Loss of functionality in Administrator

[Roger Fink]

I have W2K installed in a new white box desktop. For whatever reason (user
error comes to mind), Administrator profile is greatly restricted in what it
will let me do. I can access six functions in the control panel: Users and
Passwords, Network and Dialup Connections, Fonts, Printers, Scheduled Tasks,
and Administrative Tools. For everything else, I'm locked out. Also I'm
locked out of right-clicking the desktop. In all cases the error message is
the same: "This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect
on this computer. Please contact your systems administrator."

Fortunately one of the few things I can still do is create a new profile
with administrator level privileges so there has been no practical downside
that I've experienced, at least not yet, and it's been like this for a
couple of weeks. I just do what I have to do in the new profile. But
obviously something is not right and I'd like to correct it.

I tried to learn from recent mistakes with W2K on my laptop, and didn't push
things this time, so I'm really stumped as to what could be doing this and
how to put things right.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have W2K installed in a new white box desktop. For whatever reason (user
error comes to mind), Administrator profile is greatly restricted in what it
will let me do. I can access six functions in the control panel: Users and
Passwords, Network and Dialup Connections, Fonts, Printers, Scheduled Tasks,
and Administrative Tools. For everything else, I'm locked out. Also I'm
locked out of right-clicking the desktop. In all cases the error message is
the same: "This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect
on this computer. Please contact your systems administrator."

Fortunately one of the few things I can still do is create a new profile
with administrator level privileges so there has been no practical downside
that I've experienced, at least not yet, and it's been like this for a
couple of weeks. I just do what I have to do in the new profile. But
obviously something is not right and I'd like to correct it.

I tried to learn from recent mistakes with W2K on my laptop, and didn't push
things this time, so I'm really stumped as to what could be doing this and
how to put things right.

Try this:
1. Reboot.
2. Log on as your secondary admin.
3. Rename the main admin's profile folder.
4. Log on as the main admin and see if this fixes things.

Creating a secondary admin only when trouble strikes is a
bit late. It's similar to asking the locksmith to make a spare
key for your car after you've lost the main key. You were
lucky in that you could create a fully functional admin account.
It might have been the other way round. Having a secondary
admin account locked away in a safe place is good practice.

 

[Dave Patrick]

More than likely malware related but this article should sort it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266118

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

[Roger Fink]

Would have preferred DP's solution if I could have brought it off, but
renaming did work nicely. I was surprised at how thoroughly all the new file
path settings were picked up in the registry. According to the (Fix-it)
registry cleaner, only two files kept "Administrator" in the file path. The
program lets you correct this and I did, but they may just have been dead
links in any case.

 

[Roger Fink]

I managed to jump through all the hoops OK until I got to the end, where I
got flummoxed trying to figure out how to actually implement the
corrections. This is the Sys Admin type solution and I would have preferred
it to renaming but I'm happy at this point to have the the account working
properly again.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Good to hear it's sorted. You're welcome.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect