[Pianoman16]

I am trying to set up a network between two computer in my house, one being brand new and the other a couple of years old. Well since one was a few years old I decided to rid it of all the junk it collected of the years, so I went in and deleted all the documents I saved, pictures I put in, and uninstalled unnessecary programs. Well after all was said and done, I removed the other accounts on the computer so that there would just be one and the computer could be turned on and off without any log in trouble. Well, I restarted the computer just before I was about to setup the network, and I get this window asking me to log in. It ask for my username and password so I can get into windows. The problem being, I don't have a username or password. I've tried booting into safemode and other tricks and i can't get by this log in screen. Does anyone have any idea on how to resolve this, becuase right now it's useless and I have no idea what to do. Thank you so much whoever helps.

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Hi Pianoman16!

When you try booting into Safe Mode, type in Administrator as the Username, leaving the password field blank as there should be no password for it unless you have set one for it in the past.

Once in there, go to START-->CONTROL PANEL and double-click on USER ACCOUNTS. Then click on the Change the way users log on or off link. In the new window that appears, make sure that the checkboxes next to Use the Welcome screen and Use Fast User Switching are both checked. Then restart your computer and you should now be able to login without any trouble. Of course this is all assuming that your computer that is a couple years old is running Windows XP. If it's not let me know.

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 17 April 2006 - 10:45 PM.

[Fenor]

Hi Pianoman16!

When you try booting into Safe Mode, type in Administrator as the Username, leaving the password field blank as there should be no password for it unless you have set one for it in the past.

Once in there, go to START-->CONTROL PANEL and double-click on USER ACCOUNTS. Then click on the Change the way users log on or off link. In the new window that appears, make sure that the checkboxes next to Use the Welcome screen and Use Fast User Switching are both checked. Then restart your computer and you should now be able to login without any trouble. Of course this is all assuming that your computer that is a couple years old is running Windows XP. If it's not let me know.

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 17 April 2006 - 10:45 PM.

[Pianoman16]

I've tried this and I still can't in. I've never set a password for this so I don't understand why Administrator won't work. I know how to fix the problem if I could only get by this log in window. This has got me going nuts.

[mcsmc]

There are XP password reset programs out there, just Google. That sounds like the simplest solution to me.

[Fenor]

Never heard of a problem like this. When you said you removed programs that were no longer needed, what exactly did you remove? Applications, Games, Spyware/Virus protection programs, what?

Fenor

[Pianoman16]

I've quite a few problems with this computer over the years that have had many technicians stumped, but from just dumb luck it has been fixed. I just removed unessecary programs such as some old games, I took off photoshop, and some other software that I had installed that I didn't need on there anymore. I know I didn't delete any system files that could have caused this. I am quite computer literate and know what should be done and what shouldn't. When I turn the computer on it goes to the HP screen followed by a black screen with a blinking cursor, and then Windows loads and the login promtp appears. I have the option of pushing F8 and entering the other menu but I have tried most of the options in it and nothing works. Safe mode, Debugging, and all the other options didn't work. The Administrator thing didn't work either. I tried searching for those supposed passwrod reset programs but nothing worked. I tried a Login recovery progam and an Emergency Boot and that didn't work either. I don't know what to do.

[Fenor]

If you really have nothing important on the computer, what I suggest you do is reformat the drive and install Windows fresh. I would normally try to figure out the problem, but since you said you were trying to clean it up anyways, the best way to make a fresh start is to completely reinstall Windows. That will solve all the current problems and it will give you the fresh start you seem to want with the computer as well.

Fenor

[Pianoman16]

I would gladly reinstall windows but I don't know how. I've never touched upon reformatting before. This computer camre with windows when I got it so I don't have a windows CD or anything of that sort. So it makes it kind of difficult for me to do this.

[Pianoman16]

I don't know how but somehow magicaly I got by the login and into safemode. I can't explain how, I just went over to restart it and try another method of getting by and when I shook the mouse it said loading your settings and what not, and then it's in. I went to User Accounts and tried to change the settings so that both Use the Welcome screen and Use fast user switching are checked, but in doing so it says "Automation server can't create object" I'm not sure what to do but I'm afraid to turn it off or do anything right now. Please help me.

[Pianoman16]

Ok... I fixed that problem and got rid of the error by running REGSVR32 SHIMGVW.DLL Apparently it was unregistered. I did this and changed the settings and restarted it with a little hope. But unfortuantly I ran into the same log in problem, it didn't nothing. I restarted and got into safemode again though. I'm in for now, and I'm not touching anything becuase I have no idea what to do!

[Fenor]

Glad you were able to login. Now to fix your current Automation server can't create object error, go to START-->RUN and type REGSVR32 SHIMGVW.DLL and click OK. You will receive a message saying that it was registered succesfully, just hit OK on that window as well. Then try and change the settings again in USER ACCOUNTS.

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 18 April 2006 - 11:41 AM.

[Pianoman16]

I did that and it still gave me the same problem, so I went back in and tried System Restore and prayed that worked. Everything seems fine now but all the software that I got rid of last is back. Is there any way I can get rid of it safely or just reset the computer like mentioned previously? Thank you for all your help!

[Fenor]

List all of the programs that you removed last time and that came back. We will go through the list and make sure you don't remove something that is needed for Windows to run properly, which is most likely the case since this all started happening after you removed those programs.

Fenor

[Pianoman16]

Everything I removed came back, and this time I attempted to remove it all a little more cautiously but I can't. About half the programs won't let me uninstall them becuase of various error messages that I didn't bother righting down. Some programs that arn't needed on that computer anymore such as, DivX Player, Finale, Photoshop, Flash, Cake Walk, Reason, Steam, Starcraft.... just games and programs that I don't need on there anymore. But I can't get rid of most of them so I don't know what to do.

[Fenor]

The reason you can't get rid of the programs is that they are not really there, but the System Restore point that you used thinks they are still installed since they were installed when the restore point was created. You can verfiy this by going to MY COMPUTER, then C: and then PROGRAM FILES and locate the folder for the corresponding program. You will see it's either not there or has only a couple of files in it, which you can delete without worry.

To delete the entires in ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS for the programs that are no longer installed, you need to download HijackThis, which you can get from the link in my signature. Once you have it downloaded, extract the HijackThis.exe file to your desktop. Once it's extracted, double-click on it to open the program. Once it's open, click on the Open the Misc Tools section button. On the next screen, click on Open Uninstall Manager. In the next screen, you will see a large text box that lists all of the items that are currently installed on your computer. (or in your case all the programs windows thinks are installed on your computer) Go through that list, and highlight each program that you are able to uninstall and then click the DELETE THIS ENTRY button. This will remove the entry from the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS list.

Once you have done that, it would also be a good idea to go to START-->ALL PROGRAMS and locate the folders that correspond to the programs that are no longer installed on the computer and that you just removed from the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS list, and right click on them and choose DELETE.

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 18 April 2006 - 06:58 PM.