cant access root drive - lost admin rights

[Ali]

Hi;

I installed Windows7 recently. I was changing permissions and accidently denied authenticated users to C drive. I was logged in as admin which is the only account. Now I cant access anythig in C Drive and cant execute any thing. I tried through safe mode as well but of no use. How can I regain access or reset permissions.

Any help would be appreciated!

cheers

 

[septprince]

Can you open the properties of your c:\ drive????

 

[Ali]

Yes I can but cant do anything under the security tab which requires admin rights.
I even managed to activate hidden admin account through safe mode but cant do any admin stuff using that account too.

 

[septprince]

You denied authenticated users access and you change it to what??

 

[zigzag3143]

authenticated users= no access. that might be a slight problem If the hidden super admin cant change it I hope you have a backup to restore, or you could try a repair install

Ken

 

[Ali]

actually i was trying sumthing to get rid of that pop up asking to allow an exe to run thousand times a day and mistakenly denied to all.
Now I cant even retore as it doesnt open the restore window due to access problem. Looks like I am gonna give up and try ro repair/reinstall(

cheers

 

[zigzag3143]

actually i was trying sumthing to get rid of that pop up asking to allow an exe to run thousand times a day and mistakenly denied to all.
Now I cant even retore as it doesnt open the restore window due to access problem. Looks like I am gonna give up and try ro repair/reinstall(

cheers

Ali

Its actually your best idea. btw that annoying pop-up is called UAC and you can turn it off.

Ken

 

[SIW2]

You could give this a try first:

1 Go into Safe mode with cmd prompt

2. Open cmd prompt and type:

NET USER ADMINISTRATOR /active:yes {enter}

3. Type NET STOP ProfSvc {enter} to get to login screen.

3. Ctrl +Alt+ Del > start Task Manager> New Task>Explorer.

4.EITHER :

a) Open Regedit and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.

In the right pane , rt click and Modify EnableUA and change the value to 0.

   Warning

Use this only in Windows 7. Disabling UAC like this in Windows 8 will break Store apps, and cause you to no longer be able to open and run them.

OR

b) Go to Msconfig>Tools Tab>Disable UAC.

5. Then rt click C drive Properties >Security>Highlight Authenticated Users>Edit >Tick Full Control>Apply>OK. and see if you can get control of it.

 

[Antman]

Ali, based on the evidence presented, I cannot be alone in providing a singular bit of advice - you may be well served to leave UAC enabled, at least at a minimal level.

After the successful repair or re-install is accomplished.

 

[Ali]

Thanx SIW2... I disabled UAC and now I get the following message when I click security tab of the drive : "You dont hav permisssions to view or edit this object's permission settings".

I think, the only thing that could help is by changing the permissions from registry but dont know how to do that

 

[SIW2]

You could try this (assuming it is C drive) from an elevated cmd prompt:

icacls "C:\" /grant Administrator:F /T

As the only alternative is a reinstall, you might also give this a go - I haven't tried it on 7 , but it seems to me it may well work:

restore security settings to the default :

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313222

 

[Ali]

This didnt work as well. Seems like I did something really stupid to it
Finally, reinstalled windows and all back to normal other than the time wasted.

Thaks everyone for your kind suggestions!