Windows 10: What are Administrator Privileges? How did I lose them?

I recently had to replace the hard drive on my computer and reinstall Windows 10. I apparently lost several settings in the process and I've had problems with Windows 10 ever since.


1. I cannot save pdfs except to an "Owner" file, unlike before.

2. I have no idea what "Administrator privileges" are, except that I apparently don't have them. I'm the only user of this computer and I'm told I need someone else's permission to save documents, print, and other routine tasks.

3. I used to have to sign into my computer, which I set up to keep my kids off of my computer. I don't any more, but am not sure why.

4. Who do I call to figure out what is going on?



I've found that there are about 3 ways to do everything in Windows 10. Windows keeps steering me to its cloud service, which I don't want, since I am now having to maintain documents in at least two or three places.

:)

 

Dell Touchpad uninstall administrator privileges

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. We appreciate your interest in Windows 10.

From the description of the issue, I understand that you are unable to uninstall drivers from Device Manager as it prompts saying log-in with administrator privileges, we will help you to resolve this issue.

I would recommend you to see if you are logged in administrator account, if not then enable it. Please follow the below steps to enable:

Step 1: I would suggest you to enable the built-in administrator account.

You need to run the command from an elevated command prompt. To do that follow the below steps:

• 
  Press the Windows key + R from the keyboard to open the
  Run Command Dialog Box.
  
• 
  Type cmd and right-click on the
  Command Prompt result that should appear.
  
• 
  This opens a list of options at the bottom. Select
  Run as administrator.
  
• 
  Accept the UAC (User Account Control) prompt.
  
• 
  Enter the following command to enable the hidden administrator account:
  net user administrator /active:yes
  

Hope it helps. Feel free to contact us for any assistance on Windows Operating System, we will be happy to help you.

 

Never prompted to elevate privilege as administrator


OK, I tried Dinesh's tutorial. First, here's a list of accounts for my machine:





I held down Shift and rebooted, and got the WinRE splash screen. I was prompted to log in, with "Dan" my only option:





If I clicked on "Don't see your account", I got this:





Is it suggesting that "Dan" is an administrator account? Oh, that it were so... I went back, selected the "Dan" account, and it booted into command prompt. I then attempted the first of Dinesh's instructions:





Hello darkness, my old friend... "Access Denied."

Dan

 

Administrator privileges

Hi James,



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. We appreciate your interest in Windows 10.



From the description of the issue, I understand that you are unable to take full ownership of the files and folders.

I would recommend you to see if you are logged in administrator account, if not then enable it. Please follow the below steps.

Step 1: If this issue is confined to all the files and folders in your computer then,

I would suggest you to enable the built in administrator account.

You need to run the command from an elevated command prompt. To do that follow the below steps:

• 
  Press the Windows key + R from the keyboard to open the
  Run Command Dialog Box.
  
• 
  Type cmd and right-click on the
  Command Prompt result that should appear.
  
• 
  This opens a list of options at the bottom. Select
  Run as administrator.
  
• 
  Accept the UAC (User Account Control) prompt.
  
• 
  Enter the following command to enable the hidden administrator account:
  net user administrator /active:yes
  

Step 2: If the issue is confined to particular folder or file then follow the below steps.

Use the following procedure to fix this as long as you don't reboot your machine:

• 
  Sign-in as an administrator on your computer.
  
• 
  Navigate to the folder where you're having the problem. Right-click and select
  Properties from the pop-up menu.
  
• 
  Under Properties | Security tab, click the
  Advanced button, then click "Change" owner on the
  Advanced Security Settings dialog (if you are already the owner, do this step anyway!), and in the resulting dialog enter whatever you want the owner to be
  
• 
  Now a new check-box appears labeled "Replace owner on sub-containers and objects"; check it.
  
• 
  Also check the box at the bottom "Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object."
  
• 
  Make sure under the Permission entries grid that your current account has Full control (if not Edit or Add your account to be listed with foll control). Finally hit
  Apply. This may take a while.
  

Hope it helps. Feel free to contact us for any assistance on Windows Operating System, we will be happy to help you.