Windows 10: Account removed from Administrators group, how to recover?

2

Situation

  • Windows 10 Pro, 64bit
  • Removed letter assignment from CD drives, don't use them regularly
  • By mistake (without thinking, that is) I removed my account from the Administators group
  • Can't remember the password for the "administrators" account
  • Can't install anything (need adminstrator rights)
  • Tried burning Hiren's Boot CD, can't, removed letter from CD drive, see above

I'm out of ideas, and my mind is somewhere else, anyway.

So, can someome please help?

Daniel Vasiliu

Posted 2016-07-13T20:20:28.637

Reputation: 21

Check here for what you can do to fix this: http://superuser.com/questions/1018064/windows-10-administrator-account-has-been-disabled-please-see-your-system-admin/1018080#1018080. See here http://superuser.com/questions/1093486/remove-main-partition-c-and-make-other-parition-d-the-main/1093497#1093497 for how to burn the ISO image from Windows 10 once you download it, it's a simple as that really.

– Pimp Juice IT – 2016-07-13T23:17:56.960

Boot using the Windows 10 installation media, and access recovery options. Then do a System Restore rollback Lost Admin Password or Privileges, and User Account Locked out? WinRE can Rescue You won't be asked for the password if you boot from the install media.

– w32sh – 2016-07-13T23:41:44.007

Answers

3

Reinstalling should be a last resort. Try rebooting with advanced options and restoring from a restore point before you removed the admin account. If that doesn't work, you can create a Windows 10 recovery drive, and boot from it. When you get to recovery options, choose Command Prompt and type the following commands (replace C with whatever your OS drive is if it's different):

C:
cd windows\system32
ren utilman.exe utilhold.exe
copy cmd.exe utilman.exe
exit

Now remove the recovery drive and reboot, and when you get to the login screen, click the ease of access button.

In the command prompt, type the following:

net user administrator /active:yes

If you want to set a password, type

net user administrator *

That's it. Now once you get in, rename those exe's: utilman back to cmd, and utilhold back to utilman.

Note: you can enable and disable boot devices, and set their priority, in your BIOS (usually). You can use the reboot with advanced options to get to the BIOS if you have UEFI, or just reboot and at the BIOS splash hit the appropriate key as shown on the screen.

Eric

Posted 2016-07-13T20:20:28.637

Reputation: 171

And net localgroup Administrators /add <username> to simply add your account back to the Administrators group – laggingreflex – 2016-09-18T14:10:48.693

Also you don't even need boot CD, just restart in recovery CMD (hold shift while restart > troubleshoot > CMD). Excellent answer BTW, saved me a lot of trouble! – laggingreflex – 2016-09-18T14:15:11.327