Windows 10: Accidentally created another User

I was trying to follow the instructions to dispense with logging in with user name and password every time I boot up... went thru "netplwiz" and after unticking the requisite box and clicking OK it presented me with a user name I hadn't chosen (although it's part of my GMail address for MS sign-in) to add a password to twice, presumably to confirm I'm authorised to change the sign-in setting.

Concerned that I didn't recognise the username as one I'd chosen I typed in the one that Microsoft greets me with and then typed in twice the normal password (or so I thought).

Rebooted to test it was working and it was NOT! Tried to sign in and it said I'd entered the wrong password. Then noticed in the bottom left of my screen that there were 2 identical user names so I selected what I hoped was a different user and signed in OK with my old password on that.

I cannot find 2 users tho, to delete the unwanted one.

Please can someone sort me out so that I have only one user (me, as Admin) and so that I do not have to log in.

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I must add... heaven knows why I'm finding it so difficult to set up this laptop when I've coped fine with Windows 10 on my others... except I'm a little bit older? *Redface

:)

 

accidentally locked another user out

I was sharing a desktop running windows 10 with another user and I did something to accidentally deny them access. I've done the Switch user" thing and cant switch back? What can I do besides grovel at her feet and beg for mercy? That didn't work either

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum topic.***

 

accidentally locked another user out

Hi,

Please answer the questions below for us to better assist you on your concern:

• Can you still access your own account on the computer?
• Is your account an administrator?
• What error message is she getting when she attempts to log in to her account?
• Which type of account does she use? Is she using a Microsoft account or a local account? You can check if she is using a Microsoft account if you can see an email address under her name on the login screen.

We're looking forward to your response.

 

There is a useful tutorial here which will show you all the accounts on your system: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html. Hopefully this will help you work out which account you need to delete. Note that you can only delete accounts if you are an administrator. New accounts are set up by default as standard accounts not administrator accounts.

 

Thank you, Phil, and I've got a list of accounts but haven't the faintest idea how to make use of it.

When I boot up I see a log-in box with "Wrong password..." and an OK button to try again even tho I haven't done anything yet.

Click OK and then I see, in the bottom left of the screen, two identical user names with the second one highlighted. If I select the first one I can log in as normal with my Microsoft account.

Here is the list of accounts, no Admin in my name. What do I do next, please?

 

Can you determine if the Microsoft Account that you are logged in with is an Administrator account? The following tutorial shows you how:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html

I suspect that you do not have an administrator account active on your system but need to check first. If this is true then we will need to activate the built-in Administrator account which is there for situations like this.

 

I'm logged in as Administrator.

 

Okay, that is good. Please reverse the change that you made to automatically sign in to Windows. See the tutorial here if you want to read more about this, I think you used option 1. Check that your PC has reverted back and then you can try and set it up again following the procedure given in the tutorial.

You need to be aware that MS does not use the full username of your MS account email but just uses the first 5 letters.

 

When I started out trying to disable log-in I was not aware of that, so when I saw my nickname in the box instead of my Microsoft account name, I changed it to the latter and added the password that I usually sign in with, but it said my 2 attempts did not match so I entered them again, OK.

Since that moment the first log-in screen requires a password that I do not know, and I have to choose the alternative, identical ID on the bottom of the screen to sign in with my usual password.

The reason I'm rehashing this is because I'm scared to go in there again, what mischief may I get up to this time?

I was going to ask Microsoft to give me a call but the waiting time was 3+ hours... tried again later and it was 6+ hours *eek* by which time I'll be asleep... in fact I feel a nap coming on now, I'll let you know how I get on.

I really appreciate your help, Phil *Smile

 

You should be OK, your list of accounts did not show any problems and I think you will be able to get back by undoing the automatic login. Just make sure the box is ticked for "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer"

 

UPDATE

I decided to book a callback from Microsoft, didn't do it yesterday because the estimated waiting times went from 300+ to 600+ to 1000+ minutes! This morning at 0910hr (UK) I booked the call and they phoned instantly *Smile

However, despite spending 1h15m faffing around in my system the operative was unable to fix the problem and has escalated me to 'second level' and they are calling me in the morning.

However! I had a sleep and when I next booted up the log-in screen was completely normal, just the one ID and no pre-existing message saying the password was wrong - go figure!

So I'll try to get this second-level person to by-pass the log-in for me. (And fix OneDrive, which I had to uninstall because it hijacks the print screen key *Mad ).