admin rights not working

M

mots

A friend asked me to look at her XP computer. She is not able to do certain
things or access certain areas without a message coming up saying she does
not have Admin rights. I opened the control panel and she is listed as the
only user and with full admin rights. I tried again but had no luck. One
thing I was trying to do was get into Documents and Settings but was
blocked. I then changed her account settings so she had to use a password
to log on. Requiring the password changed nothing. She is still blocked
from some areas.

I do not know what Service Package she is up to. She told me she does do
the updates, but I forgot to check.

What am I doing wrong? How can XP say she has full admin rights and then
say she can not do something since she does not have full rights?
 
J

Jose

A friend asked me to look at her XP computer.  She is not able to do certain
things or access certain areas without a message coming up saying she does
not have Admin rights.  I opened the control panel and she is listed asthe
only user and with full admin rights.  I tried again but had no luck.  One
thing I was trying to do was get into Documents and Settings but was
blocked.  I then changed her account settings so she had to use a password
to log on.  Requiring the password changed nothing.  She is still blocked
from some areas.

I do not know what Service Package she is up to.  She told me she does do
the updates, but I forgot to check.

What am I doing wrong?  How can XP say she has full admin rights and then
say she can not do something since she does not have full rights?

Is this XP Home or Pro?

If you right click My Computer and choose Properties, it will answer
these questions.

Why not give an example or two of things that you think you should be
able to do but you can't?

Is that the message "you don't have Admin rights"?

Have you done some scans for malicious software that would be likely
to prevent access to things the might help you find and remove the
malicious software?

How about trying this to help find out:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these three free
malware detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/
AVG (AVG): http://free.avg.com/
 
M

mots

She is using XP Home. She can not get into Documents and Settings. She
does get an error message about not having Admin access to the area. This
problem has happened to her in some other places but I don't know offhand
what they are.

I do not have her computer in front of me so it is impossible for me to go
back to her computer and check things out. She is an older woman and not
likely to be on some of the sites that can be likely to cause problems. I
did not run a spyware/adware check but should have. I do think it is the
way her account is configured but everything seems to look okay.

I can't really email her and ask her to do some things because she not at
all at home on a computer.

I know my information is not complete but I was hoping someone might have
some idea on how to tweak her account so that she, as the admin, has full
access to her computer.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.





A friend asked me to look at her XP computer. She is not able to do
certain
things or access certain areas without a message coming up saying she does
not have Admin rights. I opened the control panel and she is listed as the
only user and with full admin rights. I tried again but had no luck. One
thing I was trying to do was get into Documents and Settings but was
blocked. I then changed her account settings so she had to use a password
to log on. Requiring the password changed nothing. She is still blocked
from some areas.

I do not know what Service Package she is up to. She told me she does do
the updates, but I forgot to check.

What am I doing wrong? How can XP say she has full admin rights and then
say she can not do something since she does not have full rights?

Is this XP Home or Pro?

If you right click My Computer and choose Properties, it will answer
these questions.

Why not give an example or two of things that you think you should be
able to do but you can't?

Is that the message "you don't have Admin rights"?

Have you done some scans for malicious software that would be likely
to prevent access to things the might help you find and remove the
malicious software?

How about trying this to help find out:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these three free
malware detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/
AVG (AVG): http://free.avg.com/
 
J

Jose

She is using XP Home.  She can not get into Documents and Settings.  She
does get an error message about not having Admin access to the area.  This
problem has happened to her in some other places but I don't know offhand
what they are.

I do not have her computer in front of me so it is impossible for me to go
back to her computer and check things out.  She is an older woman and not
likely to be on some of the sites that can be likely to cause problems.  I
did not run a spyware/adware check but should have.  I do think it is the
way her account is configured but everything seems to look okay.

I can't really email her and ask her to do some things because she not at
all at home on a computer.

I know my information is not complete but I was hoping someone might have
some idea on how to tweak her account so that she, as the admin, has full
access to her computer.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.






Is this XP Home or Pro?

If you right click My Computer and choose Properties, it will answer
these questions.

Why not give an example or two of things that you think you should be
able to do but you can't?

Is that the message "you don't have Admin rights"?

Have you done some scans for malicious software that would be likely
to prevent access to things the might help you find and remove the
malicious software?

How about trying this to help find out:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these three free
malware detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM):  http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS):  http://www.superantispyware.com/
AVG (AVG):  http://free.avg.com/

Is the message:

The operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this
computer. Please contact your system administrator.

If no, then try to find out the exact message so we don't have to
guess.

If yes, then it could have been some malicious code that changed some
of the many settings that even a user in the administrator group can
run into (but can be fixed).

If it was malicious code, the scanners I suggested (did you run them?)
may remove the malicious code, but sometime can't undo the changes in
permissions because the scanner can't tell if the changes are from the
malicious code or intentional changes, so they have to be undone
differently.
 
J

Jose

A friend asked me to look at her XP computer.  She is not able to do certain
things or access certain areas without a message coming up saying she does
not have Admin rights.  I opened the control panel and she is listed asthe
only user and with full admin rights.  I tried again but had no luck.  One
thing I was trying to do was get into Documents and Settings but was
blocked.  I then changed her account settings so she had to use a password
to log on.  Requiring the password changed nothing.  She is still blocked
from some areas.

I do not know what Service Package she is up to.  She told me she does do
the updates, but I forgot to check.

What am I doing wrong?  How can XP say she has full admin rights and then
say she can not do something since she does not have full rights?

Maybe you just need to take ownership of the folder(s) using this
information from MS:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421
 
L

lariveesl

I will not be returning to her computer for several days and will try to run
your programs then. I do not get to work on her computer that often so I am
trying to get as much information as I can so I can try different things.

Thanks for your help and patience.



A friend asked me to look at her XP computer. She is not able to do
certain
things or access certain areas without a message coming up saying she does
not have Admin rights. I opened the control panel and she is listed as the
only user and with full admin rights. I tried again but had no luck. One
thing I was trying to do was get into Documents and Settings but was
blocked. I then changed her account settings so she had to use a password
to log on. Requiring the password changed nothing. She is still blocked
from some areas.

I do not know what Service Package she is up to. She told me she does do
the updates, but I forgot to check.

What am I doing wrong? How can XP say she has full admin rights and then
say she can not do something since she does not have full rights?

Maybe you just need to take ownership of the folder(s) using this
information from MS:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421
 

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