Solved: Lost admin rights in Windows 11
Summary
TLDRThis tutorial video guides viewers on how to regain administrative rights in Windows 11. It starts by identifying the symptoms of lost privileges, such as the absence of a 'Yes' button in the User Account Control prompt. The video offers two solutions: a System Restore using the Settings app, which requires prior restore points, and a more technical approach involving editing the registry in the Windows Recovery Environment. The host demonstrates each method, ensuring viewers can follow along to fix their administrative access issues.
Takeaways
- 🔒 The video explains how to fix the loss of administrative rights on Windows 11.
- 📌 Symptoms of lost administrative rights include missing 'Yes' button in User Account Control prompts and inability to perform administrative tasks like opening Windows PowerShell.
- 👤 The issue becomes critical when the only account on the system is a user-level or standard account.
- 🚫 Attempts to add the user to the administrators group via Local Users and Groups snap-in will result in 'Access is denied' errors.
- 🔄 The first solution involves using the Settings app to perform a System Restore from the Advanced recovery options, which requires prior System Restore points.
- 💡 System Restore can only be initiated from the Settings app due to the lack of administrative rights.
- ⏱ The success of System Restore depends on the availability of restore points created before the loss of administrative rights.
- 📚 The video provides step-by-step instructions for using the System Restore wizard to recover administrative rights.
- 🔄 After a successful System Restore, the system must be restarted to verify the restoration of administrative rights.
- 🛠️ If no System Restore points are available, the second method involves editing the registry in the Windows Recovery Environment.
- 🔑 The registry editing method requires loading a specific hive and modifying a binary DWORD value to change the user account type.
- 🔄 Upon successful registry edit, the system should be restarted to enable the built-in administrator account, which can then be used to regain administrative rights.
Q & A
What is the main issue discussed in the video?
-The video discusses how to fix the issue of losing administrative rights on a Windows 11 operating system.
What are the symptoms of losing administrative rights in Windows 11?
-Symptoms include the appearance of a User Account Control confirmation prompt without a 'Yes' button, and the inability to perform tasks that require administrative privileges, such as opening Windows PowerShell or creating a new task in Task Manager.
Why is it problematic to have only a user-level account on a system?
-Having only a user-level account is problematic because if it loses administrative rights, there is no way to elevate privileges or make system-level changes without an administrator account.
What is the first solution proposed in the video to regain administrative rights?
-The first solution proposed is to perform a System Restore using the Settings app and Advanced recovery options, which requires having System Restore points created before losing administrative rights.
Why is the old System Restore dialog in the Control Panel not suitable for this issue?
-The old System Restore dialog in the Control Panel is not suitable because it cannot be used due to the loss of administrative rights.
What should be noted about using the System Restore method?
-It is important to note that the System Restore method will only work if there are System Restore points created before the loss of administrative rights.
What is the second method proposed in the video if System Restore is not an option?
-The second method involves editing the registry in the Windows Recovery Environment, which requires accessing the Command Prompt and using the Registry Editor to modify specific registry keys.
How does the video guide users to access the Windows Recovery Environment?
-The video guides users to access the Windows Recovery Environment by restarting the system and selecting 'Advanced options' and 'Command Prompt' from the Troubleshoot menu.
What is the purpose of loading the 'sam' hive in the Registry Editor?
-Loading the 'sam' hive in the Registry Editor allows users to modify the registry of the system without having administrative rights, which is necessary when standard methods are inaccessible.
How does the video ensure that the problem is fixed after performing System Restore?
-The video ensures the problem is fixed by showing that the 'Yes' button is available in the User Account Control confirmation prompt and that the user account is now listed as an administrator in the User Accounts applet.
What is the final step recommended by the video after regaining administrative rights?
-The final step recommended is to restart the system and then try to log in to the account to verify that the administrative rights have been restored.
Outlines
🔒 Regaining Administrative Rights on Windows 11
This paragraph introduces the video's main topic, which is how to restore administrative rights on Windows 11 if they have been lost. The narrator explains the symptoms of lost administrative rights, such as the absence of the 'Yes' button in the User Account Control confirmation prompt when attempting to open Windows PowerShell or create a new task in Task Manager. The paragraph also highlights the severity of the issue when the only account on the system is a standard user account, which cannot perform administrative tasks. The solution proposed in this section involves using the Settings app to perform a System Restore from an advanced recovery option, which is only possible if System Restore points were created prior to the loss of administrative rights.
🛠️ Advanced Recovery and Registry Edit for Administrative Rights
The second paragraph discusses an alternative method for regaining administrative rights on Windows 11 when the System Restore option is not available due to the absence of restore points. The method involves using the Windows Recovery Environment to edit the system registry. The narrator guides the viewer through accessing the Command Prompt from the Advanced options menu during startup, opening the Registry Editor, and loading the 'sam' hive from the system's configuration folder. Detailed steps are provided for modifying a specific registry binary DWORD value to change the user account type from '11' to '10', which corresponds to an administrator account. After making the registry change, the viewer is instructed to restart the system, which should enable the built-in administrator account, allowing for the creation of new administrative accounts or modification of existing ones to regain administrative rights.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡administrative rights
💡Windows 11
💡User Account Control
💡System Restore
💡Advanced recovery
💡registry
💡Windows Recovery Environment
💡Command Prompt
💡registry binary DWORD
💡built-in administrator account
💡netplwiz
Highlights
Introduction to the video on fixing lost administrative rights in Windows 11.
Subscription and notification setup instructions for the channel.
Explanation of symptoms indicating loss of administrative rights in Windows 11.
Demonstration of User Account Control prompt without a 'Yes' button as a sign of lost rights.
