How can I delete an account that I can't see?

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S

spamlet

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On our XPHome laptop, there is an account which is not listed in the control
panel users accounts, but still has a profile associated with it.

It does not show up in TweakUI either.
Only comes up with (ctr alt del)x2.

Want to delete it (the account, not the profile), and replace it with a
visible one but don't know where to find it.

In Home there is no Advanced User Management console in which to look for
more information about this invisible user. Is there another way to show
this information?

Presumably the invisible user account is a registry key somewhere that needs
to be deleted.
Where are the user id's held and how do I identify which to delete?

Really is taxing the brain, this one!

Cheers,

S
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?


"spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:%23q9KIUlJJHA.740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> On our XPHome laptop, there is an account which is not listed in the
> control panel users accounts, but still has a profile associated with it.
>
> It does not show up in TweakUI either.
> Only comes up with (ctr alt del)x2.
>
> Want to delete it (the account, not the profile), and replace it with a
> visible one but don't know where to find it.
>
> In Home there is no Advanced User Management console in which to look for
> more information about this invisible user. Is there another way to show
> this information?
>
> Presumably the invisible user account is a registry key somewhere that
> needs to be deleted.
> Where are the user id's held and how do I identify which to delete?
>
> Really is taxing the brain, this one!
>
> Cheers,
>
> S

You can delete any account like so:
- Reboot into Safe Mode.
- Log on as Administrator.
- Click Start / Run / cmd{OK}
- Type these commands:
net user {Enter} (To see a list of all users)
net user "SomeAccountName" /delete{Enter}
Since you do not wish to delete the user's profile folder, you may need to
relink it to the new account you wish to create. Note that it would be
simpler to make the problem account visible instead of deleting it.
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?


"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message
news:O9C$AclJJHA.1736@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:%23q9KIUlJJHA.740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> On our XPHome laptop, there is an account which is not listed in the
>> control panel users accounts, but still has a profile associated with it.
>>
>> It does not show up in TweakUI either.
>> Only comes up with (ctr alt del)x2.
>>
>> Want to delete it (the account, not the profile), and replace it with a
>> visible one but don't know where to find it.
>>
>> In Home there is no Advanced User Management console in which to look for
>> more information about this invisible user. Is there another way to show
>> this information?
>>
>> Presumably the invisible user account is a registry key somewhere that
>> needs to be deleted.
>> Where are the user id's held and how do I identify which to delete?
>>
>> Really is taxing the brain, this one!
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> S
>
> You can delete any account like so:
> - Reboot into Safe Mode.
> - Log on as Administrator.
> - Click Start / Run / cmd{OK}
> - Type these commands:
> net user {Enter} (To see a list of all users)
> net user "SomeAccountName" /delete{Enter}
> Since you do not wish to delete the user's profile folder, you may need to
> relink it to the new account you wish to create. Note that it would be
> simpler to make the problem account visible instead of deleting it.
Thank you Pegasus, you are a star!
I'm amazed at how much time I've spent hunting for this information!
Oh for a local users and groups in XPHome!

Many thanks,

S
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?


"spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:eocw45lJJHA.1156@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Thank you Pegasus, you are a star!
> I'm amazed at how much time I've spent hunting for this information!
> Oh for a local users and groups in XPHome!
>
> Many thanks,
>
> S

Thanks for the feedback.
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?

> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:%23q9KIUlJJHA.740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> On our XPHome laptop, there is an account which is not listed in the
>> control panel users accounts, but still has a profile associated
>> with it. It does not show up in TweakUI either.
>> Only comes up with (ctr alt del)x2.
>>
>> Want to delete it (the account, not the profile), and replace it
>> with a visible one but don't know where to find it.
>>
>> In Home there is no Advanced User Management console in which to
>> look for more information about this invisible user. Is there
>> another way to show this information?
>>
>> Presumably the invisible user account is a registry key somewhere
>> that needs to be deleted.
>> Where are the user id's held and how do I identify which to delete?
>>
>> Really is taxing the brain, this one!
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> S
>
> You can delete any account like so:
> - Reboot into Safe Mode.
> - Log on as Administrator.
> - Click Start / Run / cmd{OK}
> - Type these commands:
> net user {Enter} (To see a list of all users)
> net user "SomeAccountName" /delete{Enter}
> Since you do not wish to delete the user's profile folder, you may
> need to relink it to the new account you wish to create. Note that it
> would be simpler to make the problem account visible instead of
> deleting it.

