Windows 10: Administrator Account taken over

DIRECTORY MUDDLE Aug 31st 2019

nb I have previously been a member as Windymiller but owing to current problem could not access the USB stick containing my passwords. My last post concerned backing up a WindowsImage file. Since then the problems have seriously escalated.

PROBLEM: Administrator Account (Users\ger……) has been taken over by M…. (the name of my recent old Mesh desktop (running on Windows 7). I was using this before and for a while concurrently with the hp laptop presently in use. This runs on Windows 10. In between my husband`s old desktop breaking down and him buying the hp one, he had an ACER laptop which he at first used concurrently with the desktop and then by itself.The partition on my old desktop had been split by my husband into DATA D and WINDOWS C Drives. At some later stage we renamed DATA D as DATA M for some reason.
When he died, I needed to salvage material both from my backups of my old desktop and from my husbands for all sorts of reasons the most important being control of money records and administrative documents. I downloaded and restored quite a lot of old backup files from old hard drives. The laptop was still in my husband`s name though the significance of that did not immediately strike me. There was no User Account in his name. I assume he owned all the permissions and think my sons set it up principally by downloading stuff from his old ACER laptop. By this time he was perforce leaving best part of the administration to us. Passwords were a bit of a nightmare as his records were incomplete to say the least and I was unfamiliar with Windows 10. I was having real problems accessing money records. So I set up a new Microsoft Account with a ger…\outlook.com email and used this email address to start a new user account on the laptop. Soon after I realised my husband still had the administrator privileges so I reduced his account to a Standard User.

I was getting on quite well with the sorting out. I started by creating a large new folder called Files trf 29th August on the single partition of the hp as a sub folder of Windows C:. I was gradually thinning out the ge…user account and husband`s standard account, in the process transferring or copying files I wanted to keep to Files trf 29th Aug. Suddenly a couple of days ago, my own first name (name of my old desktop) appeared at the top of the File Explorer Directory. It had been showing up on the desktop of the hp for some time as the source of some of the backup files I incorporated when I first used the hp. It seemed to have the function of a short cut directing user to the new administrator user account. This would not matter if it did not also open a string of out of date folders most with identical names to the User Name default folders but containing out of date material. I was doubtful about deleting it in case it took stuff we need with it.

Turned out I was right to be - when I tried deleting the unwanted new folder (AFTER copying the Files trf 29th August folder to an External Hard Drive, the system deleted both the M…folder and the ge…User Account folder. When I checked User Accounts I found M…. had replaced ge….as owner of Admin account with (ge..email address in brackets after it.) At present I cannot open the ge……user account files . OS is saying it cannot connect. Fortunately I have an up to date copy of Files trf 29th August temp on an External Drive. I don’t know where to go from here. Do I need a completely new user account ? Do I give the new one admin privileges ? Or would the same thing happen again.

This morning I cannot access my password USB stick - error message is "Word cannot open the existing file. (C:\Users\geria\AppData\...\Normal.dtm

nb I hesitate to include the full Laptop names.
nb: Windows C: Permissions shows ownership by Trusted Installer.and Permissions granted to
Administrators (LAPTOP…..) Full Control
SYSTEM – Full Control
Users (LAPTOP….) Read & Execute
Authenticated Users (twice – to Modify and to Create folders/append…)

None are inherited permissions

This PC Properties under Advanced System Settings/User Profiles does not show M………… as a User though. It has a Default Profile listed (only 2.49 MB) plus 4 LAPTOP… entries one for each of user profiles. There is one for ge……. (19 GB) but M………user profile is not mentioned.
System Properties under This PC shows Computer Name only as LAPTOP…………..

Please help if you can. I am coming close to printing hard copies of ALL the documents still accessible !

:)

 

Settings can't be opened using the built-in administrator account


Hello,
Unfortunately I have the same issue as Dabz from upgrading win7 to win10.
I've tried opening settings using all the suggested methods and it will not load using my account with Administrator access nor the built-in Administrator profile. I also tried other methods not listed such as using Run. Control panel is just a stepping stone to add users in Settings.
I'm also having explorer.exe issues, which I believe is preventing Settings from loading.
Using cmd (Admin) I successfully created a new user profile [and granted admin access also using cmd (Admin)], however win10 will not allow this account to log on. win10 does not list this new user within control panel but it does in the start menu. win10 will not allow to log in or switch to the new account via the start menu either.
I can access settings in Safe Mode but this will not allow me to create a new account.
Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers

 

Deleting an administrator account

Hi Imat,

Kindly follow the steps below to resolve this concern:

Step 1: Remove pin from your administrator account. Here's how:

• Log in the administrator account.
• Go to Settings.
• Select Accounts.
• Go to Sign-in options.
• Under PIN, click on Remove.
• Tap Remove to confirm.
• Type in your administrator password to verify.
• Hit OK.

Step 2: Make your local account as an administrator account by following the steps below:

• Log in your local account.
• Go to Settings.
• Select Accounts.
• Go to Family & other people.
• Select Change account type.
• Under Account type, select Administrator.
• Hit OK.
• Restart your computer and sign in with your administrator account.

Step 3: Remove the old administrator account. Please follow the steps below:

• Log in the new administrator account.
• Go to Settings.
• Select Accounts.
• Go to Family & other people.
• Click on the admin account you want to remove and hit Remove button.
• When you see a confirmation dialog, select Delete account and data.

Hope this information helps. In case you need further assistance, kindly reply to us.

 

Weird account name and lost Administrator rights.


Well, I know what I would do.

Under Settings, Accounts, Family & other users, then under Other users, add someone else to this PC. Then click the link for "the person I want to add doesn't have an email address". Then click the link for "Add a user without a Microsoft account". Then enter a temporary user name like TempAdmin. When the account appears in the Other Users list, click on it. Click change account type. Make the temporary account an Administrator.

Log in as the temporary administrator account, and copy all the files you want to keep from both the Andrius folders under Users to the temporary account's folder. Then delete whatever Andrius users are listed under settings, accounts. Go back to the Users folders and delete any remaining Andrius folders in there. Reboot the computer, log in as the temporary administrator and recreate an Andrius account using the exact same steps you made the temporary account - you can convert it to a Microsoft account if you want later.

Then do the rest of the steps to copy all your files back and delete the temporary administrator account.