Normally it takes about 30 seconds. Personally, I would reinstall. But since backups and reinstalls take about a day to do on windows I understand the desire to pursue other avenues. Try installing a good AV set, clamav will do just fine but Avast and F-Stop are also pretty good for cleaning up a mess like this. You can also try rolling back the system with system restore and see what that does for you. But their are a few dozen really, really good viruses out their that are very difficult to remove. Your definitely having interesting problems with creating a user, which causes me to believe your system may have been severally damaged by what ever event started you down this path. Or your doing something incorrectly, which I may be less likely to believe. What kind of errors show up in the logs after you attempt to login?

On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 10:34 AM, Dorian A. Monroe, II <dorian.monroe@cox.net> wrote:

Check to see if you have any password complexity policies in place. Go to start->run and enter "gpedit.msc" to open the local group policy editor and go to Computer Configuration->Windows Settings->Security Settings->Password policy.

This is what I have (see win_1.jpg)

Since you're there, check under Local Policies->User Rights Assignment and be sure that the user that you're trying to create belongs to one of the groups listed under "Allow log on locally".

I created a "limited user" and they are not prevented from logging on locally. I then changed the user to an Admin user, and still could not login locally with that user id and password.

When creating a user account, I would recommend just using the command line:

NET USER newusername newpassword /ADD

Tried this, too. I removed the user created with the GUI that didn't work and rebooted. Then logged on as administrator and opended a comman line window. Type this:

net user ipod music /ADD

The prompt came back and said the user was created successfully. Tried to log in, and gotr the same error. First is a pop up with them message about violating security policied. Then each subsequent attempt, and the login won't accept the password.

I am really stumped and frustrated! How long does it normally take to create a Windows user???

Mark

On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 10:27 AM , Mark Phillips wrote:

Sorry for posting such a non-Linux question, but I don't know of any comparable Windows user lists to plug. If there is one, please let me know and I will join it! I use Windows so infrequently that I have never searched for one. Usually all I need is google, but not this time.

My problem - Windows XP Pro, all updated with patches etc. I have 5 users defined with passwords that have been working flawlessly for a year. I tried to add a 6th user today using the Control Panel. I added a password using the user edit screen. No error messages. I logged out of my admin account and tried to log in with the new user account. Got the error that I could not log in because I was violating account policies. Rebooted. Same error. Change password. Same error. Rebooted. Same error. Deleted the account. Rebooted. Created account with different name the same way. Created password the same way. Wrote down password on yellow sticky and put it on the monitor. Tried to log in. Got pop up saying I had the wrong password. Re-read sticky note on monitor. Tried again, same error. Rebooted. Had office-mate read password to me off of the sticky note on the monitor. Tried to log in again, same error.....went outside and ran around the block screaming for 10 minutes....had a nice chat with a policeman at the corner.....Now I feel better, but I still don't have a 6th user account.

Is there a limit to the number of user accounts one can have on Windows XP? How do I add a new user with a password without using all the nifty MS new user screens and prompts? I googled my error messages and did not find anything that pertained to my account creation problems.

Thanks!

Mark

P.S. Written using a machine running only Debian Testing and Gmail......;-)

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