HP, OEM OS, and the Administrator Account.

My dv5000z arrived. It appears that HP has told M$ to ship the OEM OS (XP Home) with an administrator account that can only be used in safe mode. I can see the account and reset the password with a software tool (Advanced Windows Password Recovery) but I can't see what is set to make the account restricted to safe mode.

Does anyone know what restriction is set on the administrator account and how to remove the restriction?

Jake

 

Uhm, I think its supposed to be that way.

 

I haven't heard of such a problem. Can't you just delete the account and create a new administrator's account?

 

That's how XP home is suppose to work. in XP Pro, you can login as Administrator even in normal mode.

I do not know of any way to bypass that restriction.

 

Fill, do you mean that one cannot have administrator access in WinXP Home? I've used the Home edition for about 24 hours and as far as I rememeber I logged in as administrator every time.

 

l thought that too, but if you boot up XP Home in safe mode you have the choice to sign in as "Administrator".

 

What I meant is you can't login as the username/logonname "Administrator".

Administrator account is the "Administrator" username. Administrator access is having access/permission level to everything on the sytem.

By default, when you setup/install WinXP Home, it will have at least 2 usernames. Administrator (which is hidden and can be used only in safe mode) and another "username" (prompted and created during install, & can be used in both normal and safe mode). Both username will have Admin access.

Once installed, you can then create additional user accounts which can have Administrator or Limited Access. Only accounts with Admin access can be used in safe mode.

Again, WinXP Pro doesn't have those restrictions. The Administrator account can be used in any mode.

 

So this is an XP Home restriction? I know XP Pro allows the administrator account to be used at will, and when you install XP Home, you are asked to supply the administrator password.

Edit: That should be "XP Pro" above.

 

i have xp pro but still only see the "Administrator" named
account in safemode, not on normal.

 

In WinXP Pro, Administrator is also hidden, however, you can use it to logon in normal mode...

On logon screen, press CTRL-ALT-DEL twice, and it will show a logon screen where you can type the username and password.

WinXP Home wouldn't allow you to logon as Administrator unless in safemode.

 

My XP Pro -- Sager OEM -- Always asks for an Administrator account password during an install. And my volume license copy of XP pro at work also always asks for the Administrator account password during an install. The volume license is from M$. ANd in both cases, you can logon with the "administrator" account at will, you don't need to be in safe mode.

So based on what I've learned here, I'd say this "safe mode" business is something HP asked IBM to put in the HP OEM version of the product.

 

No, It's just how WinXP Home was designed.

I have MSDN license, which allows me access to Microsoft's softwares (virtually everything). So, I have tried OEM copy, retail copy, Volume license copy, & MSDN copy.... and they all do the same thing.