Remove all traces of user account

douglas598 · 04-20-2005, 11:41 AM

douglas598 here. I recently had a user profile corrupted in Win 2000 Pro. That situation has been fixed by creating a new user account and transfering files. Question : How can I remove all traces of the corrupt user profile and get Win 2000 to auto log onto the new account? Thanks in advance for your help.
douglas598

101 · 04-20-2005, 04:11 PM

Go to User & Passwords in control panel, in the Users tab uncheck the box 'users must enter a user name...' Click Apply, it'll ask you the user & pass with wich you want to automatically log on, confirm and it's done.

douglas598 · 04-21-2005, 11:13 AM

I tried that already. The box only shows Administrator, Guest and the new account I created. When the PC starts up though, it shows the old user account name that I deleted. Isn't the old user still in the registry somewhere?

douglas598

101 · 04-22-2005, 04:07 AM

Try deleting the old profile from the ProfileList key in the registry. Use regedit and find:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

There look at each SID key to find the key matching the old profile [look at the ProfileImagePath value in the right panel] If the SID for the old user is still there, delete it. But you should be able to set the automatic logon for other users even w/o editing the registry. Otherwise wait for johnwill to answer this one.

douglas598 · 04-22-2005, 03:34 PM

I was suprised to see 2 folders in the ProfileList. One is S-1-5-bla-bla-bla-1000.bak, the other is S-1-5-bla-bla-bla-1001. I found the SID key in the .bak folder and deleted it, reboot... same problem. I deleted the .bak, now rebooting...it still tried to log on to the old user...? Someone told me I could search the registry for all instances of the old profile and delete all of them? This sounded dangerous to me. I appreciate you getting back to me and thanks for the help.
Update on current situation: PC boots up with old user's profile listed in the user name box. It fails to auto log in and gives a message of failed log on. I change the name to the new user and <enter> PC logs on and everything is normal. Hope the update helps.
Thanks again
douglas598

101 · 04-22-2005, 05:02 PM

Another value that you can modify is the default user displayed in the log on screen. Go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

and change 'DefaultUserName' to the user you want to be displayed as the default. If you still can't set that user for automatic logon, see this.

04-20-2005, 11:41 AM	#1 (permalink)
douglas598 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 15 OS: Win 2000 Pro	Remove all traces of user account douglas598 here. I recently had a user profile corrupted in Win 2000 Pro. That situation has been fixed by creating a new user account and transfering files. Question : How can I remove all traces of the corrupt user profile and get Win 2000 to auto log onto the new account? Thanks in advance for your help. douglas598

04-20-2005, 04:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
101 Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 126 OS: 2k Pro	Go to User & Passwords in control panel, in the Users tab uncheck the box 'users must enter a user name...' Click Apply, it'll ask you the user & pass with wich you want to automatically log on, confirm and it's done. __________________ As you may note, English isn't my first language ;)

04-21-2005, 11:13 AM	#3 (permalink)
douglas598 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 15 OS: Win 2000 Pro	Tried that... I tried that already. The box only shows Administrator, Guest and the new account I created. When the PC starts up though, it shows the old user account name that I deleted. Isn't the old user still in the registry somewhere? douglas598

04-22-2005, 04:07 AM	#4 (permalink)
101 Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 126 OS: 2k Pro	Try deleting the old profile from the ProfileList key in the registry. Use regedit and find: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList There look at each SID key to find the key matching the old profile [look at the ProfileImagePath value in the right panel] If the SID for the old user is still there, delete it. But you should be able to set the automatic logon for other users even w/o editing the registry. Otherwise wait for johnwill to answer this one. __________________ As you may note, English isn't my first language ;)

04-22-2005, 03:34 PM	#5 (permalink)
douglas598 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 15 OS: Win 2000 Pro	ProfileList I was suprised to see 2 folders in the ProfileList. One is S-1-5-bla-bla-bla-1000.bak, the other is S-1-5-bla-bla-bla-1001. I found the SID key in the .bak folder and deleted it, reboot... same problem. I deleted the .bak, now rebooting...it still tried to log on to the old user...? Someone told me I could search the registry for all instances of the old profile and delete all of them? This sounded dangerous to me. I appreciate you getting back to me and thanks for the help. Update on current situation: PC boots up with old user's profile listed in the user name box. It fails to auto log in and gives a message of failed log on. I change the name to the new user and <enter> PC logs on and everything is normal. Hope the update helps. Thanks again douglas598

04-22-2005, 05:02 PM	#6 (permalink)
101 Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 126 OS: 2k Pro	Another value that you can modify is the default user displayed in the log on screen. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and change 'DefaultUserName' to the user you want to be displayed as the default. If you still can't set that user for automatic logon, see this. __________________ As you may note, English isn't my first language ;)