Challenges faced when trying to use Task Manager with lost administrative rights.
The severity of the issue when the single account on the system is a standard account.
Inability to add a user account to the administrators group due to lack of rights.
Introduction to the first solution using the Settings app for System Restore.
Instructions for accessing Advanced recovery options for System Restore.
Necessity of having System Restore points created prior to losing administrative rights.
Process of selecting a System Restore point and completing the restoration.
Verification of restored administrative rights post-System Restore.
Demonstration of successfully regained administrative rights in Windows PowerShell.
Confirmation of administrative rights restoration through netplwiz group membership change.
Introduction to the second method using the registry in the Windows Recovery Environment.
Steps to access the Command Prompt in Advanced options and open the Registry Editor.
Detailed guide on editing the registry to regain administrative rights.
Final steps to enable the built-in administrator account and modify user account permissions.
Invitation for viewers to ask questions or leave comments for further assistance.
Closing remarks and call to action for likes, shares, and subscriptions.
Transcripts
Hello and welcome to my YouTube channel! Friends, if you've not subscribed my YouTube channel yet
do subscribe it and press the bell icon to receive notification about my new videos
in this video we will see how to fix if you have lost administrative rights on your Windows 11
operating system so let's get started first of all we will see what are the symptoms when you lost
administrative rights in Windows 11 so whenever you do something that involves administrative
privileges you will see something like this in this case I have tried to open Windows PowerShell
and you can see that here the User Account Control confirmation prompt has been appeared
which usually have Yes and No button if you click Yes the operation will be
continued and if you click No operation will be terminated but in this case where you have
lost administrative rights you can see here No button only there is no Yes button there
this confirms that we have lost administrative rights on this system while if we try to open
Task Manager and try to create new task you can see that here I have tried to open netplwiz
and here again I got the same result and that is User Account Control confirmation prompt with
No button there is no Yes button and the problem of losing administrative rights becomes worst
when you have the single account on your system and that is the only account
which is now user level or standard account and this is why we are facing this problem and
fixing this is not easy task because if you go to Local Users and Groups snap-in and locate your one
and only user account which is user account not an administrator account and if you try to add it to
administrators group by assigning some permissions but you can see here that error has occurred
and the next error is ‘Access is denied’ and this is pretty obvious because we do not have
administrative rights on this system so how to resolve this problem now let us see our
first solution which is an easier method and in this case we will be using Settings app and do
a System Restore using Advanced recovery option kindly note that if you perform System Restore
using the old System Restore dialog present in the Control Panel you won't be able to do that because
of losing administrative rights so you have to go to Settings app then System then Recovery
and under Recovery options you will find Advanced startup click on the Restart now button next to it
in the pop-up window click on Restart now and your system will be now restarted and
under Choose an option click Troubleshoot > Advanced options and under Advanced options
click on System Restore kindly note that this method will only work if you have System Restore
points created before losing administrative rights if you do not have a System Restore point created
in advance then you can refer second method which I will be sharing in this video next now back to
System Restore wizard click on the Next button select the System Restore point created earlier
and click next and then click on finish button click Yes in the confirmation prompt
and let the System Restore be working in the background this will take a while depending
upon your data on the system and once this System Restore has been completed
you will find that you your lost administrative rights are now back so here in this case System
Restore has completed successfully we will now need to restart the system
so after restart we will try to login back to our account which is the one and only account on the
system and we will check if the administrative rights are now back so here you can see that
again we have a message System Restore completed successfully this is usual message after login
and when you perform System Restore simply click on the Close button here
now we will again try to open Windows PowerShell and see if we can now open it and bypass the
User Account Control confirmation prompt so here you can see that Yes button is now back
and we can easily click on it to proceed further next we can see here that administrative Windows
PowerShell is here that means we have gained our lost administrative rights if we try to open
netplwiz you can see that under User Accounts applet the group membership of the one and only
account has been changed to administrators that means the problem is 100% fixed here!
now in case if this method doesn't works for you because of no System
Restore points created in advanced we have got the second method which is using
registry and in this case we will edit registry in the Windows Recovery Environment
so we will right click on the Start button again and go to Settings app and then System
and then under Recovery options click Restart now next to Advanced startup and then
again click on Restart now in the pop-up window once your system is now restarted
it will again go back to the Choose an option screen click on Troubleshoot here
then select Advanced options then under Advanced options select Command Prompt this time
when the Command Prompt opens type regedit and press Enter key to open
Registry Editor in the Registry Editor window highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then click File
and then Load hive when Load hive popup appears select your system root drive
where Windows is installed in this case it is C: drive then go to Windows folder
under Windows locate System32 folder and go inside it under System32 folder you have to locate
Config folder and open it inside Config folder you will find a file named
‘sam’ select it and then click open in the Load hive key name type REM_SAM and click OK
now expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry key then go to REM_SAM then SAM then Domains
then expand Account
then go to Users then expand it and locate the first registry sub-key here that is 000001F4 in
the right pane of this registry sub-key you will find ‘F’ named registry binary DWORD double click
on it go to line number 38 place the cursor in the right side of 11 and press delete key on keyboard
and then type 10 that is ten and finally click on the OK button here close the Registry Editor
and also Command Prompt and from here you can Continue or better if you select Turn
off your PC option and restart your system when you restart your system you will be able to log
into built-in administrator account which is now enabled and using that built-in administrator
account you can create another administrative accounts on the system or you can also modify
existing standard level user account on the system and make them administrator and this will help you
to gain the administrative right back on your Windows 11 operating system
if you have any question about these methods do let me know of your comments I'll be happy
to help you and that's it for now in this video thanks for watching it if you found
it helpful do like it share it and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more videos!
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