Stuck in a loophole; Locked myself out of C:\

[5674]

While configuring user accounts permissions and noticing that there were 4 different kinds of users, one being the administrator user and another being me, i deleted all user accounts bar the two stated, now my main windows partition containing the OS is labeled as 0 bytes and i'm no longer granted access to anything in the partition itself, however i can view the files if i go indirectly to a shortcuts file location.

I've tried going through properties>security>advanced>owner>exit>clicking my username>check replace owner on sub containers and objects >apply but doing so only provokes more "You are not permitted to perform these actions" pop-ups.

I really do not know what to do, i'm the only user of this computer thus the only user account, and an administrator account at that, such is why i deleted the extra users i saw listed, although now i wish i didn't try to fix what wasn't broken.

Is there anybody who can help me? My windows partition is a 30gb part on a 750gig, the rest is another partition which i can access as normal, aswell as programs on a second 500gig HDD that work perfectly fine, but anything on the C:/ drive will not load, for example system restore will not permit me to load it, and CMD is being very picky with what i can and cannot do with it.

Can anybody please help me?

 

[richc46]

What are the 4 user accounts that your refer to. There is administrator, guest and standard. Which is the fourth? Are you referring to an adminsitrator account, in addition to your administrator account?

 

[5674]

Authenticated Users
SYSTEM
Administrators(NEVADA-PC\Administrators)
Users(NEVADA-PC\Users)

These were the original four, but i cannot remember correctly,

I deleted the first two and now administrators and users remain.

This was not under Windows 7's default user account creation window, I deleted them under the list from the properties> security on the c:/ drive

 

[richc46]

Easy to fix Just do this several times if errors are found

Go to your ADmistrator account. Type CMD in search. Then right click on cmd, to install as ADM. Then in cmd type sfc /scannow. This will find and fix corruption. If that does not work, there is another way. dont worry this is an easy problem.

 

[5674]

When i set CMD to run as administrator i get the Network Error:

"Windows cannot access C\Windows\System32\cmd.exe"
Error code: 0x800704b3

If i click "Diagnose" I get another error "There was a problem troubleshooting"

Typing in sfc /scannow prompts cmd to write "You must be running an administrator console session in order to use the sfc utility".

 

[surfasb]

Authenticated Users
SYSTEM
Administrators(NEVADA-PC\Administrators)
Users(NEVADA-PC\Users)

These were the original four, but i cannot remember correctly,

I deleted the first two and now administrators and users remain.

This was not under Windows 7's default user account creation window, I deleted them under the list from the properties> security on the c:/ drive

Ughh, this is why people shouldn't mess with their computers unless they know what they are doing.

Authenticated users group is for networking purposes. The SYSTEM account is what all SERVICES processes use to access the files.

Users is also important, because if you use UAC, by default, all executed processes under your account, whether you are an admin or a standard user, is only given User rights unless explicitly elevated by UAC. This was in response to malware abusing the old XP model.

It is going to take some work to redo all your files, because some files you won't be able to change since they will be locked cause they are in use. I'm surprised you were able to boot into Windows in the first place.

At the very least those four accounts should exist. What rights they should be granted is another matter. SYSTEM and Authenticated users should have full control. Admins also. Users should have the ability to modify files.......



You should think about wiping that partition as it is possible the changes are irreversible.

 

[surfasb]

When i set CMD to run as administrator i get the Network Error:

"Windows cannot access C\Windows\System32\cmd.exe"
Error code: 0x800704b3

If i click "Diagnose" I get another error "There was a problem troubleshooting"

Typing in sfc /scannow prompts cmd to write "You must be running an administrator console session in order to use the sfc utility".

To get an admin CMD console, hit the WIN key, type CMD and then hit CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.

You might be denied because of your changes to the NTFS ACL.

 

[5674]

Considering that i only have one account set as the administrator account I would not have assumed 4 different variants of the same account with varied policies would be necessary, If I'm the only user of this computer then i don't require an extra profile that has exactly the same permissions as the admin account, at least that is what i would naturally expect.

I really don't want to have to format my OS partition, Would it be possable to create another administrator account and through that grant my current "broken" account full control? Or am i just talking wishful thinking.

Also, i still get the same error message using your method.

 

[richc46]

Do this and save a lot of time.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R

 

[5674]

Is there no other alternative?

I am grateful for you trying to help regardless.

 

[richc46]

The reapir install will just overwrite your files. You do not lose document, programs or anything else.

 

[iseeuu]

Is there no other alternative?

