Cannot Log on After Removing Everyone Group from Permissions

When you remove the Everyone group from the permissions of the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 root folder on the local computer, you may not be able to log on after you restart the computer.

This behavior can occur because the Everyone group is a Windows NT 4.0 special group that is used to grant access to resources on the computer for both local and remote users. When you remove the Everyone group from the permissions of the %SystemRoot% folder, you cannot log on to the computer because you no longer have permissions to the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder.

To resolve this behavior, install a parallel copy of Windows NT 4.0 and then log on to the parallel installation. In Windows Explorer, add the Everyone group to the share permissions of the \Winnt folder of the original installation, and grant the Everyone group either Full Control or Change permissions.

For more information, refer to the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: