0

I have Win 10 update to Creator version (originally it's an upgrade from Win 7).

Although my user is part of the Administrators group and I lowered the UAC level to its lowest, I have many situations where it seems like I don't have enough permissions on the system.

For example:

  • Can't delete a key from the registry (btw, can't do that even when the PC is running in Safe Mode!)
  • Can't uninstall some programs (like NodeJS)
  • Getting permission errors when trying to install and/or run development "things" like Docker compose.
  • Gettings permission errors on certains services running on my Xampp machine And so on...

I've already searched for solutions on these issues individaully, but for every solution, I eventually encountered a situation where I don't have enough permissions, for some reason, to perform all the needed actions.

What am I missing here? Aren't I supposed to be with full permissions by default, only for being a member of the Administrators group on the machine??

Update (why this question is NOT a duplicate of the one suggested here):

that's not a duplicate of this question! I have done nothing with the Administrator account and it very well exists on my PC (I even related to it in my question here, mentioning I don't have its password to login with). My issue is with the user I'm using to work on this PC...

TheCuBeMan
  • 1,059
  • 1
    There is a level above Administrator called SYSTEM, i have seen registry keys that only allow SYSTEM to delete them. – Scott Chamberlain Jun 19 '17 at 13:38
  • what kind of user you are using for login. Domain User or Local User did you try to do all this using Local Administrator?. Try with Local Administrator – Techie Gossip Jun 19 '17 at 13:38
  • As for the System level, can I add myself to this level of permissions? How do I access it in the first place? And as for the user, it's a local user and I don't have the Administrator password (it's a PC at work and no one has the password from the time this OS was installed, before the upgrade to Win 10 from Win 7)... – TheCuBeMan Jun 19 '17 at 13:55
  • 2
    Possible duplicate of How to get rights of admin after I disabled all admin accounts in my computer – Ramhound Jun 19 '17 at 14:37
  • No, that's not a duplicate of this question! I have done nothing with the Administrator account and it very well exists on my PC (I even related to it in my question here, mentioning I don't have its password to login with). My issue is with the user I'm using to work on this PC... – TheCuBeMan Jun 19 '17 at 14:41
  • It sounds like you have not "lost" your administrative rights. If you are still in the administrators group then that statement is false. The other users are correct that the admin users do have limitations.

    For example, one admin user can lock another admin user out of areas of the filesystem. You need to "take ownership" before you can edit the permissions of an object that you don't have permissions on.

     – HackSlash Jun 19 '17 at 17:05
  • @TheCuBeMan - You described the problem as you losing Administrator access – Ramhound Jun 19 '17 at 17:37
  • Include concrete examples for your error to clear things up. As it is, did you try to run applications as administrator? (Shift+Right Click) – Seth Jun 22 '17 at 12:44

2 Answers2

0

It might be worth your time to have a quick peek to see if your user account is still a member of the local group called "Administrators".

  1. Open a command-prompt: press Windows Key + i ... (or tap Windows Key and type cmd ENTER)
  2. Type: net localgroup administrators ENTER
Hicsy
  • 347
0

I know this is old and you probably resolved all your issues by now.

I support small businesses and come across some strange issues and it sounds like the permissions on some things got out of whack. You can try changing permissions to make changes or taking ownership of files to be able to remove/change them. You should be able to tell by looking at the permissions just who has the right to do the things you are trying to do. System and TrustedInstaller are two that come across a lot in permissions.

I know you don't want to hear it but I really recommend doing a wipe and start over fresh:

Back up all your settings and files, download the W10 installer to a flash drive, download ethernet/wifi drivers to the flash drive, wipe the computer drive, install a fresh copy of the latest Windows 10, install all your drivers (System OEMs make it easy). You should be able to use your W7 key directly to activate W10. If you know what you're doing it should take maybe 5 hours to do it all and get all your applications installed again given you have fast internet for large downloaded applications like I do.

Advantage to doing a wipe instead of an upgrade is that your computer will run a bit faster. Any bugs you had that carried over and any bugs you now have should be resolved. You get a fresh start so any useless garbage that was installed or hanging around is no longer taking up space.

Disadvantage is having to set up complex software settings and development environments which is sounds like you have. It's worth it though.

naps1saps
  • 253