Stuck in Safe Mode without Admin Access

I rebooted into safe mode to troubleshoot an unrelated issue and now I am stuck in it. I normally use the facial recognition thing to login, but I do have my Microsoft Account attached to the login, with a password. Despite that, the password does not work at Safe Mode login.

I happened to have a basic user account on my computer which I could login to in safe mode, but I can't run any tools like msconfig because they require admin.

I've tried using a usb drive with Windows 10 on it to get a command prompt and use the bcdedit commands, but they are returning "the boot configuration data store could not be opened." and I'm stymied.

Is there any other way to get back into the computer? I can't believe Microsoft hasn't realized this fatal flaw.

Hello,

If you are in a basic account and need admin then you can make use of the Built-in Admin account. As you have limited privileges you will need to follow option 5 of the tutorial below:

Enable or Disable Elevated Administrator account in Windows 10

philc43 said:

Hello,

If you are in a basic account and need admin then you can make use of the Built-in Admin account. As you have limited privileges you will need to follow option 5 of the tutorial below:

Enable or Disable Elevated Administrator account in Windows 10

Thanks, this didn't work as windows setup doesn't see the contents of the drive where windows is installed, just a file called "recovery".

Try3 said:

Use this procedure Escape from Safe mode boot loop using an installation disk

Denis

bcdedit returns the boot configuration data store could not be opened

dalchina said:

Silly thought - and I've no idea if it would work esp. at the login stage, though it might- can you get to Safe Mode with Networking?

On another track- System Restore- use a restore point.

Thanks, yes, I a do have safe mode with networking. but safe mode isn't utilizing the active connection at the login screen and is wanting a local account password, which is not set. This explains why remote desktop login never worked - there's no local account password set. I'm calling Microsoft. Thanks for your suggestions here folks, I appreciate it! :)

Bree said:

When you boot from the install media the drive letters are not going to be the same. The Windows system will not appear as the C: drive. In the example in Option Five you'll see it appears as the D: drive.

I saw that, I selected the X drive, and was able to see the listing, but when I select the SAM file, it says the file is in use by another process.

I also tried a Hiren's CD and the offline password manager just hangs at booting the kernel....

Bree said:

No, the X: drive is the currently running system, a virtual drive created when you booted from the install media. Your Windows system is offline at the moment and on one of the other drives. It will almost certainly not be assigned as C:. Try each letter in turn, you should find it eventually.

I just realized, my drive is setup as raid, even though there is not a volume defined and it's just one drive, which means windows setup can't see the drive that windows is installed on without the driver. I'm not sure how to load it in this manner...

trying loading the driver at the drive selection screen, like i was going to reinstall, but am just going to get it to see the drive, then try the technique to enable the hidden admin account