I can't access administrative tasks on my computer?

Question

I am the only user on my laptop and until recently I could access all administrative tasks. However, in the last few days my computer won't let me change anything including the time, control panel, or access user accounts. How can I change this back and un-block my computer?

Answer 1

I am not sure if this works on windows 7, but it has worked for me on xp and vista. It is called Password Renew by Sala Source. What you will need to do is create a live cd such as UBCD4WIN. On it will be the password renew program. Reboot your computer with the live cd. On the live cd you will find password renew by clicking on start. From there you add a new administrative account to your computer. Remove the live cd from the disk drive and reboot your computer. When windows boots, log into the new administrator, give your personal account administrative privileges. Log out. Log back into your personal account. You should now have full administrative. You then can delete the new administrative user you had just created.

http://www.ubcd4win.com/index.htm

http://www.kood.org/windows-password-renew/

Answer 2

This may not be what you're looking for in an answer... But in my experience restoring administrative power is easiest done through Kon-Boot for most Windows and some Linux machines. If this is an Apple product (I feel like it wouldn't be with your terminology... But hey, I won't discriminate) if I were you I'd reboot, hold Cmd+S (single user mode) and type:



/sbin/fsck -fy

/sbin/mount -wu /

rm /var/db/.applesetupdone

reboot



I use this on my school computers to "re-register" the computers with a new local admin account. Here's a website on Kon-Boot



http://www.darknet.org.uk/2009/06/kon-boot-reset-windows-linux-passwords/



I like darknet and how they display information but if you Google Kon-Boot you would get other information (if you require more). And for worried Apple folks I'd suggest immediately setting a firmware password to block against local attacks. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I can't provide a more specific answer unless you give me more info, like how old is the laptop, what OS, etc.



My first guesses would be either malware or someone else created an admin account and removed your admin privileges when you were signed in.