QUOTE(salacious fictitious @ Oct 15 2017, 09:35 PM)
policy
i can't undo and it won't let me edit it
fuark
was following Reddit advice blindly
I'm fuck
This is going to be TLDR. Be patient.
SOS Original article of the solution.You could try this method, it was used for Windows 7. But it might still work for Windows 10. No harm trying since you are either left with reformatting the hdd as last resort. While it looks long, be patient with the solution.
Do you have data in hdd? If you do, you could use any of the blue items below for start up disk to do backup. You need to google for this. But my personal choice would be
Hiren's Boot CD CLICK ME. Boot it up and try Windows XP to see if you could access your drive to do backup.
If you have nothing to backup, reformatting will be faster and stress free. Else you could use a boot up disk to backup and reformat if you want to skip the hard (red part)
Suggest you have a Windows 10 installation disk ready. If you don't have that, you can
download windows 10 from this official link.You need it to boot and start command prompt. The command to enable administrator is still the same form Windows 7,8 & 10. I bold those parts.
The hard part comes with the registry in red. Hopefully they did not change a lot in Windows 10.
QUOTE
Sounds like they set a Deny permission on the root of the C: drive.
This procedure can fix it if that is what was done.
I would recommend you first backup your data either using a Live CD to boot the system, or connect it to another system to copy your data off first.
Live CDs:
Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
BartPE CD/DVD
Ultimate Boot CD
Knoppix
Ubuntu
Puppy Linux
The first two require access to a Windows XP Disk
The Ultimate Boot CD does not include SATA drivers, so you'll need to be able to change the BIOS setting for the SATA controller to ATA instead of AHCI, or Compatibility mode instead of Enhanced (wording will vary)
Note: A Vista/Win7 DVD can also be used to recover files and make some repairs. A Vista RE disk can be downloaded from one of these links:
Vista Recovery Environment CD
64 bit Vista
32 bit Vista
Boot with the DVD
Select your language and click Next
Click Repair your Computer
After it scans for Windows installations click Next (Win7: Select Top option first)
Click Command Prompt.
You can use Copy, Xcopy, or Robocopy to copy files to an external drive, a different partition, or a different internal hard drive.
Once the data is safe, give this a whirl:
Is the Administrator account displayed on the Welcome screen?
If not, follow these steps to activate it:
Boot to Safe Mode and log in with the Administrator account if available.
If not, use any other Admin account.
Open a Command Prompt (Should say Administrator in the Title bar)
If not, open an Elevated Prompt by clicking Start, type cmd, when cmd.exe appears in the list, right click it and choose Run as administrator
type the following (there is a space between the different colors):
Net User Administrator /active:yes
You should see The command completed successfully
Reboot to Normal mode and log in with the Administrator account
If it's never been used before, it may take a minute as the profile is created.
Click on Start, type regedit in the Search box, press Enter
Navigate to this key:
Code:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
In the right pane, find EnableLUA
If it's not 0 (zero), double click and change it to 0
You may get a pop up from the tray that UAC has been turned off, you can ignore it.
Collapse the tree back to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Right click on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, click Permissions...
Highlight CREATOR OWNER
Check Full Control under Allow
Highlight SYSTEM
Check Full Control under Allow
Highlight Administrators
Check Full Control under Allow
Highlight Users
Click Remove
If It Shows, Highlight Your Username
Click Remove
Click OK
Reboot the system, then Log into the Administrator account
Right click Computer, then click Explore
Right click the C: drive, click Properties.
Click the Security tab
Click the Advanced button
Click the Owner tab
Click the Edit... button
Highlight Administrators
Make sure the box for Replace owner on subcontainers and objects is Unchecked
Click OK, OK the Pop-up, then OK on the remaining property windows to close them
Right click the C: drive, click Properties.
Click the Security tab
Click the Edit... button
Highlight Administrators, and click Full Control under the Allow column
Check all other entries, and remove any Deny permissions.
Default Groups/Allow Permissions:
Code:
Authenticated Users Special
System Full Control
Administrators Full Control
Users Read & execute
List folder contents
Read
Click OK, then click Yes on the Popup
You will get several error Popups, click Continue on all of them
Click OK on the Properties window.
Open a Command Prompt
Type the following two lines (there is a space between the different colors):
CD /D C:\
icacls * /C /T /reset
This will reset the default inherited permissions, but will not remove any Deny permissions that have been set on individual items. It's normal to see Access Denied messages, and some files will fail to be processed.
This should restore the ability to take ownership to remove any deny permissions that may be set on individual files/folders.
Close the Command Prompt when it finishes.
Start Regedit
Right click on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, click Permissions...
Click Add..., type Users, then click the Check Names button
Click OK
Click the Advanced button
Highlight Users and click the Edit... button
Check the following boxes under Allow:
Query Value
Enumerate Subkeys
Notify
Read Control
If you wish to re-enable the User Account Control (the Enable LUA value we changed earlier)
Control Panel | User Accounts
Click Turn user Account Control On or Off
Check the box and Click OK
(This does require a Reboot)
Reboot, log into the User Account and test.
Once everything is working, we need to restore TrustedInstaller as the owner of C:\
Right click Computer, then click Explore
Right click the C: drive, click Properties.
Click the Security tab
Click the Advanced button
Click the Owner tab
Click the Edit... button
Click the Other users or groups... button
Type in NT SERVICE\TrustedInstaller
Click the Check Names button
Click OK
Highlight TrustedInstaller
Make sure the box for Replace owner on subcontainers and objects is Unchecked
Click OK, OK the Pop-up, then OK on the remaining property windows to close them
To disable the Built-in Administrator account (Good idea):
Open a Command Prompt
type the following (there is a space between the different colors):
Net User Administrator /active:no
You should see The command completed successfully