vista upgrade unable login

Prior to installing Windows Vista there was only one user on the system who would be logged in automatically.
After upgrading to Vista "Other User" is requested to log in. Upon typing in the old Username, it deny's access; I presume this is because the account did not have a password; but am unable to change / create a password due to not being able to log in.
Due to not being able to log in, all data on the harddrive is inaccessable. The only option I can think of, which would loose all the data, is to re-install a clean copy of Vista; this is currently the worst case scenario.
If there is any known way of logging in or restoring the system back to Windows XP, any help would be much appreciated.
~ Greg.

Hi,
The upgrades are a one way street, so unless you created an image backup of WinXP the only way back to it is a format and clean install. Now, as to the data, access can normally be corrected by taking ownership of the folders. Right click an affected folder, select properties. On the security tab click advanced, then go to the owner tab - replace the current owner with your user account, and enable the line to include subfolders. Apply/ok your way back out.
-- Best of Luck,
Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
"Sleeping Yeti" <Sleeping Yeti@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

Prior to installing Windows Vista there was only one user on the system who would be logged in automatically.
After upgrading to Vista "Other User" is requested to log in. Upon typing in the old Username, it deny's access; I presume this is because the account did not have a password; but am unable to change / create a password due to not being able to log in.
Due to not being able to log in, all data on the harddrive is inaccessable. The only option I can think of, which would loose all the data, is to re-install a clean copy of Vista; this is currently the worst case scenario.
If there is any known way of logging in or restoring the system back to Windows XP, any help would be much appreciated.
~ Greg.

Sleeping Yeti wrote:

Prior to installing Windows Vista there was only one user on the system who would be logged in automatically.
After upgrading to Vista "Other User" is requested to log in. Upon typing in the old Username, it deny's access; I presume this is because the account did not have a password; but am unable to change / create a password due to not being able to log in.
Due to not being able to log in, all data on the harddrive is inaccessable. The only option I can think of, which would loose all the data, is to re-install a clean copy of Vista; this is currently the worst case scenario.
If there is any known way of logging in or restoring the system back to Windows XP, any help would be much appreciated.
~ Greg.

Try booting into safe mode and logon to the administrator account with no password. You should then be able to reset the password for your other account.
-- Kerry MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Try the following: Start in SAFE mode and open regedit then 1.HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon Add a new key: SpecialAccounts And a sub-key in the SpecialAccounts key: UserList In the UserList key, create a DWORD (32-bit): Administrator Set value to: 1 2. In the Run box type: control userpasswords2
3. Advanced -> Advanced (Local Users and Groups) -> Users
4. Doubleclick Administrator and uncheck "Account is disabled".
"Sleeping Yeti" <Sleeping Yeti@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

Prior to installing Windows Vista there was only one user on the system who would be logged in automatically.
After upgrading to Vista "Other User" is requested to log in. Upon typing in the old Username, it deny's access; I presume this is because the account did not have a password; but am unable to change / create a password due to not being able to log in.
Due to not being able to log in, all data on the harddrive is inaccessable. The only option I can think of, which would loose all the data, is to re-install a clean copy of Vista; this is currently the worst case scenario.
If there is any known way of logging in or restoring the system back to Windows XP, any help would be much appreciated.
~ Greg.