User Account question on new install

I just performed a new reinstall. When prompted for an account name with indication that this account would be set up as an Administrator I attempted to name it "Administrator". I did this expecting to setup another standard account under my own name after setup. I received an error indicating that the user name "Administrator" was already in use so I opted for "Admin". After setup completion I then setup a standard user under my own name. So now I would presume there was three user accounts:
Administrator
Admin
Rik
all three with passwords.

Two questions.

1. It seems that the PC attempts to boot right to the Administrator account (of the three listed) each time. Each time I boot I receive an error screen indicating the wrong password was provided. I never entered a password and shouldn't I have received an option to select my user?

2. After signing on as the Administrator I then attempted to switch users. Once I did that I did see the other users but I had a total of four users listed as:
Administrator
Admin
Administrator
Rik

So now - for some reason I have two listings for Administrator. Any thoughts on what I might have done wrong? I may be reinstalling again and so I would like to make sure I get it right this time. I just want the primary admin account and a standar, user account under my name - nothing more.

Much thanks.

This is the way Vista works:

There is a "built in" and hidden Adminstrator account. For futher info and how to turn on this account:http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67567-administrator-account.html


All accounts except the hidden account run in standard mode-without admin priviledges (even the User Admin Account), and these privileges are elevated when needed through UAC prompts. Limited User accounts have no admin privileges, and must use the User Admin password to access elevated functions.

Gotcha. So if I understand you correctly - the user I setup when installing should be myself and that it is still limited even though the setup indicates it will be an admin account. Correct?
Why on this install is the Administrator account not hidden and being defaulted to on startup?

FortuneSmiles said:

Gotcha. So if I understand you correctly - the user I setup when installing should be myself and that it is still limited even though the setup indicates it will be an admin account. Correct?
Why on this install is the Administrator account not hidden and being defaulted to on startup?

Click to expand...

You have it. If it is showing either you did not set your User as the Admin, or it has been activated. You can disable it (see link above in post), but be sure you have set your User Account as Admin- or you will lock yourself out of Vista without access to an admin account.

Perhaps you should activate the hidden admin account- delete all the ones you added, Create a new admin account "RiK", log into that, and disable the hidden admin, then create limited User accounts if you desire.

Sounds good. Thank you.

OK. I performed the clean install and all went as you indicated except for one thing. The supposedly hidden admin account was created along with the account name (my name) I had provided and the admin account is the default.

FortuneSmiles said:

OK. I performed the clean install and all went as you indicated except for one thing. The supposedly hidden admin account was created along with the account name (my name) I had provided and the admin account is the default.

Click to expand...

use the snipping tool to post an image of your User Accounts> Manage Accounts-like this:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148532-how-use-snipping-tool-vista.html

the image on the left is with the built in admin acct disabled, the image on the right shows the hidden account enabled.

enable hidden Admin:
cmd (run as admin)>net user administrator /active:yes (hit enter)

disable hidden admin:
cmd (run as admin)>net user administrator /active:no (hit enter)

mine looks like your second image ... without the asp.net machine account of course. I have my account "Rik", the Administrator account and the Guest account. I see you have provided instructions for hiding it again. Thank you. But why is Vista installing without it hidden and defaulting to it on boot? Each time I boot I am placed on a screen as if I attempted to log into the Administrator account (the one that should be hidden) with an incorrect password - which I have not.

FortuneSmiles said:

mine looks like your second image ... without the asp.net machine account of course. I have my account "Rik", the Administrator account and the Guest account. I see you have provided instructions for hiding it again. Thank you. But why is Vista installing without it hidden and defaulting to it on boot? Each time I boot I am placed on a screen as if I attempted to log into the Administrator account (the one that should be hidden) with an incorrect password - which I have not.

Click to expand...

There should be no password for the admin account. Have you updated windows to sp1? (keep going back untill no more updates are available)

What antivirus/programs are you running? Are you using an OEM recovery partition/recovery disk that restores to factory image? or a Vista disk? There could be corruption on the image or partition. Have you tried using a Vista Disk to install?

Ya know - I couldn't remember if I assigned a password to the admin account so I went ahead and reinstalled Vista again. I created my own account with a password. Upon completion it did provide the Administrator account again - without a password and logged me into that account by default. It does this every time so I have to log off and then log onto my own. So ...
1. Why is it creating an Administrator account that is not hidden?
2. Why am I logging into it by default and how do I log into my own instead?
3. I assume I can hide the Admin account if I choose to utilizing the instructions you provided. Can you see any reasons to leave it unhidden?

Thanks again.

no. disable it. I have no clue to why it is enabling Hidden Admin Account at install-unless it is set that way on your installation disk.

I would suggest Using the Hidden Admin Account to create new/or elevate your default User to Administrator prior to disabling the Hidden Account.