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General discussion

Restore previous admin

Dec 8, 2012 10:43AM PST

I tried to make a change to windows and it said I didn't have admin privs so I created a new admin account. When I rebooted I lost all my desktop and now have a new one. I can see my old admin account under c:/documents and settings. How can I restore this?

Thanks in advance

Joe

Discussion is locked

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Each user ID has its own desktop & libraries
Dec 8, 2012 10:48AM PST

If you sign on with admin authority, you can copy from one user's libraries to another. Just click Start -> My Computer, then look at the Users folder on the C: drive. Under that you'll see the Documents and Settings folder which has entries for each user. You can just copy and paste from the old ID to your current one, and you'll have what you need.

Good luck.

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can I re reference the old
Dec 8, 2012 10:52AM PST

Apparently I was using the "built-in" admin account that was installed by default during set up. Can I just re reference this account to boot as again?

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With proper authority you can reference anything
Dec 8, 2012 11:00AM PST

I don't know why you couldn't do that if you have admin authority. You've already said you can see it under C:\Documents and Settings. Copy & paste is very easy to do, and much safer than drag and drop.

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copied, outlook emails are gone.
Dec 8, 2012 12:26PM PST

I copied everything from the old admin account to the new and all my emails are gone. I tried to open the pst files and none of my new emails are there.

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Re: administrator
Dec 8, 2012 7:58PM PST

You can log into the old, default, administrator account if you boot into Safe Mode.

The story about the missing emails isn't clear. Are "all" gone, or only your "new" ones. How can new ones be gone? Is the size of the copied pst-file still correct (depends on the amount of mails stored, of course, but usually it's 50 to 500 MB).

Kees

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not sure
Dec 9, 2012 1:16AM PST

I'm not sure what the pst file size was prior to the change. I found the files... where I keep them, and open them in Outlook. None of the newer emails are there. I'm going to do a pst file search to make sure the pst file I was using isn't someplace else.

Thanks for the input!

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Okay, I did boot to safe mode
Dec 9, 2012 5:50AM PST

Was able to log onto the old admin account and open my emails. I found the pst file in another place which my search did not show. Can I delete the new admin account and restore the old? I'm in user accounts and cannot delete or change the new admin account.

If I can open the old pst it's not a prob. This is my work machine and I really need to have the old emails for I wouldn't care.

Windows has a dozen bubbles pop up for everything I do. It's a shame one didn't pop up and let me know that by creating a new admin account the old would be disabled.

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Re: administrator account
Dec 9, 2012 6:12AM PST

It's a very much recommended 'best practice' to have at least two accounts with administrator capabilities, so that if one gets corrupted (and that happens!) you still can use the other to fix it.

And it's a not too well known fact that making any of your own user accounts hides the 'secret' administrator account in Windows XP, except in Safe Mode.
It's mentioned, for example, in http://www.mydigitallife.info/unhide-the-administrator-account-in-windows-xp/
As most users don't know that , and the account has no password by default (and if they don't know it, they won't change it either), it's a quite popular way to break in into a XP computer. My guess is that it works in 95% of the PC's. Microsoft made it safer in later versions of Windows.

So I'd switch to using the new account, and leave this one for emergencies. To be safer, give it a password and write it down somewhere so you can retrieve it if you need it 2 years from now. Surely the best practice.

Kees