WinXP has hidden administrator
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eyeCpc
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The administrator account is generally seen on the log on screen as well as any others. That's what you use there to do everything on a normal installation. With a registry tweak you can even bypass the logon screen and have the desktop appear without a need to log in. Some registry editing is needed there however. The following is done for NT, 2000, and XP alike according to the information seen at Automatic Logon to Windows NT, 2000 and XP at Registry Guide for Windows
The Way to Unhide if You so Desire
Again, this change requires modifying the registry. And that means opening up the regedit utility. If you are already familiar with how to do this skip to the next paragraph. If not, then do the following instructions marked in red. Click Start, then Run, then type 'regedit' in the box, then click OK.
In the Registry Editor you will see xxxxx in the left pane. The right pane should be empty if this is the first time you've used it. In the left pane, choose HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\
CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList.
Now in the left pane, under the Name header, look for an entry named 'Administrator.' If it exists, great, now jump to the next paragraph. If it does not exist, you'll need to create it as detailed in the following instructions. Right click anywhere in the right pane. Hover the cursor on the icon 'New' and on the submenu that pops out, choose 'DWORD value'. Name this new entry 'Administrator' (case sensitivity is important here) and press enter.
Now double click the entry named 'Administrator.' In the box that opens, type 1 in the field next to Value data. Then click OK.
If you later feel remorseful about this decision, you can easily reverse it. Simply go back to the Administrator entry by following the above directions. Then you can either delete the entry, or change the Value data to 0. Remember here the binary digit rules: 0 = no and 1 = yes.
Again, this change requires modifying the registry. And that means opening up the regedit utility. If you are already familiar with how to do this skip to the next paragraph. If not, then do the following instructions marked in red. Click Start, then Run, then type 'regedit' in the box, then click OK.
In the Registry Editor you will see xxxxx in the left pane. The right pane should be empty if this is the first time you've used it. In the left pane, choose HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\
CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList.
Now in the left pane, under the Name header, look for an entry named 'Administrator.' If it exists, great, now jump to the next paragraph. If it does not exist, you'll need to create it as detailed in the following instructions. Right click anywhere in the right pane. Hover the cursor on the icon 'New' and on the submenu that pops out, choose 'DWORD value'. Name this new entry 'Administrator' (case sensitivity is important here) and press enter.
Now double click the entry named 'Administrator.' In the box that opens, type 1 in the field next to Value data. Then click OK.
If you later feel remorseful about this decision, you can easily reverse it. Simply go back to the Administrator entry by following the above directions. Then you can either delete the entry, or change the Value data to 0. Remember here the binary digit rules: 0 = no and 1 = yes.
superdave1984
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If they don't have any other user accounts created, Administrator shows up on the welcome screen. As soon as you create a user account that is not a Windows default account, Administrator goes away from the welcome screen.
eyeCpc
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When tried here with the auto boot to desktop already configured I logged off and saw a new admin account sitting above the default user admin here. You had to reinstall or configure several items. The real question there however would be to ask if the original Windows recovery or full version disk was included with the system? Without that onhand it would smart to advise on getting a new disk for a clean install of Windows. That would solve everything in different ways.
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