I lost admin capabilities in my laptop (XP SP2) with my username which actually has admin rights. Need help .?

Question

My username in my computer by which I login to the machine everyday, suddenly giving errors "You donot have enough admin privilege in the laptop to make this change" when trying certain things like changing my default media player or changing start up services via msconfig. My username still shows that it is an administrator in Control Panel -> users. Any thoughts pls ???

let me clarify more on this. I have XP SP2, I have full Virus protection with McAfee Internet Security suite & also regularly scan my computer directly from Norton, McAfee and MS online virus scan which found NO virus. I have created another new username ,profile and gave it Computer Administrator Privilege, still no good, same problem with the new profile too. While changing in settings in MSCONFIG I get the msg, "you donot have sufficient admin rights in this computer to make this change" though it accepts the change actually. I also get the same err msg when trying to change my default media player from WMP to iTunes, this time it DOESNOT accept the change. Hope this will clarify my situation better now. Waiting for more advice / suggestions. Thanx

Hi Pavan, Thanx for the info. I did check with Run--> "control userpasswords2" that my current account is part of ADMISTRATORS in my computer, I also removed and re-added the Administrators rights in my username, still no good. Let me also tell you that the err msg is coming up for the actual "Administrator" account also which can be accesses only in Safe mode.. So creating a new account with Admin privilege didnot actually help me in hte past, I guess same will be true if I re-create my current username freshly. I am guessing this might be a "local pwd policy or some services not working" -- issue if you can throw any light on that part now. Thanx again.

Answer 1

There is a tool out there available through Knoppix. Knoppix is a CD based security tool which will assist you to recover your Administrator password.

note that you will have to download Knoppix, burn it, then enable boot from CD in your BIOS.

Answer 2

I assume you have XP Pro and you mean in 'User Accounts', the name you currently logged in with is shown as a 'Computer administrator'.

If so, then I would guess you have caught a virus... (or something else has mucked up your security settings in the Registry).

If you already have another account with Computer administrator rights try using that... otherwise try creating a new user and assigning this as an Administrator & the see if logging in with the new user a/c works enough to solve whatever is causing the problem.

In any event you should be backing up all your data right now (whilst you can still get to external hard drive or USB memory stick or burn CD/DVD's) because you may end up having to wipe the HD and re-install windows to guarantee you are virus free.

ADDITIONAL

OK, lets assume the Windows is telling you the truth. This can only mean that something 'higher' than Administrator has taken control of these settings. The only thing higher than Admin is 'System' - or to put it another way, some running Application or Service has taken over those settings.

Have you run 'hijackthis' and identified everything that's set to run at startup ? (I bet it's some dubious 'WMP Music' copy protection type crap you thought you had uninstalled ages ago that wants to 'hang onto' control - it's amazing what copy protection crap (aka DRM) does to your system and how difficult it is to dig out once it's got its claws into you).

Answer 3

I dont know want kind of third party software u installed... remember there are junkie softwares out there which take an action over your Registry and the Group policy Editor without your actual knowing.
Anyway follow this...Open RUN dialog box and then type the following command.... control userpasswords2
After you do this User Accounts Window pop's up.
Now Check your username and its privelages. If its not an administrator account then do set it as an administrator. If thats not the case then delete the user and create it again with admin privelages....

and hey before u delete an account, make a backup of the files which are saved on your desktop and my documents.

and also check this option before deleting and creating an account.
Right click on My Computer>Manage>User Accounts and Groups>Users>(username)>(Check privelages).... if administrator privelages exist then just delete it and add again.

Hope this solves...