

I was wondering if anyone had an answer to my questions.... My Username
folder still does not show up in C:\Users. Could this be a result of
Vista reassigning the hidden, built-in Administrator account as my
personal account during setup? If so, is there a way to transfer all of
my documents and settings to a new account and return the built-in
account to its normal hidden state?

Thanks very much!


--
yopumpkinhead

yopumpkinhead wrote:

I was wondering if anyone had an answer to my questions.... My Username
folder still does not show up in C:\Users. Could this be a result of
Vista reassigning the hidden, built-in Administrator account as my
personal account during setup?

No. The built-in Administrator account is *disabled* by default. It is not
somehow magically enabled to be used as your personal account during setup.

If so, is there a way to transfer all of
my documents and settings to a new account and return the built-in
account to its normal hidden state?

The built-in Administrator account isn't normally in a hidden state. It is
in a *disabled* state and that is why you don't see it.

Did you *enable* the built-in Administrator account and then use it? What
kind of computer is this? One where you installed Windows yourself or did
you have someone do it for you?

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

yopumpkinhead wrote:

I was wondering if anyone had an answer to my questions.... My Username
folder still does not show up in C:\Users. Could this be a result of
Vista reassigning the hidden, built-in Administrator account as my
personal account during setup?

No. The built-in Administrator account is *disabled* by default. It is not
somehow magically enabled to be used as your personal account during setup.

If so, is there a way to transfer all of
my documents and settings to a new account and return the built-in
account to its normal hidden state?

The built-in Administrator account isn't normally in a hidden state. It is
in a *disabled* state and that is why you don't see it.

Did you *enable* the built-in Administrator account and then use it? What
kind of computer is this? One where you installed Windows yourself or did
you have someone do it for you?

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

yopumpkinhead;1169806 Wrote:

Hi again,

I was wondering if anyone had an answer to my questions.... My Username
folder still does not show up in C:\Users. Could this be a result of
Vista reassigning the hidden, built-in Administrator account as my
personal account during setup? If so, is there a way to transfer all of
my documents and settings to a new account and return the built-in
account to its normal hidden state?

Thanks very much!

I finally found a resolution to this, and wanted to post it in case
anyone else has the same trouble.

It looks like Vista did, indeed, set my personal Username account as
the default Administrator account, which meant that my Username folder
was marked as a hidden, system folder. I had already created a separate
Admin account, as described earlier, so I used an elevated command
prompt to remove the System and Hidden attributes from my Username
folder, and set them on the Admin account.

C:\Usersattrib -s -h [Username]
C:\Usersattrib +s +h Admin

Hopefully this doesn't break anything else, but it does mean that my
folders are showing up properly!


--
yopumpkinhead

yopumpkinhead;1169806 Wrote:

Hi again,

I was wondering if anyone had an answer to my questions.... My Username
folder still does not show up in C:\Users. Could this be a result of
Vista reassigning the hidden, built-in Administrator account as my
personal account during setup? If so, is there a way to transfer all of
my documents and settings to a new account and return the built-in
account to its normal hidden state?

Thanks very much!

I finally found a resolution to this, and wanted to post it in case
anyone else has the same trouble.

It looks like Vista did, indeed, set my personal Username account as
the default Administrator account, which meant that my Username folder
was marked as a hidden, system folder. I had already created a separate
Admin account, as described earlier, so I used an elevated command
prompt to remove the System and Hidden attributes from my Username
folder, and set them on the Admin account.

C:\Usersattrib -s -h [Username]
C:\Usersattrib +s +h Admin

Hopefully this doesn't break anything else, but it does mean that my
folders are showing up properly!


--
yopumpkinhead