Adding Admin user in safe mode

[marcplante]

I have a desktop PC whose admin user is currupted. After login, the screen freezes black with a command line session open. Once I close that command line, I can access all services by hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del as that dialog box opens and I can launch services from there.

I have run anti virus and other tests, but can't figure out how to recover the admin identity?

I tried booting the computer in safe mode:

I could not create a new user sicne it would not accept any new user names (invalid characters, no matter what).

I could not change an existing standard user to admin status to recover that way.

Unless I can identify a way to unlock or promte the administrator, my thought is to do an upgrade install over the top of this installation to keep my files and refresh the OS. Will that work? or will I need to rebuild the whole drive.

There is a version I could try to restore, but I don't know how to launch that command from the interfaces I have. Plus I don't know if it suffers from the same problem. I don't access the admin User very often.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Start your computer in safe mode and enable the built-in Administrator account by opening a command prompt in administrator mode:

a. Go to Start and type CMD.
b. Right-Click on cmd.exe and select “Run as administrator”.
c. Now type the following command and then press Enter:

net user administrator /active:yes

(You should see a message that the command completed successfully)

d. Restart the computer and boot into Windows normally. You’ll now see the Administrator account as a choice in the welcome screen.
e. To disable the account, type the following command and then press Enter:

net user administrator /active:no

Once you're at the built-in admin desktop, you can either insert your Windows 7 installation disk and begin the in-place upgrade (repair) installation, or simply create a new user profile that's a member of the Administrators group. Be sure after either performing a repair installation or creating a new user that you disable the built-in admin account.

.

 

[xgsound]

The above should give you an administrator account in safe and full mode. See this link http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...gon-user/4ed66b21-c23e-42f1-98b2-706dcf931fae and read the comments to see if you can restore the original account too. It recently worked for me in Vista.

Jim

 

[marcplante]

Thank you for the hunt but the syntax on that command is more complex than you mentioned. I emerge up using the cmd prompt available with my gimpy admin account to re install. Hopefully it will clear up my admin issues.

 

[marcplante]

I had access to an admin user and was able to launch services using the Task Manager popup box, so I started up the local user manager lusrmgr.msc (?) and promoted a different user to admin status.

Thanks for the leads.