Vista, boot ony goes to administrator cmd.exe

dell laptop. when you boot up the computer it always goes to the administartor cmd.exe

i am working this proble over the phone with someone.

they tried the following
1.Boot vista installation disc and go to repair.
2.Open command prompt and type notepad.
3.In notepad click on file and the on open.
4.In the box go to C:\Windows\system32 and change document type to all file.
5.Find file sethc.exe amd rename it to sethc.exe.old
6.Copy cmd.exe and paste it again, it will be called "Copy of cmd.exe".
7.Rename "Copy of cmd.exe" to sethc.exe.
8.Restart your PC.
9.In logon press SHIFT 5 times and cmd will nou apear.
10.In cmd type "Net user administrator *".
11.Then type new password.

PS. No character will show wen you type new password.

user said they do not see any exe files.
they found a cmd file and copied/paste/rename to sethc.exe but after reboot the computer went back to administrator cmd.exe

any help? i have no idea what screen they are looking at. not sure if there is something in the notepad view to see file extensions or hidden files