Can't login after upgrading to Windows 8.1
- by flatline
This afternoon, I upgraded my work laptop from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. I had previously had a local account, but after the upgrade, it prompted me to enter my windows account credentials, which I had set up beforehand at some point. I entered my password and clicked next, went through another screen or two, grew tired with the process, and clicked whatever the equivalent button to "skip this step" that I was presented with.
Now I can't log in. Not with my (previous) local account password, and not with my windows account password.
It's a Dell with biometric identification, which I had set up previously, so I put my finger on the reader and it complained that I couldn't use that fingerprint because I had changed my password. But, I hadn't wittingly changed my password at all. I assume that what happened is that, by entering my credentials, my local account was tied to the Windows account, but because I cancelled the process partway through, something went wrong and I cannot log in.
A few questions:
1) How do I log in with my windows account credentials? Should LOCALMACHINENAME\username, which was my previous login method, still work for the Windows account? When I booted to safemode it prompted me with WindowsAccount\myemailaddress, which allowed me to login there, but the regular login doesn't accept the '@' symbol.
2) Is there any way to make that account local-only again? I can't find any way of doing it.
3) I managed to enable the local administrator account and get back into the box; failing all else, is there a quick way to migrate my old profile over to a new user?
