Windows 10: Issue with 1511 clean installs: built-in Admin can't run apps

I just performed a clean install of 1511 on a machine that refused to update. The install went fine. However, I noticed the following curious thing: when I invoke context menu on the desktop and choose "Display settings" or "Personalize" commands under the built-in Administrator account, Windows first displays an error message stating that Settings cannot be opened under built-in Administrator account. Once I dismiss this error message, the corresponding Settings category actually successfully opens and works as intended. Each time I do this an extra error report is added to Applications list in Event Log.

For the very same reason it is not possible to pin Settings sub-categories to Start Menu. A dialog requesting confirmation briefly flashes on the screen, but nothing happens after that. The same (in essence) error report is added to Applications list in Event Log.

Meanwhile, launching Settings from Start Menu works fine.

Also such Windows 10 apps as Mail, Sports, Calendar etc. completely refuse to launch from under built-in Administrator, reporting the same error.

At the same time, machines that were upgraded to 1511 from previous version of Windows 10 don't exhibit this behavior. Everything launches fine under built-in Administrator.

This looks like a step back to Windows 8 behavior, which also had such limitation. Original Windows 10 removed this limitation, but version 1511 suddenly brought it back (in clean installs only). I wonder why...

:)

 

Beware: clean install of 1511 treats built-in Admin account differently than Windows updated to 1511

No, the issue does not exist under user-created admin accounts. It only applies to the built-in one.

 

Beware: clean install of 1511 treats built-in Admin account differently than Windows updated to 1511

It is not advisable to operate under Hidden Administrator.

I would go to Settings>User Accounts and create a normal Admin Account, then run
net user administrator /active:no in Admin Command Prompt to disable Hidden Admin to see if this bug replicates.

 

FromAdmin command Prompt, copy and paste to run the following:
Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup&dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth&sfc /scannow&pause

 

Um... OK, I just did that, but it did not solve anything. Same behavior is still here. This is a basic clean install onto a blank drive. Nothing fancy. Why would one need to run general repair on it?

I just inspected two unrelated machines with clean installs of 1511, and they all are like this. It appears that this behavior is by design (however little sense it would make).

 

Keyword = under the built-in Administrator account

Create a local Admin and report back - you are basically using audit mode

 

Yes, that's definitely the key word. That's exactly what this topic is about.

No need to create anything. I know that it will work fine under another Admin account.

That's great. You can call it "audit mode", but let's just say that's exactly what I'm trying to use.

 

not all settings are kept - for desktop and startmenu...

 

I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to say by the above in the context of this topic.

 

What are you trying to do with the built-in administrator account that you cannot do in a regular locally created administrator account?

 

Um... Administrative tasks, of course. Software setup, computer configuration - you name it.

The question here is actually the other way around: what are you trying to do with an extra administrator account that you cannot in the regular built-in administrator account?

 

You can't run universal apps with elevated privileges so they will not work using built in Administrator account. You can't run them with UAC disabled for the same reason.

If you are able to run them on an upgraded install then something is wrong. Certainly I can't and never have been able to.

 

Um... No. This is something you borrowed from Windows 8 book. In Windows 8 it was not a big deal because administrative functions were carried out by the "classic" windows applications and apples.

In Windows 10 Microsoft decided to redirect many administrative functions from "classic" windows applications and applets to new "universal" ones. They also decided to push Edge as the primary browser for Windows 10. In order to do that they had to allow running universal apps under built-in Administrator. And that is exactly what they did. The ability to run universal apps under such accounts as built-in Administrator is one of the fundamental differences of Windows 10 from Windows 8.

That applies to all universal apps. In the original Windows 10 you can run absolutely anything under the built-in Administrator. The problem described above began only after 1511 update and only in clean installs.

I don't know why have never been able to run them. Everybody was able to run universal apps under the built-in Administrator after the original release of Windows 10. This was one of the "big things" about Windows 10. Moreover, everyone is still able to do it after the upgrade to 1511, as long as it was really an upgrade.

The block is there in clean installs only. Why it is so - I don't know. Is Microsoft now trying to pedal back to Windows-8-style behavior?

 

Microsoft has locked out some functions in the built-in administrator account because it is intended to be used for emergencies only, when there is no other administrator account available on the computer. It's like the "safe mode" of user accounts. So, basically, you can continue to be stubborn and frustrated, or you can create a local administrator account to do everything you want to do. Or switch to Linux.

 

The point of this thread is not my "frustrations" or "Linux". The point of this thread is

1) Obvious objective inconsistency between the behavior of updated 1511 systems and clean-installed 1511 systems.
2) Obvious objective inconsistency between the behavior of clean-installed pre-1511 systems and clean-installed 1511 systems.

I'm not interested in "workarounds" and never asked for any. What I would like to know is if anyone here ever came across any official information on what Microsoft's intent is. What on Earth are they trying to do?