{"id":3099,"date":"2016-05-10T22:40:33","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T22:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=3099"},"modified":"2024-10-12T14:24:55","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T08:54:55","slug":"locked-user-account-lost-admin-privileges-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/locked-user-account-lost-admin-privileges-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Regain Lost Admin Rights in Windows 10 or 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:<\/strong> This article tells you how to restore your user account’s lost administrator rights and privileges in Windows 10 and 11.<\/em><\/p>\n

If your user account has lost admin rights, you may also have inadvertently set yourself a “Standard User” via Account Settings or incorrectly configured the Local Security Policy or user account group membership. In some cases, malware could be the root cause.<\/p>\n

You may be unable to run any program elevated if your user account has become a standard or a guest account and no other admin account exists on the system. The Yes<\/strong> button in the UAC dialog will be missing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This means you can’t return to the User Account settings page and set yourself as the administrator.<\/p>\n

However, there is a simple trick to regain the lost administrator rights for your account!<\/p>\n

\n

Have you lost the account password? It’s a different issue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"If you have forgotten the passwords for the built-in administrator and the user accounts and cannot log in, this article doesn’t apply. It’s a different scenario, and the solution is available in the article Windows 10\/11 Password Reset Methods for Lost Password Scenario<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(I had to split the content into two articles for better clarity. The article addresses the “lost admin rights” issue, and the linked article above addresses the “lost password” issue.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Resolution<\/h2>\n

Fix your account using built-in Administrator via Safe mode<\/h3>\n

Log in to the built-in Administrator account via Safe Mode and then promote your user account to an administrator. The built-in Administrator<\/strong> account password has a blank<\/strong> password by default. However, if you have set a password earlier, this method assumes you remember the “Administrator” account password.<\/p>\n

\n

\"tipsThe built-in “Administrator” account shows up on the sign-in screen while in Safe Mode if no other<\/strong> administrator account user exists on the computer; it doesn’t matter whether the “Administrator” account is active or not.<\/p>\n

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    \n
  1. Click Start, click the Power button, press and hold the Shift<\/kbd> key down, and click Restart. This starts the Windows Recovery Environment.\n
    For other methods to access WinRE, see the article How to access Windows Recovery Environment<\/a>.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  2. In Windows RE, click Troubleshoot \u2192 Advanced options \u2192 Startup Settings.
    \n
    \n
    \n\"windows<\/li>\n
  3. In Startup Settings, press the 4<\/strong><\/kbd> or F4<\/strong><\/kbd> button on your keyboard.
    \n\"windows<\/li>\n
  4. Windows will now restart in Safe Mode.<\/li>\n
  5. Click “Administrator” and sign in to the account. It has a blank password by default.
    \n\"sign-in<\/li>\n
  6. Press Win + R, type control userpasswords<\/strong><\/code>, and click OK. This opens the classic User Accounts Control Panel.
    \n\"fix<\/li>\n
  7. In the User Accounts applet, click “Manage another account<\/strong>“.
    \n\"sign-in<\/li>\n
  8. In the “Manage Accounts” applet, select the account that has lost its admin privileges.
    \n\"sign-in<\/li>\n
  9. Click “Change the account type”.
    \n\"sign-in<\/li>\n
  10. Choose the “Administrator<\/strong>” option, and click the “Change Account Type<\/strong>” button.
    \n\"sign-in
    \nYou’ve now changed your account type to an administrator.
    \n\"\"<\/li>\n
  11. Log off from the built-in Administrator account.<\/li>\n
  12. Restart Windows.<\/li>\n
  13. Log in to your original account now — e.g., Ramesh<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This restores administrator privileges for your user account.<\/p>\n

    \n
    \n

    Alternate methods while you’re in Safe mode<\/h3>\n

    You can also change your account’s group membership (i.e., set it as an administrator) using Command Prompt or the Netplwiz.exe dialog from the “Administrator” account.<\/p>\n

    Follow steps 1 to 5<\/strong> in the previous section to access Safe mode and log in as “Administrator”. Then, follow one of the following methods.<\/p>\n

    Option 1: Using Command Prompt<\/h4>\n

    Open Command Prompt, and use the following command-line syntax:<\/p>\n

    net localgroup administrators {username} \/add<\/pre>\n
    Example: If the username is RobertM<\/code>, run this command:<\/p>\n
    net localgroup administrators RobertM \/add<\/pre>\n
    \"make<\/p>\n
    This makes the RobertM account an administrator account.<\/p>\n
    Option 2: Using Netplwiz.exe<\/h4>\n
    You can view and change the group membership of accounts by running the netplwiz.exe<\/code> or control userpasswords2<\/code> command from the Run dialog.<\/p>\n
    \"make<\/p>\n
    To fix the user account group membership and make it an administrator<\/strong>, from the user accounts dialog shown above:<\/p>\n