Hello all,

For much time using nLite with super success that I have experienced, thank you all!


Lately I have a problem after post-install.

Everything in WINXP x86 is working fine except that the User Accounts which I typed into the UNATTENDED section of nLite aren't aren't being created as I like.

In the UNATTENDED section:

I renamed the default WINXP Administrator account to something else for extra security and gave it a password.

I renamed the default Guest Account to something else as well.

Then I created an additional account profile which would be for my day-to-day use. I slapped a password on it and earmarked it as an Administrator level user account also.

AFTER WINXP completes installing it turns out that the only user account which was created is the day-to-day account. The default Admin and Guest accounts are missing. I loaded up Safe Mode to be sure that they weren't just hidden, they really haven't been created at all.

This isn't the worst thing as I can go ahead and create them myself, but this has been happening on the past three or four nLite disc builds that I have done.

Any idea why the default user accounts are not being created?

Are you sure you did not uncheck the "Active" box ? Have you checked the folders in "Documents and settings" ?
I've never seen an install without "administrator", I'm not sure it's that easy to "go ahead and create it yourself".

Okay, here is a closer look at what I did in nLite.

Also, on the UNATTENDED - General settings page, I altered the default Program Files path to another hard drive partition instead of C:\

After looking at my recent install again yesterday, I can see that the Guest Account I wanted has been created, it was simply deactivated in User Accounts.

But the default Administrator account which I renamed to 'Troubleshooting Only' wasn't created in the Documents and Settings folder.

You can see that my Troubleshooting Only account is marked as an Administrator, but the day-to-day account with the name Jennifer is also designated an Administrator. Should I have designated that account as a Power User instead of Administrator perhaps? It seems like that account is replacing the default Admin account.

You've put spaces in the user names. I think that might cause both accounts to be invalid.

I experience a similar issue as well, and I do not have spaces in my user accounts.
Basically, I rename the administrator account in nLite and it is active.
Post WinXP install, if I create a second user account from the control panel and make that account administrator, the one that was setup by nLite gets deleted (or hidden) at the next reboot. Is this the intended behaviour (i.e. the default admin account reverts to its hidden state when another one is manually created?).

Anybody has additional info about this? I still run into this issue whenever I create a second administrator account from the windows control panel i.e. my initial administrator account gets deleted (or at least hidden) from the welcome screen. I was able to find since then that even though it is not available on the welcome screen, if I disable the welcome screen and fast user switching, I am able to logon using the original administrator account, but I still find it weird that I am unable to create a second administrator account without making the first one inaccessible.

That's normal behaviour of XP.
"Administrator" is not meant to be used as a normal account and does not appear on Welcome screen unless it's the only account and you are not auto loging.
This is not the same problem as the first poster.

To the person saying that no NT local administrator account where available, then open a command-prompt and type 'net user' to see if it's there(which it is, btw) and then afterwards type 'net user administrator' to see more info about it i.e. if it's active etc.

All NT based OS'es will by default have a local administrator account, which the install is being done from and where all other accounts are being made from during normal attended installs...

Also, you will not see 'Administrator' in 'Documents and Settings', when you haven't logged in with the 'Administrator' account yet...

Ok thanks for the feedback... yes I see now that my issue is not the same as the original poster but I think there are some similarities nevertheless.
Regarding the administrator account that "does not appear on Welcome screen unless it's the only account and you are not auto loging", did you mean "unless it is the only administrator account"? I do see the administrator account on the welcome screen, it is not the only account, and I am not auto logging. It is only when I create a second administrator account that the first one disappears.

Sorry, i'm not Ponch, but what he said was that there's a difference between the NT local administrator account and any other admin rights enabled user accounts and the NT local administrator account becomes hidden by default whenever an admin rights enabled user account is made in addition to the NT local administrator account...