I am grateful for you trying to help regardless.

I would think a "Repair Install" would get you back up and running without deleting everything and starting over.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

Perhaps not a very good analogy, but sort of: think of buying food at a fast food joint. You only see the kid at the cash register, but behind the wall are all sorts of people doing different jobs so that the kid can put your food on a tray and pass it to you. What you have done is dismiss all the people behind the wall and now can't get your order filled?

Cheers!
Robert

 

[surfasb]

Considering that i only have one account set as the administrator account I would not have assumed 4 different variants of the same account with varied policies would be necessary, If I'm the only user of this computer then i don't require an extra profile that has exactly the same permissions as the admin account, at least that is what i would naturally expect.

You incorrectly assume that the amount of entries in the NTFS ACL has any kind of relevance to the number of local accounts on a machine.

I really don't want to have to format my OS partition, Would it be possable to create another administrator account and through that grant my current "broken" account full control? Or am i just talking wishful thinking.

Also, i still get the same error message using your method.

Creating another admin account won't do any good. Those same files that are locked by the OS are going to be locked whether you are using a user account, power user account, backup operator account, Enterprise Admin, or Domain admin account. It is all the same to the OS.

You can try to obtain a good copy of Windows PE on a bootCD and modify all the NTFS ACLs from there. That's another solution. But I again suggest you thing about backing up your data using a linux LiveCD.

 

[acurasd]

Is there no other alternative?

I am grateful for you trying to help regardless.

lets see if we can access your C drive by going into the true admin account


go to CMD run as Admin

type: net user administrator /active:yes


Log off user and the Admin will show up in the welcome boot.

Not saying this is a fix but worth a try

 

[Frostmourne]

Is there no other alternative?

I am grateful for you trying to help regardless.

lets see if we can access your C drive by going into the true admin account


go to CMD run as Admin

type: net user administrator /active:yes


Log off user and the Admin will show up in the welcome boot.

Not saying this is a fix but worth a try

Isn't that the SYSTEM account that was killed? A repair install would be good here.

 

[surfasb]

Is there no other alternative?

I am grateful for you trying to help regardless.

lets see if we can access your C drive by going into the true admin account


go to CMD run as Admin

type: net user administrator /active:yes


Log off user and the Admin will show up in the welcome boot.

Not saying this is a fix but worth a try

Isn't that the SYSTEM account that was killed? A repair install would be good here.

Nope. Again, the list of entries in the NTFS ACL has NO, I repeat NO, correlation with the actual local accounts on a machine.

Even going under the true admin account will do him little good here. While you can seize control of the object and start to add in the default entries, it will do you no good as you will have no access to the files that are locked by the OS.

Again, you should think about backing up your data and reinstalling Windows because lots of the changes are irreversible with your current tools.

If you can get a hold of a WInPE disc...

 

[Saltgrass]

The solution suggested by richc46 is very easy and will not erase any data.

I am not in Win 7 right now, but how did you delete System? Did you delete it from the security tab for the C: partition and maybe that is why you cannot access it? Can you go back and add the System and fix it?

You say you can access the partition using a shortcut. It almost sounds like you mapped it.

 

[PoPPeR]

you mentioned you were able to access a certain from the folder's shortcut. go to the top hiearchy of that folder and check you have permission to it.

agree...do a repair if all else fail.

 

[5674]

Good news, i mannaged to fix the problem without having to do a repair install.

Remember those 4 user names that i mentioned earlier? I changed my C:/'s ownership to those specific names, the other two present would not let me grant them total access to the drive and would produce errors, luckily the system picked up the two deleted accounts up as legitimate users still on the system and then realised that it's functional to give those accounts ownership of the drive.

The names of the accounts werent avaliable by default, i had to find the names to grant access to, should've thought of that sooner, I thought that since i deleted them they woulden't still be recoverable.

Long story short no drastic measures were required and i luckily got out of what would otherwise be a total dead end.

Also reinstalling windows 7 woulden't be that much of a problem anyway, i have the OS itself stored on a 30gig partition, all my important files run on secondary drives.

Thanks guys

 

[MacGyvr]

Easy to fix Just do this several times if errors are found

Go to your ADmistrator account. Type CMD in search. Then right click on cmd, to install as ADM. Then in cmd type sfc /scannow. This will find and fix corruption. If that does not work, there is another way. dont worry this is an easy problem.

How is searching for corrupted files going to fix permissions that the user purposely deleted? The system is not corrupt. It is doing as it was told to do.