User Login Rights

[jcdw 0]

My friend had a stroke and can't remember his password to logon to WindowsXP. The administrator's password was also set. So we used some software to reset the passwords to blank. Now when we try to logon on using blank we get an error message "The local policy of this system does not permit you to logon interactively". This is a stand alone pc. According to Microsoft this is a Users Rights Settings issue. I checked Microsoft and found a tool NTRights.exe which would work if I could get to the XP command line, but I can't. I can only get to the MS-DOS prompt, I'm an old MS-DOS user so if there's any DOS utilities you know of for this I'd be glad to try. I've tried starting in SafeMode and SafeMode command line both of which go to the login screen. Any suggestions on how to fix the users login rights parameter?

Thanks JCDW

[peterh 1]

Sounds like you used old software on a new OS and cleared the rights, make sure you use the correct software!

 

You could try the Recovery console:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

 

You could try enabling Guest access:

net user guest /active:yes

ntrights +r SeNetworkLogonRight -u Guest

ntrights -r SeDenyNetworkLogonRight -u Guest

 

Otherwise I suggest reinstalling Windows again to gain back access. Install it into a new folder if possible eg. WINDOWS2, WINNT etc.

 

[peterh 1]

Also, you can use NTRIGHTS to change rights from another computer remotely on same network.

e.g. ntrights -m \\computername -u Administrator [option]

 

So you will need to bring a second computer along to fix the first computer.

 

[XReply 0]

Here's a step by step that should do the trick without any data loss:

 

Get a Bootable Windows Install CD, boot it.

 

Let it load, and begin the setup. Don't go into the Recovery Console, don't go into the first "Repair" option because it just takes you into the Recovery Console. The second time it asks you to Repair the installation, do it.

 

It will copy a bunch of files and reboot. As it begins to install everything it will stop to ask you for some setup options, and your product key. Don't bother with that just yet, but press and hold Shift+F10. The DOS window will pop up instantly. You'll have full Administrative rights to the hard drive.

 

Type "control userpasswords2" into the console screen, and press enter. An advanced user screen will pop up with the option to "reset" any passwords.

 

That user is obviously acting funky, so lets not waste effort reseting that password another time -- this can take a lot of time and you want to do it right the first time.

 

Instead, create a new user, with a new password.

 

After that, get out of that screen, answer the questions, and resume the install to see if it works.

 

 

 

If this doesn't work, then it's safe to say that you have some sort of hardware issue, and even a low-level format won't solve your problem. Try installing some new RAM, another hard-drive, and a non-DVD-ROM drive one at a time to see if the issue (or another data issue) persists.

 

I say RAM because the installation may have been corrupted due to faulty data being pulled through the memory. I say a hard-drive because the current drive may be failing. Also, if you're using a DVD-ROM to install then there may be read errors even if your copy is a DVD itself.

 

Good luck, and keep us posted.