System administrator not recognised

[baconpants]

I have had Windows 7 Home Premium on my Dell Inspiron 1545 for over a year, and I have always had Windows Update download and notify me of updates, but let me choose whether and when to install them. However, in the recent week, it seems to have reset to automatic updates without letting me change back the settings.

Windows Update Settings in Control Panel has the whole Important Updates section greyed out, and at the top is a notification that says "Some settings are managed by your system administrator." However, I am the system administrator.

A bit of googling has resulted in a lot of suggestions to edit pgedit.msc, but Windows 7 Home Premium prevents me from doing this. I have been unable to find solutions other than the above.

I made another administrator account and thought maybe it would let me change the automatic update settings from there. It gave me the same message and a greyed out panel. Guest user does not have that section greyed out but, obviously, requires administrative rights in order to change the settings.

I understand that this situation is not a matter of life and death, but I would very much like to be able to disable the automatic updates. The other day, I was writing my thesis, and while the "Do you want to restart your computer now?" window popped up, I ended up rebooting the computer as I pressed space bar in the middle of the writing process.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DustSailor]

I have never heard of this. You are logged on locally, meaning you aren't connected in a domain across a network?

I would suggest as a last resort to completely reinstall your computer, but there may be others who have a better suggestion, but you may have to wait around for it as many are busy answering other questions.

You could also try a system restore or a repair install

 

[baconpants]

Thank you for the reply. I am logged on locally.

I shall keep an eye out for additional replies.

 

[mckillwashere]

Open an elevated command prompt, and run sfc /scannow This will look for and replace any corrupt system files.

Does any one else have access to this computer?

 

[baconpants]

sfc /scannow went through the verification process and then just closed, both times that I tried. Does this mean it didn't find any corrupt system files?

Nobody else has access to the laptop, whether across a network or locally.

 

[mckillwashere]

Installed any new programs or tried to change system files?

 

[baconpants]

Nope, I've just been updating what I already have. This includes Silverlight, Defraggler, Malwarebytes, Skype, Gtalk plugin, SUMo and MSE around the time that this problem started, if that helps at all.

 

[mckillwashere]

the new skype is really bugged out FYI.

 

[baconpants]

I appreciate the heads up.

 

[slbrito]

windows up date

I´d suggest you to take a look in this tutorial: Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable
How to Enable or Disable the Windows 7 Built-in Administrator Account
Published by Brink
11-14-2008 This will crate a new account in your computer with all possible privileges. It´s essy than reinstallation, you can try. I hope it solves your problem.

 

[baconpants]

It appears that even the built-in administrator account has the Important Updates section greyed out, but your help was much appreciated.

 

[GoldiLX]

I´d suggest you to take a look in this tutorial: Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable
How to Enable or Disable the Windows 7 Built-in Administrator Account
Published by Brink
11-14-2008 This will crate a new account in your computer with all possible privileges. It´s essy than reinstallation, you can try. I hope it solves your problem.

Theres no link to the article?

 

[baconpants]

Google's first result: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html

Enjoy!