I've been disappeared.

December 19, 2006 7:31 AM

IdiotFilter, Windows XP. I was trying to make it stop telling me, every single day, that my password was about to expire and would I like to change it.

Can't remember what the hell I did, but now when I turn it on, I get the "click your user name to log in" -- but there's nothing to click. (Before I f&cked with it, I logged in as administrator without a password.) Can someone help me before I call the $85 an hour guys?

posted by scratch to computers & internet (11 comments total)

Are you on a domain, or standalone PC? (Do you connect to a server in a company)
posted by SirStan at 7:34 AM on December 19, 2006

If it is for a local account (non-domain) follow these instructions:

1) Right-click on the 'My Computer' icon, and select Manage.
2) Click the + sign next to 'Users and Groups', and click on the 'User' folder.
3) On the right panel, you should see the user(s) you would like to have with a non-expiring password. Right click on the user(s) and go to Properties.
4) Check the box that says "Password Never Expires"

If you're on a domain, you'll have to contact your domain administrator and ask for them to make the parallel change in Active Directory.
posted by Nerro at 7:50 AM on December 19, 2006

I don't think the above 2 answers are answering scratch's question - if I'm reading this correctly, scratch has b0rked Windows and can't login at the moment on the 'friendly' Welcome screen as there are no usernames listed on that screen.

If I recall correctly there's a setting that allows you to set certain accounts to not appear on the Welcome screen (so that system accounts etc. don't appear there) and I'd guess that all the accounts on the system have had this set on them.

A quick google suggests that you can press Ctrl-Alt-Del twice on the Welcome screen to get at the more standard login screen where you should b able to write in your username and password.

I'm in the office at the moment so I can't test this but I'll check it out for you later when I'm home.
posted by koshmar at 7:59 AM on December 19, 2006

Ahh no users on the list -- on the Select User screen, hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete to get a logon box. Log in again with Administrator and no password like you stated before. Once you're in, go into Control Panel, click on Users, and go to the Advanced tab. Check "Require users to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete." Make the other changes from my other comment and you should be able to log in using Ctrl-Alt-Delete with no issues and no password expiring notification.
posted by Nerro at 8:43 AM on December 19, 2006

It's my stand-alone PC at home, so no domain issues.

Koshmar pegged it. I'm pretty sure I did what s/he suggested (Nerro's 2nd contribution, too) but it didn't work. Sigh. Thanks anyway.
posted by scratch at 8:56 AM on December 19, 2006

Please define "didn't work". Do you mean you held down the CTRL and ALT keys simultaneously, and while doing so, hit the delete key twice - and nothing happened?

Or did you do that, and got a logon box, but "adminstrator" in the username box with no password failed?
posted by disclaimer at 10:12 AM on December 19, 2006

Yeah, seriously- we can't help you if you're just going to sigh and give up. That's not very informative.
posted by hincandenza at 10:53 AM on December 19, 2006

You're right, I have to WANT to be helped. Basically I ctrl-alt-deleted twice and got a logon box. Then using "adminstrator" in the name box with no password resulted in nothing, to the best of my memory. I'll have to go back tonight and do it all over again; sequence of events is fading fast.
posted by scratch at 10:59 AM on December 19, 2006

If you can't get the Welcome to screen to show up, try using the hidden Administrator account. Once you're in, follow Nerro's steps.
posted by niles at 2:37 PM on December 19, 2006 [1 favorite]

to
posted by niles at 4:42 PM on December 19, 2006

Thanks, Niles, I'll try that later.
posted by scratch at 9:07 AM on December 20, 2006