Well; you can not delete the default admin account, right?

Twayne
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?


"Twayne" <nobody@devnull.spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:um97n9mJJHA.3712@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:%23q9KIUlJJHA.740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>> On our XPHome laptop, there is an account which is not listed in the
>>> control panel users accounts, but still has a profile associated
>>> with it. It does not show up in TweakUI either.
>>> Only comes up with (ctr alt del)x2.
>>>
>>> Want to delete it (the account, not the profile), and replace it
>>> with a visible one but don't know where to find it.
>>>
>>> In Home there is no Advanced User Management console in which to
>>> look for more information about this invisible user. Is there
>>> another way to show this information?
>>>
>>> Presumably the invisible user account is a registry key somewhere
>>> that needs to be deleted.
>>> Where are the user id's held and how do I identify which to delete?
>>>
>>> Really is taxing the brain, this one!
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> S
>>
>> You can delete any account like so:
>> - Reboot into Safe Mode.
>> - Log on as Administrator.
>> - Click Start / Run / cmd{OK}
>> - Type these commands:
>> net user {Enter} (To see a list of all users)
>> net user "SomeAccountName" /delete{Enter}
>> Since you do not wish to delete the user's profile folder, you may
>> need to relink it to the new account you wish to create. Note that it
>> would be simpler to make the problem account visible instead of
>> deleting it.
>
> Well; you can not delete the default admin account, right?
>
> Twayne
>

Correct.
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?


"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message
news:efs70wmJJHA.4936@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:eocw45lJJHA.1156@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Thank you Pegasus, you are a star!
>> I'm amazed at how much time I've spent hunting for this information!
>> Oh for a local users and groups in XPHome!
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>> S
>
> Thanks for the feedback.

Actually, I was so pleased with your revelation, that I didn't really take
in your last note:

"Note that it would be simpler to make the problem account visible instead
of deleting it."

What you advised was actually very very simple, as I already have a cmd
prompt on my desktop, and it worked without needing to go into safe mode.

How could I have rendered the account visible - I normally do this with
TweakUI, but this account wasn't showing up anywhere but on the net user
cmd, so there was nowhere else I could get at it to change it? Net user
does list various parameters for each account, but not visibility.

On the laptop there is a further account profile listed in MyComp
props/advanced called 'Account Unknown'. But no 'account unknown' in the
Docs and Sets profiles. In the docs and sets list though, there is a
profile called 'Owner' which does not seem to have an account. In the
Registry I can't see any list of user names to match the ones in net user,
one can track the numbered profiles and see that they point at a particular
folder, but not see which user account name they refer to. Should I just
delete the 'Account unknown' and see if the 'Owner' folders disappear?

All rather curious, but I suppose it has to be fairly difficult to change an
ac inadvertently.

Thanks for the tips,

S
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?


"spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:u1JRuDwJJHA.4512@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message
> news:efs70wmJJHA.4936@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:eocw45lJJHA.1156@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> Thank you Pegasus, you are a star!
>>> I'm amazed at how much time I've spent hunting for this information!
>>> Oh for a local users and groups in XPHome!
>>>
>>> Many thanks,
>>>
>>> S
>>
>> Thanks for the feedback.
>
> Actually, I was so pleased with your revelation, that I didn't really take
> in your last note:
>
> "Note that it would be simpler to make the problem account visible instead
> of deleting it."
>
> What you advised was actually very very simple, as I already have a cmd
> prompt on my desktop, and it worked without needing to go into safe mode.
>
> How could I have rendered the account visible - I normally do this with
> TweakUI, but this account wasn't showing up anywhere but on the net user
> cmd, so there was nowhere else I could get at it to change it? Net user
> does list various parameters for each account, but not visibility.
>
> On the laptop there is a further account profile listed in MyComp
> props/advanced called 'Account Unknown'. But no 'account unknown' in the
> Docs and Sets profiles. In the docs and sets list though, there is a
> profile called 'Owner' which does not seem to have an account. In the
> Registry I can't see any list of user names to match the ones in net user,
> one can track the numbered profiles and see that they point at a
> particular folder, but not see which user account name they refer to.
> Should I just delete the 'Account unknown' and see if the 'Owner' folders
> disappear?
>
> All rather curious, but I suppose it has to be fairly difficult to change
> an ac inadvertently.
>
> Thanks for the tips,
>
> S

User accounts can be prevented from showing up on the logon screen by
creating a registry entry for them here:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

To unhide an account you need to remove the account name from this location.
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?


"spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:u1JRuDwJJHA.4512@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message
> news:efs70wmJJHA.4936@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:eocw45lJJHA.1156@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> Thank you Pegasus, you are a star!
>>> I'm amazed at how much time I've spent hunting for this information!
>>> Oh for a local users and groups in XPHome!
>>>
>>> Many thanks,
>>>
>>> S
>>
>> Thanks for the feedback.
>
> Actually, I was so pleased with your revelation, that I didn't really take
> in your last note:
>
> "Note that it would be simpler to make the problem account visible instead
> of deleting it."
>
> What you advised was actually very very simple, as I already have a cmd
> prompt on my desktop, and it worked without needing to go into safe mode.
>
> How could I have rendered the account visible - I normally do this with
> TweakUI, but this account wasn't showing up anywhere but on the net user
> cmd, so there was nowhere else I could get at it to change it? Net user
> does list various parameters for each account, but not visibility.
>
> On the laptop there is a further account profile listed in MyComp
> props/advanced called 'Account Unknown'. But no 'account unknown' in the
> Docs and Sets profiles. In the docs and sets list though, there is a
> profile called 'Owner' which does not seem to have an account. In the
> Registry I can't see any list of user names to match the ones in net user,
> one can track the numbered profiles and see that they point at a
> particular folder, but not see which user account name they refer to.
> Should I just delete the 'Account unknown' and see if the 'Owner' folders
> disappear?
>
> All rather curious, but I suppose it has to be fairly difficult to change
> an ac inadvertently.
>
> Thanks for the tips,
>
> S
>
>
I thought that 'account unknown' was used when there is no username
associated with a security id. Sometimes, a security id will appear in
place of a deleted account.
I have a USB drive which I sometimes use to move files between computers.
Files or folders from one computer can show up as 'account unknown' on the
other.
You can also get this situation when you delete an account, which does not
result in deleting files belonging to the account.

What I would do with the 'account unknown' files and folders would be to
take ownership of subject files and folders. Then I would determine if
these things contain useful information and keep those that do.
Jim
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?


"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message
news:e%23XwsOwJJHA.2208@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:u1JRuDwJJHA.4512@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message
>> news:efs70wmJJHA.4936@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>>> news:eocw45lJJHA.1156@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>> Thank you Pegasus, you are a star!
>>>> I'm amazed at how much time I've spent hunting for this information!
>>>> Oh for a local users and groups in XPHome!
>>>>
>>>> Many thanks,
>>>>
>>>> S
>>>
>>> Thanks for the feedback.
>>
>> Actually, I was so pleased with your revelation, that I didn't really
>> take in your last note:
>>
>> "Note that it would be simpler to make the problem account visible
>> instead of deleting it."
>>
>> What you advised was actually very very simple, as I already have a cmd
>> prompt on my desktop, and it worked without needing to go into safe mode.
>>
>> How could I have rendered the account visible - I normally do this with
>> TweakUI, but this account wasn't showing up anywhere but on the net user
>> cmd, so there was nowhere else I could get at it to change it? Net user
>> does list various parameters for each account, but not visibility.
>>
>> On the laptop there is a further account profile listed in MyComp
>> props/advanced called 'Account Unknown'. But no 'account unknown' in the
>> Docs and Sets profiles. In the docs and sets list though, there is a
>> profile called 'Owner' which does not seem to have an account. In the
>> Registry I can't see any list of user names to match the ones in net
>> user, one can track the numbered profiles and see that they point at a
>> particular folder, but not see which user account name they refer to.
>> Should I just delete the 'Account unknown' and see if the 'Owner' folders
>> disappear?
>>
>> All rather curious, but I suppose it has to be fairly difficult to change
>> an ac inadvertently.
>>
>> Thanks for the tips,
>>
>> S
>
> User accounts can be prevented from showing up on the logon screen by
> creating a registry entry for them here:
> HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
>
> To unhide an account you need to remove the account name from this
> location.

