Windows 10: I have lost my administrative rights despite being the only user and having it all local.

I was doing work and than I noticed that Cortona was open. Naturally I tried to turn it off, but trying to open task manager I noticed something. My task manager option was all greyed out. I was confused so I tried to restart my computer.For some reason I could only logoff instead of restarting or shutting down like I was normally able to.This got me really confused so I just forcefully restarted my PC with the power button. Upon re-logging in I have had the same issue and upon further inspection I have lost my administrative rights despite still being an administrator? Tried finding solutions

:)

 

Administrator Rights

We suggest creating a new local user account and delete the previous account. Check the article below and follow the steps given.

Create a local user account in Windows 10

Follow the steps below to delete user account.

• Press Windows + X, select the Control Panel.
• Click User accounts.
• Click Manage other account.
• Enter administrator account password if prompted.
• Click the account which you want to delete.
• Click Delete the account.
• Restart PC.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Lost administrator rights

Hi Scott,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand that you have lost administrator rights on the computer to perform any action and I will be happy to answer your query. Let me ask you;

• When was the last time you had administrative privileges?
• Do you remember making any specific change in the computer prior to the issue?
• Did you use Microsoft Account to sign-in to the computer in the past?
• As you say that you never used any password, do you mean to say you have been using local account?
• Which security software is installed in the computer?
• What is the make and model of the computer?

There could be several reasons for this cause including any system file corruption, viruses etc. Let's try the following methods and check.

Enable built in administrator account while logged in to safe mode

Step 1: Start your computer in Safe mode from the Windows Recovery Environment

a. When you hit the power button, hold down the
Shift key when clicking the Restart button.

b. The next screen will present you with three options. Click
Troubleshoot.

c. Next, hit
Advanced options followed by Windows
Startup Settings from the next screen.

d. Your PC will now be rebooted to enable the advanced parameters, which include Safe Mode as well.

Step 2: Once you have entered into the Safe mode then, open Command Prompt and enable Built in Administrator.

Follow the below steps to enable Built in Administrator:

• Open Command Prompt from Windows Recovery Environment.
• Copy and paste the below command and press Enter.

net user administrator /active:yes

3. Close the Command Prompt.

4. Try to login though Built in Administrator and convert the your user account to Administrator or you can create new user account.

Step 3: Apply administrator right

Press Windows key + R, type control userpasswords2
and click OK

Select the user name and click Properties

Click Group Membership tab

Click to select Administrator and click
Other and select Administrator from drop-down menu

Click Apply and then click
OK

Step 4: You may also create a new user account with administrative rights and check

Press Windows key + R to open
RUN box

Type control userpasswords2 and press
OK

Under User Account window and under
Users tab, click Add tab

Under How will this person sign-in windows, click the option at the bottom
Sign in without a Microsoft account (not recommended)

On the next window click Local Account
at the bottom

Choose a user name (use password if you want to or you can leave the password section blank as it is just to test)

Click Next and then click
Finish

As you click Finish, the previous User Accounts
window remains on the screen

Select newly created user and click Properties

Click Group Membership tab

Click to select Administrator and click
Other and select Administrator from drop-down menu

Click Apply and then click
OK

Hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to reply in case you face any other issues with Windows in future.

 

administrator rights.

Try this article (after reading the notes below): http://www.thewindowsclub.com/lost-administrative-rights-in-windows

You might need to create the initial local account it suggests in Settings rather than control panel, as 'Manage Other Accounts' requires a prompt. My UAC was at the default 'programs only, not user changes' and nothing came up.

Similarly, the netplwiz option didn't need a prompt.

I will try this by creating a test local account and upgrading to admin within it, then reply to this comment (safe mode and the other article steps might be needed in your case).