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Can't logon to my admin user account


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This started when I changed "show last user on sign-in screen" to disabled. This forces one to reenter the user name at each logon, along with a password.

I have two user accounts: Randy1 is a regular user; Randy2 is an admin. After I made the change above, I could still login with Randy1, but Randy2 always gave me an "invalid name or password." At first I thought I was really screwed. No usable account with admin privileges! However, it is weirder than that.

In Randy1, let's say I attempt something requiring admin privileges. I get a popup with Randy2 in it and a prompt to enter my password for Randy2. This still works. That tells me both the account and password are good. There is just an oddity with the logon name.

I go into Control Panel, User Accounts. I click Manage Another Account. Again, I am prompted for the password for Randy2 to get admin privileges. This works. As a precaution, I create another admin account, Randy3.

I reboot. I can now login normally with Randy1 or Randy3, but still not with Randy2. When logged on as admin Randy3, I go back to User Accounts and try to change the name of Randy2 to Randy2, thinking maybe there is some hidden character messing up the logon of Randy2 and I might be retyping the name now cleanly. I am told that "Randy2" already exists on the system.

Finally, I give up and restore the default "show last user at logon." Now I can login any of the three users.

Anyone have an idea what might be happening here?

 

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Hi @RandySea Welcome to the forum. There is a lot going on in your post. I think you are now saying you can login with all 3 user names?

Not sure if you still have a problem. You may get more replies from other forum members latter. I'm thinking it has some thing to do with Microsoft sign in.

Here's a blog by @Brian Burgess That talks about W10 user accounts!

http://www.groovypost.com/howto/create-local-account-windows-10/

 

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I have always been puzzled why Ms prefers to open up to last user in Windows 10 if you have more than one user.

I would bet your going back to default repaired whatever occurred when you changed the opening user from default setting.

No way to figure why MS wants it that way.

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14 hours ago, RandySea said:

If I disable it to improve security a wee bit, I cannot log on to Randy2.

Heya @RandySea - Don't ask me why Windows does the things it does sometimes. Remember, the DEV's are not perfect so BUGS will persist no matter how new the OS. 

Anyway - what I would probably do is go around the User UI and go directly into User Manager and Groups. 

  1. Login as Admin (Randy3)
  2. Press Win+X
  3. Click Computer Management
  4. Click Local users and Groups
  5. Click Users
  6. Right Click Randy2 > Click Delete

Re-Create the account again and make them an admin. You can do this via the normal Account GUI or, from Local users and Groups UI where you nuked the old account. Just recreate the user and add it back to the Administrators group.

So, not a WHY but at least a way to get back to where you were before the issue.

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Thanks, Steve,

What you suggest makes sense. In fact, it is essentially what I did when creating Randy3. However, it has some undesirable consequences.

It would remove everything I had set up for Randy2. I have certain programs only showing when logged in as admin Randy2 for example. And many programs have had their defaults changed. This could include default data directories, printers, etc., all stored in the Randy2 profile that would be deleted. I don't know of any way to save the Randy2 profile, delete Randy2, create a new Randy2, and restore the old profile.

Right now, I am just taking the path of least resistance. I can access Randy2 by allowing Show Last User.

I should say that your post did just give me another idea to try out. As I noted previously, Windows 10 did not let me change the name Randy2 to Randy2. I tried that in case there was something weird but invisible in the name Randy2. But Windows said Randy2 already existed. Now what if I changed Randy2 to Randy2AD? This would not delete the profile, just change its name.  Then I could see if a logon without showing last users works with Randy2AD. If that was ok, I could try changing Randy2AD to Randy2. Or I could just leave Randy2AD as my preferred admin logon name.

I'll report back.

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My last idea of name and back didn't work. There must just be something in the Randy2 profile, regardless of name, that does not allow logon except when "show last user" is enabled.

There may be a registry entry controlling this, but I don't have any idea where or what it might be. More likely, it's just one of those unknowable and unfixable glitches.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks, vakta. That link is scary - if it works, it is just too easy to remove a Windows password. I wonder, though, if it's true when one has a very strong password.

I couldn't tell much from the comments at that link. Apparently you go through a process of downloading and set up a USB boot stick. Then the final step, which should be removing the password, is instead a notice that you have to purchase the full version.

I am simply back to "show last user". I didn't need to do a system restore because I had a second admin account I could use. Also, there is a way to get Windows to show all admin accounts even if "show last user" is disabled. In any non-admin account, if you try to do something requiring admin privileges, it will prompt you with the names of all existing admin accounts. You can enter the pw for any one of them to complete the operation.

 

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