Since the problem is that you have added registry entries to hide the
Administrator account, you have basically managed to make unavailable your
only enabled administrator account. For reasons you have already found out,
Windows takes special care to ensure that there
is always at least one such functioning account,
but you have found one way of circumventing all these safeguards.
So basically the problem is narrowed down to how to delete these registry
entries without using regedit.
They are found in the registry at the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
.
Deleting the whole SpecialAccounts
branch is probably the best.
There are numerous ways of modifying the registry in an unrestricted manner
and without booting into Windows and numerous articles describing them.
For example, this article details four such methods :
4 Ways to Edit Registry Key Values Without Booting into Windows.
- PC Regedit
- Hiren’s Boot CD and its Mini Windows XP feature
- Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home
- UBCD4Win
A fifth method, if you have a
Windows installation disk or a System Repair Disc, is to boot from it into the
Command Prompt and use regedit. See the article
How to Reset a Windows Password in Regedit at Boot.
However, all of the above methods involve using a boot CD/USB.
If, as you say, you currently don't have access to that,
you are in a bad way. Please explain why you have that restriction.
Without being able to boot a CD or USB,
the only other solution I can think of is to take
the Windows system disk out of the computer, add it as a secondary disk in a
functioning Windows 7 computer, and use its regedit to open the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive and delete the SpecialAccounts branch,
as described in
Load or Unload Registry Hives.
The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE hive is located in the file \Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE
.
You need to open regedit, click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then use the menu
File -> Load Hive command. After editing, use File -> Unload Hive.
1
possible duplicate of What can I do if I forgot my Windows password?
– DavidPostill – 2015-08-21T14:58:18.933Just to verify. You decided to hide the default Administrator and then made your only accessible
Administrator
user a normalUser
? You will have to use a tool outside of Windows to undo your mistake, in the future, I suggest not using registry edits without fully understanding them. – Ramhound – 2015-08-21T14:58:55.217@Ramhound: I hid my new admin account. The default one is already hidden. I have no accessible admin account. The only accessible account I have is a regular user account. – Bmoe – 2015-08-21T23:27:11.337
Use a tool of your choice to create a new Administrator outside of Windows. There are numerous tools that can do that. – Ramhound – 2015-08-21T23:30:04.153
@John Have you resolved this problem? If so, it would be greatly appreciated if you share how. – user300375 – 2016-03-02T14:12:19.610