Solved Stuck On "Preparing Windows" When Attempting To Log In

[Enigma]

I have 2 accounts on this PC, one is a MS account, the other is the built-in Administrator account, which I renamed and assigned a complex password to make it difficult for anyone to get into. However, I recently disabled the Admin account with the "net user administrator /active:no" command, and then deleted both the Administrator and Enigma (the name which I renamed it to) folders in C:\Users. I also went into Control Panel and made sure that the user is gone, it does not appear now. I can still log into my PC via the MS account since it has admin rights.

But after rebooting the Admin/Enigma account still appears on the login screen and asks for a password. So I reenter the old password and it then hangs with a "Preparing Windows" message. Then I do a hard reset and log into the MS account, I can see that a TEMP folder has been created at C:\Users, which I assume was created as a result of trying to log in as Admin/Enigma. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that the PC still remembers the password and other info associated with the account, and that info must still be stored somewhere in the Registry. That seems to be the only logical cause of the issue.

So, I need help with locating that info and resetting it, because I intend to reactivate Admin again, but this time I'm going to leave it alone. I had deleted it in the 1st place because of the appearance of 2 usernames for the account at C:\Users, and found that odd, so I figured I could get rid of both and then recreate/reset. I rarely use the account anyways because it is a security risk, and only to do a handful of things that I've had trouble doing with the MS account, despite it having admin privilidges.

Thanks for any help!

 

[znod]

just making sure I understand. You say "I had deleted it in the 1st place because of the appearance of 2 usernames for the account at C:\Users, and found that odd, so I figured I could get rid of both and then recreate/reset." Do you mean there were two users with the same name or two different names somehow associated with the same account? I think it must be the former, but just need to be sure.

Don't get you hopes up that I can solve your problem. But, I once had a less complicated situation somewhat akin to your's.

 

[Enigma]

I mean it was a single user with 2 different names in C:\Users (Administrator, the original, and Enigma, which is what I had renamed the account to). I know for a fact that they were referencing the same account.

It is solved now, the solution was to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\, and then delete the entries for the TEMP and Administrator/Enigma users. After that I disabled the built-in Admin account with the DOS command "net user administrator /active:no", rebooted and logged back into my MS account, reenable the Admin account, and then log in and change the password. Afterwards I changed the name of the account as well.

That's it, just figured I would post that in case anyone has the same issue.

 

[znod]

I see. Glad you solved it.