Multiple Users On One Computer Requiring Username And Password

codyjacks · 26 Dec 2013

Awesome. Thanks so much! Now, I have left the name of the old one the same, and created one named cjacks, once I get this all sorted out I will just transfer admin privileges. However, now I'm up against another wall. I restarted my computer after I created "cjacks", and it won't let me log into it when the computer first starts up. Also, when I'm in "Cody" (the administrator at this point), I can go into the OS(C:) file, but the only things that show up under "users" are Cody and public. Any ideas on why it didn't set up a new folder? Or is it invisible because I'm not on that account? The primary issue is that it won't let me log in to cjacks. Thanks for your help so far!

Kari · 26 Dec 2013

Windows does not create the user profile folder in C:\Users when the new user account is created. When creating a user account, Windows will prepare the system for this new user by reserving the account name, but nothing else will be done at this point.

See the screenshot below. I created a new user account and named it TestUser. The username is reserved and can be seen in Control Panel > User Accounts, but the C:\Users has no profile folder for it:

Multiple Users On One Computer Requiring Username And Password-2013-12-26_20h34_51.png

Windows will create the user profile folders and prepare the desktop only when this new user logs in first time. If you created a user account but it is never used, logged in, the user profile folder will never be created.

I now log in with this new user TestUser for the first time. Login takes a bit longer, Windows tells me it's preparing the desktop. This is when Windows finally creates the profile folders. After logging in, the newly created profile folders are there:

Multiple Users On One Computer Requiring Username And Password-2013-12-26_20h38_04.png

Multiple Users On One Computer Requiring Username And Password-2013-12-26_20h43_33.png

Your case then:
You have quite succesfully messed up your Windows setup with your username changes. I would do as follows:

Restore the system to a point before you started your name change circus
Manually delete the user profile folder cjacks (System Restore will delete the user accounts created after the chosen restore point but leave their profile folders)
Reboot
Change the username Cody to cjacks
Change the user profile folder name for username cjacks (previously Cody) to cjacks as told in this tutorial: User Profile Folder - Change User Account Folder Name
Create a new standard user account Cody

This way you would have your Windows as you wanted, an admin account cjacksand a standard account Cody

Kari

codyjacks · 27 Dec 2013

Thanks for your reply. My question wasn't answered, though. The problems that I'm having at this point is that I can't log into any account on my computer besides the initial Cody account, and that the original Cody account doesn't respond to a change of name in the login screen. I think I will go and change the registry input back to showing all users, and once they are all present, accounted for and showing in the windows login screen, I will change it back to require username and password to login. I honestly don't understand why I would need to restore my computer, considering that no accounts were ever logged into, besides the initial Cody account, so the only system file that ever existed was(is) Cody.

codyjacks · 27 Dec 2013

I changed my registry editor value (dontdisplaylastusername) back from one to zero, and then it showed both Cody and cjacks users. I didn't log into cjacks, however, because I didn't want to make that folder in case this becomes a problem. I realized that they both did, in fact, exist, so I went and changed the registry editor value from zero to one again, and it then would only allow me to login with Cody's credentials, and said that the username/password was incorrect for cjacks. Any ideas why I am only allowed to login to one account when I require a username and password to login? Maybe if we took a look at the root we could get to the bottom of it quicker. Essentially, I am trying to make my computer require a username AND password to login, and I want to be able to use multiple accounts and change their names as I please. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make this happen easier than messing around in the registry editor? Or does anyone know why what I did in the registry editor didn't do what I wanted it to do? Thanks to all of you for the help up to this point.

Kari · 27 Dec 2013

codyjacks said:

Thanks for your reply. My question wasn't answered, though.

Yes, it was answered. There was a small mistake in my previous post, I edited it a bit after realizing I had mixed the way you want it; you want Cody to be admin account and cjacks standard account, initially I thought it was vice versa (misread your original post).

codyjacks said:

I honestly don't understand why I would need to restore my computer, considering that no accounts were ever logged into, besides the initial Cody account, so the only system file that ever existed was(is) Cody.

From the beginning you have made it wrong, messing with registry, creating new user account using a name of an old account which was not deleted as it should be. Your registry is messed up, restoring will fix that.

codyjacks said:

Maybe if we took a look at the root we could get to the bottom of it quicker.

Maybe you could try the solutions given to you?

Your PC, your Windows, your decision. I know what's wrong in your system at the moment, I have told it to you and given recommendations about how to fix it. It's up to you what you decide to do.

I think I will unsubscribe this thread. Seems useless.

Kari

codyjacks · 28 Dec 2013

I figured it out with a buddy of mine. The problem was that one account was set up to require a username and password, and the other one was set up to click on an icon and then input the password, so I couldn't login to that one with username and password. I'm sorry that you're bothered by me, but I know that you were trying to solve a different problem because of miscommunication. No matter. Thanks for your help. Problem solved. Also, my registry isn't messed up. I changed one value, and it did what I wanted it to once I found out how it works.