Solved Locked out of administrator privileges

I am new to Windows 7 after having used XP for quite some time. For security reasons, I used XP with the "Administrator" account just for program installation/windows update and then used a second user account that was a "power user" (i.e., not an administrator).

I tried to do the same with Windows 7. I.e., "Administrator" is already present, and I created a second user that by default had administrator privileges. (The following steps were performed while logged into my second user account.) After running "lusrmgr.msc," I first set a password for the "Administrator," and then changed my current user status from having administrator privileges to being a power user. Much to my chagrin and without any warning, I then discovered that "Administrator" is deactivated by default in Windows 7 (so I cannot log in as such, even though I set a password) and I cannot reactivate it without having administrator privileges. Therefore, I am stuck in a power-user status without being able to have administrator privileges anymore.

Anything I can do (short of reformatting and reinstalling)?

Thanks.

Hello Mu85, and welcome to Seven Forums.

The tutorial below can help show you how to enable the built-in Administrator account at boot in WinRE. Afterwards you should be able to log in to it to fix the other account.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/102552-built-administrator-enable-winre.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Shawn,

Thanks very much! Issue solved.

The linked tutorial did not work, since when I clicked to open "SAM," I was told it could not be accessed because it was already in use. Instead, I rebooted in safe mode, but this time without the command prompt, then went to the user accounts, and finally unchecked the box for disabling the administrator account.

Either way, the safe-mode boot allowed me to log in as the administrator. Thanks, again!

That's great news. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.