Secondhand PC - Remove old Administator

That’s fine.
If your Grandson has abandoned the account & now has a new account for the new pc & you know your own account email & password then there shouldn’t be any problems with accounts being messed up. We’ll be here if you do choose to do the clean install.

FrankS said:

Also, in Explorer C:\Users why does it it only show two folders: GrandsonName & Public? Why doesn't it show my Admin account that I'm currently signed in to?

That might well be because the account is faulty. I suggest these checks [well, it's one check really but it takes several steps to get there]:-

1 In a cmd/PS window enter the command

Code:

wmic useraccount list full

2 Look through the results to find the FullName entry that matches the full name you gave MS when you originally created your MSAccount online. Note its entries for Name [i.e. short name, often the first 5 characters of your FullName] and its SID.
3 Run RegEdit and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

then find the entry for that SID. Then look in the right-hand side for the entry

ProfileImagePath

which will show you which folder Windows thinks you are using for that account.

If that folder does not exist then the account has been corrupted or Windows thinks you have never logged into it [which is the stage at which it creates user folders] and you need to create another then raise it to Admin. Repeat the checks above for the new account after you have logged into it at least once so that you can be sure that it has been created correctly.

If even the replacement account has an incorrect entry then I suggest that the hidden folder C:\Users\Default is corrupted and that the OS is incapable of making new user accounts properly.
- Some people have claimed that copying the C:\Users\Default folder from another Windows 10 computer has fixed the problem but I have never put it to the test.
- I do not believe that a Repair install will have any effect on the problem.
- Your only other option would therefore be a Clean install - TenForumsTutorials


All the best,
Denis

FrankS said:

Yes, that all looks correct.

Frank,

So the ProfileImagePath entry tells you which path in C:\Users your account uses and that path exists?

But you said that path was not displayed, that only your Grandson's account [and Public] were shown.

Denis

I think you should stop and create a new local user account then raise it to be an Admin one.
- Do this before even thinking about responding to that latest MS demand.
- I'm not suggesting logging into it just creating it so you know you have a fallback in case your current adventures mess up your existing user account.
- And write its password down somewhere secure yet accessible.

I'm tied up for the foreseeable and, since I know next to nothing about MSAccounts & even less about the Store, I wouldn't have anything useful to say anyway.

Best of luck,
Denis