Thanks Pegasus and Jim,

I had come across the reference to the Special Accounts user list while
looking for a way to delete the invisible account. There was no list,
unfortunately, which is why I put my question here. It turns out that the
profile that had originally been on the very invisible account, still gave
trouble after copying it into a new one: it behaved as two different
profiles: if it was graded as administrator it gave one desktop layout; if
graded as user a different one that refused to hold a desktop picture. I
ended up having to recreate the profile from scratch.

Then I made very sure to download the User Profile Hive Cleanup Service from
MS: I've had it on the pc for some time, and had not realised it was not
running on the laptop. Hopefully this will get rid of the profile failing
to unload completely problem, in future.

The account profile labelled 'Account Unknown' did disappear when I deleted
the 'Owner' folder from Docs and Sets.

While all this was going on the laptop seemed to be taking an interminable
time to deal with Avg processes, so I took the opportunity of deleting it
and loading Avast instead.
Avast said it found a virus: Win32:CTX, but this appears to have been in a
restore point and in an 'Active Scan' (Panda presumably) folder. Not sure
of the significance of this. Avast said it was in:

Win\System32\ActiveScan\pskavs.dll and in
C:\SystemVolumeInformation\-restore(11B4CBB0...

I've deleted the old restore points just in case.

Thanks for the tips.

S
 
Re: How can I delete an account that I can't see?


"Jim" <j.n@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:ed14ZewJJHA.1556@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:u1JRuDwJJHA.4512@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message
>> news:efs70wmJJHA.4936@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>> "spamlet" <spam.morespam@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>>> news:eocw45lJJHA.1156@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>> Thank you Pegasus, you are a star!
>>>> I'm amazed at how much time I've spent hunting for this information!
>>>> Oh for a local users and groups in XPHome!
>>>>
>>>> Many thanks,
>>>>
>>>> S
>>>
>>> Thanks for the feedback.
>>
>> Actually, I was so pleased with your revelation, that I didn't really
>> take in your last note:
>>
>> "Note that it would be simpler to make the problem account visible
>> instead of deleting it."
>>
>> What you advised was actually very very simple, as I already have a cmd
>> prompt on my desktop, and it worked without needing to go into safe mode.
>>
>> How could I have rendered the account visible - I normally do this with
>> TweakUI, but this account wasn't showing up anywhere but on the net user
>> cmd, so there was nowhere else I could get at it to change it? Net user
>> does list various parameters for each account, but not visibility.
>>
>> On the laptop there is a further account profile listed in MyComp
>> props/advanced called 'Account Unknown'. But no 'account unknown' in the
>> Docs and Sets profiles. In the docs and sets list though, there is a
>> profile called 'Owner' which does not seem to have an account. In the
>> Registry I can't see any list of user names to match the ones in net
>> user, one can track the numbered profiles and see that they point at a
>> particular folder, but not see which user account name they refer to.
>> Should I just delete the 'Account unknown' and see if the 'Owner' folders
>> disappear?
>>
>> All rather curious, but I suppose it has to be fairly difficult to change
>> an ac inadvertently.
>>
>> Thanks for the tips,
>>
>> S
>>
>>
> I thought that 'account unknown' was used when there is no username
> associated with a security id. Sometimes, a security id will appear in
> place of a deleted account.
> I have a USB drive which I sometimes use to move files between computers.
> Files or folders from one computer can show up as 'account unknown' on the
> other.
> You can also get this situation when you delete an account, which does not
> result in deleting files belonging to the account.
>
> What I would do with the 'account unknown' files and folders would be to
> take ownership of subject files and folders. Then I would determine if
> these things contain useful information and keep those that do.
> Jim

Thanks Jim,

In this case, the 'account unknown' was, confusingly associated with a
profile labelled 'Owner' in docs and sets. Why it didn't show up as 'Owner'
rather than 'account unknown' I don't know, but when one was deleted the
other went too.

Surprising how confusing an apparently simple thing like 'a user account'
can turn out to be!

Cheers,

S
 
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