The original question was different, but I have actually provided an answer to this question before. See my post in the question "Always display the last / default user Windows 7 welcome screen" - it explains how to set up UAC and hidden accounts together so you can authenticate to the account via UAC but not log into it from the welcome screen.
Essentially, what you need to do is configure UAC to prompt for the user to enter both their username and password manually, allowing you to enter a username which is hidden from the login screen but still enabled. Instructions on how to do this are on the linked post.
In the meantime, it should still be possible for you to recover the account without doing a full reinstall. Open a command prompt (cmd.exe
), and type runas /user:USERNAME regedit.exe
, where USERNAME is the name of the administrative account. It will prompt you for that user's password; enter it and hit enter. This will open the registry editor running as that user, from which you can go in and revert the changes you made, adding back the account to the login screen.
Re-read your question and noticed that you said run-as won't work. What happens when you try booting into safe mode? I seem to recall that with Windows 7 Home Premium, the built-in administrator account is disabled by default, but is enabled in safe mode, allowing you to log into it and make changes. Unless you have hidden the built-in account in addition to whatever account you set up, this may work.
Finally, if all else fails, you could try running a system restore from the recovery console. Boot onto your Windows 7 installation disk, and choose to "repair a windows installation" instead of install. You can select your installation, then will eventually get to a screen where you can choose to do a restore. This should change the registry back to how it was before you made the change, if it has an old enough restore point. Your files will not be modified by a system restore, although some system settings might be.
I just had the same issue on a Windows 7 Pro x64 box, and never had any issues on Windows 7 Ultimate x86/32bit version.
I will assume that it might be a 7 Pro issue, or bad port on Microsoft's part to x64 (or a bad software combo on a Lenovo due to all the tweaks they do with all the goofy bloatware software preinstalled.
I restored from scratch, did all updates, installed office, did all updates, set Admin passwd, enabled Admin account, rebooted. User wasn't available, but I used that user to do ALL UPDATES AND INSTALL ALL SOFTWARE. User was able to be seen in Computer Management, and not disabled account, yet could not see the user during logon, nor in CTRL PANEL in users.
Deleted the account through Comp. manage and recreated, and all is well (after deleteing the profile as well)...
Best Answer
Yes, it seems you can hide the account following guidelines explained at Microsoft Technet forums. However you can't login then unless you set the registry key back.
regedit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Winlogon
, clickNew
and clickKey
.SpecialAccounts
and Enter.SpecialAccounts
, clickNew
and clickKey
.UserList
and Enter.UserList
, right click on a empty area and clickNew
then clickDWORD (32bit) Value
.Modify
.0
and clickOK
.If you want to show it again you have to enter
1
instead of0
at the last step.Alternatively, you can see the answers from this post: "Hide account from login screen but can be used in UAC"