Windows 10: Administrator account - incomplete activation

Hi,
I tried to activate my Administrator account on a Win 10 HP Envy 700-414.
I did this because I thought it would help me delete some folders/files from a local network external hard drive.
These file were created by a Vista machine that I no longer have. I get access denied when I try to delete them. I can not change the owner or the permissions on properties > security
The attempt to activate the Administrator account went horribly bad.
It was partially created with only the recycle bin on the desktop. I had to do Ctrl Alt Delete to get back to my regular account. I did not capture the error messages - my mistake - and I can't find them in event Viewer. I don't know what log to search.
Activation was by dos cmd :
Net User Administrator/active:yes
Since it was bad I followed with:
Net User Administrator/active:no
The administrator account was not completely deactivated.
Is there a way that I can undo the mess that I made and get the administrator activated correctly?
Thanks


:)

 

Windows 10 Remote Desktop - The connection was denied because the user account is not authorized for remote logon

activate administrator account and connect via it ..

you can activate administrator account via computer management or via cmd by typing this command

net user administrator /active:yes

 

Administrator account in Win 8.1 gone after update to Win 10

I upgraded Vista to 8.1. The only administrator account I had was Administrator. With the update to Win 10 when I try to run as administrator only an account named Adam that I had created and never used comes up as it is an administrator account for my
son. I do not remember the password so I cannot activate the administrator account to be able to use it. For security my account is a standard user account so I cannot run as administrator. How do I activate administrator again?

 

Hello Frank,

I'm not sure if you have already read through this tutorial but if not, it will give you a number of alternative ways of activating and deactivating the Admin account. Hopefully one of these other methods will work.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

 

Thanks Philc43,
I found the missing message by trying to use ADMINISTRATOR again. The desktop is blank except for Trash.:
It is "the system cannot find the file specified" :
c:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\desktop
Looking at that location it is NOT there.
Is there a way to recover the missing file?

 

DId you try the other options for deleting and creating the Administrator account in the tutorial I showed you in post #2? If you have the Home version then Option 4 in the tutorial is the only other way you can try, if you have the Pro version, options 2,3 or 4 will work.

If there are system files missing it is worth running the sfc /scannow command in an elevated command prompt.

see https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

 

I know it's a little bit late to ask - but why did you feel the need to activate the built-in administrator account? Don't you already have an account set as administrator on the computer? You have to, because, to my knowledge, only an administrator can activate the built-in administrator account unless booted into safe mode where the built-in administrator account will be activated automatically if there is no other account set as administrator on the computer.

The built-in administrator account named administrator has no extra powers or privileges that a user account set as administrator does not have.

 

Thanks philc43,
I have home version. I did get Administrator working by copying C:\Users\Default\Desktop to
C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile

I still could not RMDIR /S the "bad" files and folders from the EXTERNALDRIVE. I get access denied.
I thought that the administrator account bypassed file/folder access checks.

I tried safe boot with CMD prompt on Administrator account. I get Device attached to the system is not functioning.
Maybe I need both CMD prompt and networking in safe mode.

NavyLCDR
I did think the Administrator account would bypass file/folder access checks. Yes my regular account has administrator privileges.
As I said initially "I did this because I thought it would help me delete some folders/files from a local network external hard drive.
These file were created by a Vista machine that I no longer have. I get access denied when I try to delete them.
I can not change the owner or the permissions on properties > security"

 

If it is an external drive, can you connect it directly to the computer instead of over the network? What device are these files physically located on?

 

Hi.
I am spinning my wheels in sand.
I tried the Administrator account in safe mode with network access. I used the RMDIR /S cmd against the problem files and folders.
I still get access denied.
I did this after I applied Brink's change to disable UAC for Built-in Administrator Account:
UAC - Enable or Disable for Built-in Administrator Account

Then I tried to change the top level owner in the hierarchy of the folders that I am trying to delete.
I got "The program cannot open the required dialog box because it cannot determine whether the computer named EXTERNALDRIVE
is joined to a domain. The EXTERNALDRIVE is a Western Digital My Book World 2 TB on a local network.
To the best of my knowledge none of my devices are on a domain. I can't even find my domain if it exists.

 

Usually on a NAS there are two levels of permissions. There are permissions set for network access - and those can be set for individual folders. Then there might be file level permissions just like the file was on a local computer. So - are the network access permissions set to allow your account through? That would be set using the NAS software, not Windows.

Also, does the NAS have a web access feature? Can you access the files/folders through a web browser?

 

NavyLCdr
Yes, I can login to 192.168.1.3 this is the IP for the Western digital My Book.
The login allows access to all of the controls for My Book.
I don't think that it allows access to files/folders. I will in investigate that further. There may be some setting in MY Book that causes Windows 10 to see it as a domain device. It is only on a local network. Perhaps workgroup membership is the problem.
Thanks for all of your help.

 

Followup,
My Book does not have Domain identified. It does have Workgroup checked. In order to access files I would need to use MIONET
on My book, I do not have a MIONET account or login.. However, there was a tick to enable MIONET on start up. I'll see if unticking this makes a difference.

 

And attaching the computer and the My Book to the same workgroup (if they aren't) might help.

 

Still struggling
Since Windows 10 is using HOMEGROUP instead of WORKGROUP as was the case in Vista. I changed WORKGROUP to HOMEGROUP in the Western Digital Mybook settings.
It didn't help. I still cannot changed owner in the "bad" files and folders on the external drive. Windows cannot determine if ExternalDrive is joined to a domain. To the best o f my knowledge, It is not.
I am going to try TAKEOWN and ICACLS using cmd prompt in safe mode with the Administrator account.