Administrator Lockout

C

craighero

I am trying to adjust my Display settings in Control Panel but when I double
click on the Display icon it says "Your system adminstrator disabled the
Display control panel". The problem - I am the administrator and I did not
(knowlingly) do that. How do I regain control of the display function?

craighero
 
C

craighero

Tried it - I get an error message back that registry editing has been
disabled by the administrator. I had a virus attack about a year ago that
messed up a variety of functions.

craig
 
M

Malke

craighero said:
Tried it - I get an error message back that registry editing has been
disabled by the administrator. I had a virus attack about a year ago that
messed up a variety of functions.

A year ago! It is highly unlikely that people who can't see/have hands-on
the machine will be able to fix a Windows install that was broken by a
virus over a year ago. And for all we know the machine is currently
infected.

Back up your data and do a clean install of Windows.

Malke
 
C

craighero

I actually started to do that and the system disk indicated that the version
is very old and asked if I really wanted to overwrite what was there. Should
I do that and then add back all of the other system updates?

The computer was cleaned right after the virus attack - Dell actually helped
me restore quite a bit of the function that was lost (I hav enever really had
a desire to change the desktop since then - but I had to change the way the
system was viewed after hooking up to a projector - when I discovered the
lock out).

I am trying to find something simpler than an entire system wipe.
 
M

Malke

craighero said:
I actually started to do that and the system disk indicated that the
version
is very old and asked if I really wanted to overwrite what was there.
Should I do that and then add back all of the other system updates?

The computer was cleaned right after the virus attack - Dell actually
helped me restore quite a bit of the function that was lost (I hav enever
really had a desire to change the desktop since then - but I had to change
the way the system was viewed after hooking up to a projector - when I
discovered the lock out).

I am trying to find something simpler than an entire system wipe.

You apparently were trying to do a Repair Install. You can't do a clean
install from within Windows.

You can try a Repair Install by slipstreaming your old XP installation with
Service Pack 3.

How to slipstream SP2/SP3 into XP
http://www.nliteos.com/ - nLite
http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm
http://theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp3_cd.htm

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm - Repair Install
How-To

Malke
 
C

craighero

I actually found a very easy way: open Control Panel, hold down the shift
key, right click on the display icon, open the Administrator (need a password
- took me a while to track mine down) and make the change.

A bit easier than a complete reload of Windows.

Thanks for the guidance - but the path above handled my needs.
 

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