Hiding a User account from Windows login screen

Hiding a User account from Windows Login Screen

For a client, I usually activate administrator account, assign password, and hide it from the login screen. If client knows computers, and asks for it, Yes I tell the password, and do not hide it.

But if the client is not well aware of administrator account, I do not tell them.

Lets come to the point.

To hide any account,

1. In Windows 7 type in start, and in Windows XP, type in Run :  regedit.exe and press enter (a registry editor will be opened).
2. goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
3. In the left panel, right click on Winlogon and click New and click Key.
4. Type SpecialAccounts and press Enter (Case Sensitive).
5. In the left panel, right click on SpecialAccounts and click New and click Key.
6. Type UserList and press Enter (Case Sensitive).
7. In right panel of UserList, right click on a empty area and click New then click DWORD (32bit) Value.
8. Type in the name of the user account that you want to hide and press Enter. E.g.: Administrator.
9. In the right panel, right click on the user account name and click Modify.
10. To hide the user account – Type 0 (zero) and click OK. (number zero not the letter)
11. Whenever you want to un-hide the account just change the value to 1 instead of  0 (zero).

Once this is done in the registry, you can import the hiding of a specific user account (E.g. Administrator Account) to other computers.

To do this, right click on the SpecialAccounts keycreated in step 3-4 and click Export a window appears, select the location where you want to save the file, type the name for the file and click save.

in the next computer just double click the file, and click Yes and Ok options when they appear.

the file looks like below when edited in a notepad or any text editor software.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList]
"Administrator"=dword:00000000

If you save the above text in a file with extension .reg and use it on any computer, it will hide Administrator account.

Network connection has Limited or No Connectivity - Solution

Solutions for Network / Connection has Limited or No Connectivity

If your network is having yellow icon and saying "This connection has limited or no connectivity" and it is driving you crazy, Here are some solutions which you should also try:

1. Restart your computer.
2. Restart your router.
3. Restart both (computer and router).
4. Change the network cable.
5. UNPLUG both computer and router, and replug it and switch on.

Most hopefully this will solve the problem.

Solving Port 80 application issues (Apache, wamp, xampp, or other services) in windows

Wamp Server not Starting
Xampp Server not Starting
Apache not Starting

Below I will share some tips for solving the problems of starting application above or other applications which are using port 80.

some times you get trouble in starting any application which uses port 80.

This is usually due to the reason that some other services are running on the same port.

you may try below solutions.

Stopping IIS

Mostly the cause for such thing is that IIS is running. You may stop IIS by opening IIS itself or by issuing  the following command in the command prompt.

iisreset /stop

you may also find other commands from the web. see links below.

SQL Server Reporting Services

This also is the cause of such problems often, so in windows 7, you  can stop this by typing services.msc in the start menu and pressing enter. Then look for the service SQL Server Reporting Services, double click it, and click stop.

Or shortly use one of the following command in the command Prompt.
(to open command prompt: type cmd in Run in Windows XP or in Start Menu in Windows 7)

net stop ReportServer$SQLEXPRESS

OR

sc stop ReportServer$SQLEXPRESS

Other solutions

Sometimes the above two solutions are not beneficial, so you can use the a command to see what is being run on the port 80. Type the following command in command prompt.

netstat -oa

This command will list down all the connections and listening ports, and also display the owning Process IDs associated with each connection.

now you can go to task manager by right clicking the Task Bar (The bar on which the start button is there) and select Start Task Manager. Go to Processes Tab. Go to View menu click Select Columns and make the option PID (Process Identifier) checked and click ok. This will now list the processes with PIDs compare the PID from the above command's output, and you can identify the program using port 80 or can END the process from this places which is running the port 80.

other useful links and sources for more info:

1. http://www.sitepoint.com/unblock-port-80-on-windows-run-apache/
2. http://www.sitepoint.com/run-apache-iis-same-pc-2/

error 2098 solution

Solution for "Error 2098"

So you are getting error 2098 while installing MS Office or other software?

Here's the solution.

If you have installed dot Net Framework, update it to the new version

OR
re-run the installation and select "repair" option if it is there.

and the problem will be solved.