Hi, My uncle cannot log into Windows because somehow the user account names are gone from the Windows XP login screen. I tried booting with the Windows XP installation cd. I got to a point where I thought I was about to reinstall windows but I wasn't sure so I stopped. I would rather not reinstall Windows for him if there is a way to get back onto the Windows desktop. I also tried to boot up in safe mode. That didn't work. Also tried Last known good configuration when the computer worked. Still the same thing. No user accounts. Weird. Is there a way to do a system restore without logging into Windows Desktop?

You mean, you now see only the signle administrators account icon?

try hitting control alt delete twice at the welcome screen and typing in the usernames manually into the box that comes up

LOL. Don't you think I would have said that if there was an account to login on? There are "No" accounts listed at the Windows Login screen. None.

Yeah I tried doing control alt delete twice but nothing comes up when I do this. Is there anything else I can try short of putting the Dell Windows XP installation CD in and doing a Repair install?

OK. What do you see then?
1. Logon window (old implementation of logon screen; available in NT and above) with two fields for entering account name and password
2. Welcome screen (new implementation of logon screen; available in XP and above) with no icons on it
3. Or you see right the desktop when you log on to Windows and OS simply doesn't asks you for your account info?

Because if you don't see neither it is very very strange as Win32 subsystem should have allready been loaded and Windows should tell you about problems.

If you have access to boot partition (the partition where you have your Windows folder), try looking for the NTUser.dat file (that represents HKCU section in registry), located in %userprofile% folder as well system, software, etc (without extension) files located in %systemroot% folder.

Also check this article.

Just the welcome screen with no user account icons. Can't get past this screen. If I could get to the Desktop then I wouldn't be posting this problem on here lol.

so does it go to the NT login box when you do control alt del twice?

First of all, try pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete again. TWICE! Probably you need to press Ctrl+Alt, hold the two keys and then press the third.
Have you red this? Also read this.

If nothing helps, that means you filtered all accounts and denied interactive logon for all of them. Try doing this.

Additionally. I still recommend trying to access HKLM hive of registry from say BartPE and examine the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList\ key. If you see your accounts there, delete them. That will unhide them from Welcome screen.

Just installed family safety, rebooted - no accounts showing to login!
ctrl alt del to nt login - entered password for my account, said was locked out! Logged in with admin account, went to user accounts in ctrl panel and NO accounts exist apart from admin & guest???
Help please!!! (I thought I was OK at tech support, but Microsoft like to just bring us all down to size!!!!)