I upgraded to Win XP Pro from ME. All was apparently functioning well for a couple of days. But now when I go to Start-->Control Panel-->User Accounts, all I see is a blank window. I have several administrator accounts, including the original, but none can access the window where one changes pictures, etc. for the users. Of course, I can still use the Control Panel to get to Performance and Maintenance--> Administrative Tools to add users, delete users, etc. I suppose I could live with accepting the default pictures Win XP assigns to new users...but this is not the only trouble. Now no administrative user can access System Restore, for example (which was what I thought I could get to to solve this User Accounts problem). It seems as if the Administrator has had some rights taken away. No one else has changed any settings on this machine. Any suggestions? I can't seem to find anyone else who has had this strange problem. Thanks in advance.

Possible fix: Boot your machine up normally but when it says "Verefing DMI Pool Data...", press F5. This will get you to the boot menu. From there, select to boot into safe mode (with no networking, no command prompt, just safe mode.) Once the machine is booted up, select the account that says "Administrator". From there, open my computer. Once my computer is open, right click on your hard drive and select properties. Once you are at the properrties screen, click on the security tab. From there, click on the button that says "advanced" [or somthing like that]. From there, click the box that says "take ownership". and click apply. it will give you rights to that drive, thus allowing you to alter security settings. Once it is done applying the changes, you should be able to get into the security settings where you can re-claim access to tye drives for individual accounts. Hope this works for you. Latz

Thanks for the advice. Alas, I don't even have a "security" tab for any of the administrator accounts (all I have is General, Tools, Hardware, and Sharing.) So it looks as if I can't regain control of the computer. Ugh. I guess I should reinstall or something. Thanks again.

I am experiencing some lost privaleges as well. I cannot access Windows Upgrade because it says I am not an administrator. However, everything on my computer says I am.