Administrator account - incomplete activation

Hi,
I tried to activate my Administrator account on a Win 10 HP Envy 700-414.
I did this because I thought it would help me delete some folders/files from a local network external hard drive.
These file were created by a Vista machine that I no longer have. I get access denied when I try to delete them. I can not change the owner or the permissions on properties > security
The attempt to activate the Administrator account went horribly bad.
It was partially created with only the recycle bin on the desktop. I had to do Ctrl Alt Delete to get back to my regular account. I did not capture the error messages - my mistake - and I can't find them in event Viewer. I don't know what log to search.
Activation was by dos cmd :
Net User Administrator/active:yes
Since it was bad I followed with:
Net User Administrator/active:no
The administrator account was not completely deactivated.
Is there a way that I can undo the mess that I made and get the administrator activated correctly?
Thanks
Frank C

Hello Frank,

I'm not sure if you have already read through this tutorial but if not, it will give you a number of alternative ways of activating and deactivating the Admin account. Hopefully one of these other methods will work.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

Thanks Philc43,
I found the missing message by trying to use ADMINISTRATOR again. The desktop is blank except for Trash.:
It is "the system cannot find the file specified" :
c:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\desktop
Looking at that location it is NOT there.
Is there a way to recover the missing file?
Frank C

DId you try the other options for deleting and creating the Administrator account in the tutorial I showed you in post #2? If you have the Home version then Option 4 in the tutorial is the only other way you can try, if you have the Pro version, options 2,3 or 4 will work.

If there are system files missing it is worth running the sfc /scannow command in an elevated command prompt.

see https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html

I know it's a little bit late to ask - but why did you feel the need to activate the built-in administrator account? Don't you already have an account set as administrator on the computer? You have to, because, to my knowledge, only an administrator can activate the built-in administrator account unless booted into safe mode where the built-in administrator account will be activated automatically if there is no other account set as administrator on the computer.

The built-in administrator account named administrator has no extra powers or privileges that a user account set as administrator does not have.

Thanks philc43,
I have home version. I did get Administrator working by copying C:\Users\Default\Desktop to
C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile

I still could not RMDIR /S the "bad" files and folders from the EXTERNALDRIVE. I get access denied.
I thought that the administrator account bypassed file/folder access checks.

I tried safe boot with CMD prompt on Administrator account. I get Device attached to the system is not functioning.
Maybe I need both CMD prompt and networking in safe mode.

NavyLCDR
I did think the Administrator account would bypass file/folder access checks. Yes my regular account has administrator privileges.
As I said initially "I did this because I thought it would help me delete some folders/files from a local network external hard drive.
These file were created by a Vista machine that I no longer have. I get access denied when I try to delete them.
I can not change the owner or the permissions on properties > security"

Frank C

If it is an external drive, can you connect it directly to the computer instead of over the network? What device are these files physically located on?

Hi.
I am spinning my wheels in sand.
I tried the Administrator account in safe mode with network access. I used the RMDIR /S cmd against the problem files and folders.
I still get access denied.
I did this after I applied Brink's change to disable UAC for Built-in Administrator Account:
UAC - Enable or Disable for Built-in Administrator Account

Then I tried to change the top level owner in the hierarchy of the folders that I am trying to delete.
I got "The program cannot open the required dialog box because it cannot determine whether the computer named EXTERNALDRIVE
is joined to a domain. The EXTERNALDRIVE is a Western Digital My Book World 2 TB on a local network.
To the best of my knowledge none of my devices are on a domain. I can't even find my domain if it exists.
Frank C

Usually on a NAS there are two levels of permissions. There are permissions set for network access - and those can be set for individual folders. Then there might be file level permissions just like the file was on a local computer. So - are the network access permissions set to allow your account through? That would be set using the NAS software, not Windows.

Also, does the NAS have a web access feature? Can you access the files/folders through a web browser?

NavyLCdr
Yes, I can login to 192.168.1.3 this is the IP for the Western digital My Book.
The login allows access to all of the controls for My Book.
I don't think that it allows access to files/folders. I will in investigate that further. There may be some setting in MY Book that causes Windows 10 to see it as a domain device. It is only on a local network. Perhaps workgroup membership is the problem.
Thanks for all of your help.
Frank C