Run as administrator doesn't work in my Windows 64-bit Professional

I recently upgraded my ‘Windows 7 Professional’ system from the 32-bit to the 64-bit version, in order to accommodate additional RAM.

In the 32-bit system, I could perform most supervisory functions while operating in a standard ID. For instance, when I clicked on a program’s installation file I would get a pop-up window asking for the supervisor password. I would enter it and the installation would proceed. I could also right-click privileged programs, choose “Run as administrator” from the menu, and enter the password.

Neither of those things works in my 64-bit Windows 7 system. An attempt to perform a privileged action produces a message that I need “permission from a supervisor …” and with privileged programs selecting “Run as administrator” from a right-click menu does nothing.

I’ve scanned the system for viruses (none found) and, in my supervisor ID I looked among all the Windows options I could find; none seems applicable.

Is this an intrinsic difference or is there a cure?

I have Win 7 HP 64 and works normally.
Where did you get the installation disk?
Did you do a clean install?
Group policy s can change some behaviors. Did you changed any settings with gpedit?
Are you the only user?

Thank you for your reply to my query. My answers are below:

Megahertz07 said:

I have Win 7 HP 64 and works normally.
Where did you get the installation disk?
The conversion was done by a local computer place that was installing the additional RAM (I used them because I have bad luck with hardware), so I don't know what they used.
Did you do a clean install?
I think they did, because all my programs were gone. (They did however, restore my data.)
Group policy s can change some behaviors. Did you changed any settings with gpedit?
Thereby hangs a tale: When, working in the standard ID, I entered gpedit.exe and just for the h-ll of it right-clicked and typed "run as administrator", for the first time I got the password window! I've made only two changes to the system today, and will tell you what in answer to your last question:
Are you the only user?

Yes and no: I've established two user IDs: One has administrative authority and the other does not. Having not yet reestablished the power-on password (the computer guys had removed it) I put in a user password for the standard ID (as well as for the administrative one of course4). Today I put a power-on password back in and removed the password from the standard (i.e. non-administrative) ID. My guess is that the latter caused the change, but I don't intend to test that theory.
Thanks again for your reply, which led to my discovery that the problem appears to be gone.

I suggest that you make sure that you can log in both as the standard user and as the administrator user. Then, for your normal, everyday usage, use the standard account. See if you can now right-click on something and choose "run as administrator". If that function now works when you are the standard user, then my guess is that Windows fixed itself, either by some internal process or perhaps by a Windows update. Or perhaps you did something that you aren't aware of that fixed the problem.

Removing the password from the standard account wouldn't have fixed this, because the standard account doesn't have administrative rights. However, if you had removed the password from the administrator account (this is not recommended), then it would be understandable that "run as administrator" would work, because the administrator account would always be available for use, without your having to enter a password (that's why it is not recommended that you remove the password from the administrator account). In other words, the administrator account might run in the background without your being aware of it, if the administrator account has no password that you have to enter.

Thank you for the information and advice.

mrjimphelps said:

I suggest that you make sure that you can log in both as the standard user and as the administrator user.
Yes, I've done that.
Then, for your normal, everyday usage, use the standard account
That is my standard practice (no pun intended).
See if you can now right-click on something and choose "run as administrator".
That was one of the things I did before responding to the first reply.
If that function now works when you are the standard user, then my guess is that Windows fixed itself, either by some internal process or perhaps by a Windows update. Or perhaps you did something that you aren't aware of that fixed the problem.

Removing the password from the standard account wouldn't have fixed this, because the standard account doesn't have administrative rights. However, if you had removed the password from the administrator account (this is not recommended), then it would be understandable that "run as administrator" would work, because the administrator account would always be available for use, without your having to enter a password (that's why it is not recommended that you remove the password from the administrator account). In other words, the administrator account might run in the background without your being aware of it, if the administrator account has no password that you have to enter.

Although it's hard to believe that the sudden recovery of the administrative capabilities in a standard ID was a coincidence, your explanation makes sense.
Again, thank you for the information and advice.
WilliamNJ