When installing Windows 7, the administrator account is disabled by default. This is a problem if you are using VMware to install the operating system because the default user account when installing a virtual machine with Windows is “Administrator.” If you choose this rather than a different account, after the install you will be unable to log in for the first time to Windows.
The solution is to boot in Safe Mode (pressing F8 at boot up) as Administrator then re-enable the account.Hat tip to the HowtoGeek for the solution.
Here’s a video screenshot I took of the process.
NOTE: The administrator account is disabled for security reasons, it is advised that you disable it again after you create a normal account for the system or simply create a new user when booted into Safe Mode instead of enabling the administrator. For anything that needs administrative rights with the administrator account disabled, right click the application and say “run as administrator”.