Admin Account doesn't have admin privileges

[Guest]

I use Windows XP Home Edition; I have done a scan disk, defrag, virus scan
with Mcafee, spyware scan with Webroot spy sweeper, checked account to be
admin type and not limited

My main admin account seems to be missing some privileges as i noticed when
i tried to install alcohol 120 and play certain games (all failed).
Everything worked fine on my secondary admin accounts. I have a suspicion
that the "non-destructive" recovery might have something to do with this. It
left a 0 byte, undeletable folder of my old main admin account (which used to
work fine with full privileges) in documents and settings. Is there a way to
restore full privileges to my main admin account without formating my hard
drives?

 

[Sharon F]

I use Windows XP Home Edition; I have done a scan disk, defrag, virus scan
with Mcafee, spyware scan with Webroot spy sweeper, checked account to be
admin type and not limited

My main admin account seems to be missing some privileges as i noticed when
i tried to install alcohol 120 and play certain games (all failed).
Everything worked fine on my secondary admin accounts. I have a suspicion
that the "non-destructive" recovery might have something to do with this. It
left a 0 byte, undeletable folder of my old main admin account (which used to
work fine with full privileges) in documents and settings. Is there a way to
restore full privileges to my main admin account without formating my hard
drives?

Not familiar with the ins and outs of the non-destructive recovery. This is
a tool specific to your OEM. They would be able to explain the particulars
of how this tool works.

It's a bit troubling that other admin accounts have privileges and yours
doesn't. Could be due to some malware that is installed under that user
account only. Check system thoroughly.

Also, I'm not sure there's anything in those old folders. Since they read
as "0 bytes" then perhaps the recovery program transferred files to the new
account? On the off chance that there is something in the folders....

If this process created a new account for you (even if it has the same name
as the old account), XP will see it as a user separate from your old
account. If that's the case, you may need to "take ownership" of the
files/folders from the old account before you can regain access to them:

How To Take Ownership of a File or Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

 

[Guest]

Not familiar with the ins and outs of the non-destructive recovery. This is
a tool specific to your OEM. They would be able to explain the particulars
of how this tool works.

It's a bit troubling that other admin accounts have privileges and yours
doesn't. Could be due to some malware that is installed under that user
account only. Check system thoroughly.

Also, I'm not sure there's anything in those old folders. Since they read
as "0 bytes" then perhaps the recovery program transferred files to the new
account? On the off chance that there is something in the folders....

If this process created a new account for you (even if it has the same name
as the old account), XP will see it as a user separate from your old
account. If that's the case, you may need to "take ownership" of the
files/folders from the old account before you can regain access to them:

How To Take Ownership of a File or Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

As for the malware, I scanned with trend micro and spybot search & destroy.
Everything returned clean. Between Mcafee, webroot spysweeper, trend micro,
spybot search & destroy, the malware should of been caught so i do not think
it is that.

I took ownership of the folder and recovered 7 gigs of files i thought were
long gone (due to the "access denied and the 0 byte folder") but my main
account still seems to be the same as before, lacks certain privileges. I
also tinkered around with privileges of the whole c drive but it resulted in
no effect. I do not get why my secondary admin accounts can do stuff that my
main account cannot. When i went over to Alcohol 120% support and asked about
why the program wouldn't install, they told me to try installing it on a
different account with admin privileges and that worked. I do not get what my
secondary admin accounts have that my main account doesn't. My theory on why
my old main account's folder in documents and settings showed 0 bytes was
because it was the only account (compared with my old secondary accounts)
that was "made private" in control panel > users. When the non-destructive
recovery was done, that cut off my access to my old accounts so i had to make
new ones. Apparently, my old main account only could be directly accessed
(had privileges to an unknown account which i believe was the deceased old
main account). I'm not sure if all this is relevant to my current main
account's privilege problems but it started happening after the
non-destructive recovery. By the way, thank you for helping me recover 7 gigs
of files and work. Is there any other suggestions as to what to do in fixing
my main admin account's privileges?

 

[Sharon F]

[23 quoted lines suppressed]

As for the malware, I scanned with trend micro and spybot search & destroy.
Everything returned clean. Between Mcafee, webroot spysweeper, trend micro,
spybot search & destroy, the malware should of been caught so i do not think
it is that.

I took ownership of the folder and recovered 7 gigs of files i thought were
long gone (due to the "access denied and the 0 byte folder") but my main
account still seems to be the same as before, lacks certain privileges. I
also tinkered around with privileges of the whole c drive but it resulted in
no effect. I do not get why my secondary admin accounts can do stuff that my
main account cannot. When i went over to Alcohol 120% support and asked about
why the program wouldn't install, they told me to try installing it on a
different account with admin privileges and that worked. I do not get what my
secondary admin accounts have that my main account doesn't. My theory on why
my old main account's folder in documents and settings showed 0 bytes was
because it was the only account (compared with my old secondary accounts)
that was "made private" in control panel > users. When the non-destructive
recovery was done, that cut off my access to my old accounts so i had to make
new ones. Apparently, my old main account only could be directly accessed
(had privileges to an unknown account which i believe was the deceased old
main account). I'm not sure if all this is relevant to my current main
account's privilege problems but it started happening after the
non-destructive recovery. By the way, thank you for helping me recover 7 gigs
of files and work. Is there any other suggestions as to what to do in fixing
my main admin account's privileges?

Glad to hear that you were able to recover your files. Without knowing how
security and permissions were changed for your current account, it's
difficult to say how to fix it. There's also a chance that the trouble
you're seeing is due to profile corruption. In that case, even if you could
fix it, you may eventually have other problems with the account.

I think the most efficient approach in your case would be to create a new
user account in the admin group for yourself. I would suggest using the
Files and Settings Transfer wizard or "copy profile" to move everything to
the new account but don't want to risk moving a setting/registry entry to
the new account that could cause the same problem. Instead just transfer
the personal data files. Set everything else up manually (preferences, mail
settings, etc).