Nothing to do with media - just a lost Win7 admin pw
 

I'm posting this cry for help here since DV Info has been a trusted friend through the years. The post is long, but I hope clear. It has nothing to do with DV or media, except that because I've "lost" my Administrator status in Windows7, I can't even install Adobe CS5.5. Here we go:

Here is my nightmare.

The whole problem started when I found unknown user IDs on my home network. It was in trying to reconfigure the network when the “stuff” hit the fan. After fiddling for nearly a day I created a new admin profile. I don't recall giving it a password, but now I can't run most utilities, Firefox, or even do a system restore!

Let me take you on a visual tour of my headache.

Let’s say I try to run the utility 7Smoker.exe. Since it’s a utility that needs admin privileges, I get this message:

(See attachment "OZ66.JPG" below)

That “OZ66” is an account I created in an attempt to get my admin profile back, but I never gave it a password since I’m the only one using this system. Anything I enter, even leaving it blank, will yield the wrong ID or PW error ---and this happens even when running in safe mode.

Okay, let’s backup a little and go to the credentials manager, and here is what I get:

(See attachment "credentials 4logon.JPG" below)

The “Generic Credential” at the bottom is a total mystery to me.

Let’s move to advanced security settings:

(See attachment "adv sec settings.JPG" below )

I don’t know who the “Authenticated Users” are, but I do see “Administrators”. It was on this screen that I originally found users with long alphanumeric names. I deleted them.

Finally we move to User Groups – a real doozey since I haven’t a clue who or why most of these “users” are here. I know I most have created them in the past, but why, when?

(See attachment "users-groups.JPG" below )

You can see one of those alphanumeric users at the top. Most of these “users” are a total mystery to me.

By the way, I did create a “password retrieval disk” when I created “OZ66”, and the file is where I placed it – in one of my external drives: userkey.psw and it’s 1.5KB. The problem is that I have no idea how it’s supposed to run. I’ve tried restoring, but no luck.

That is all I can supply you with at the moment. When I boot in safe mode the default user is “OZ Standard User”.

My hope is that some of you with knowledge of Win7 and networking might know how I got into this mess, and might suggest a way to regain my "admin status" without having to re-install Windows7. Please help!!!

P.S. Apologies for the size of the graphics. Next time I'll reduce them ahead of time.

Ozzie Alfonso
NYC

Re: Nothing to do with media - just a lost Win7 admin pw
 

Here's an idea which may or may not work. Go to the Owner tab in Advanced Security Settings above, then highlight your account (you should see it) and make sure to check the box at the bottom that says "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects." Click OK. A warning message will pop up; Click Yes. A failed message may pop up; ignore this and just click ok. Click ok to any other windows and warnings that may pop up.

Sometimes this works to give you full access to the folders that you are trying to access that Windows, because it is a control freak, doesn't want you to have access to. Of course this may also cause your computer to blow up.

If you are indeed an Admin, you should be able to go into User Accounts in Control Panel and delete all the other accounts so there's no future confusion

Re: Nothing to do with media - just a lost Win7 admin pw
 

A valiant attempt - close but no cigar. :-(

I can't find "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" I'll give it another try but I'm not hopeful.

Re: Nothing to do with media - just a lost Win7 admin pw
 

Sorry, think I left out a step. When you get to the Owner tab, click Edit. Should give you the screen with your user name and the "Replace..." checkbox.