Recently, I disabled the Windows XP logon screen so Windows loads up the desktop directly, and I changed my account to "limited." Now I cannot install or uninstall anything, but I can edit the registry. How do I edit the registry to enable the logon screen to allow me to logon as administrator?

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If you're using Windows XP Home Edition, the only way to get to the administrator account is to boot Windows in Safe Mode. This is done by pressing F8 at boot time (you need to be quick about this!) and selecting Safe Mode. If you're using Windows XP, go to Control Panel | User Accounts and select "Change the way users log on or off." From there, clear the "Use the Welcome Screen" option and click OK. When you next log in, you'll be able to supply "Administrator" as a user name, and you'll now see that there is an Administrator user object in the User Accounts section as well. The default password for Administrator is blank.

This was first published in July 2005

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