Built-in administrative account is the prime administrator account which you create when you log on first time to Windows. This administrative account rights are very important and losing these rights will bring lots of trouble to you. So in case, if you have just realized that you’ve lost administrative rights in Windows 10, this post is for you.

Following are the symptoms you might be facing:

  • While installing some program, User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears but there is no place to input your password and Yes button is greyed out or missing
  • You’re not able to install programs even when you’re administrator
  • You can’t upgrade Windows to a newer edition
  • You can’t add new features to Windows

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

There can be miscellaneous reasons that may contribute to take administrative rights away from you. If you have a secondary user account, you can reset built-in admin account with the help of it:

Steps to reset built-in administrator account in Windows

However, if you still want to regain your lost rights, you can try the steps mentioned below. The only requirement here is the presence of secondary or standard admin account on your system.

Fix: Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10/8.1/8/7

1. Boot into System Recovery Options. Hit the Command prompt entry at following screen:

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

2. Last step will result in opening of Command Prompt at boot.

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

3. In the Command Prompt window, type regedit and hit Enter to open Registry Editor. Now highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branch and then click File > Load Hive.

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

4. Moving on, in the Load Hive window, browse the folder system root drive > Windows > System32 > config.

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

5. Under config folder, type SAM or click file named SAM and hit Open/press Enter key.

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

6. Now provide a unique name to hive. In this case, you’ve to name it as REM_SAM. Click OK and hive will be loaded into HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branch.

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

7. Navigate to following registry key now:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\REM_SAM\SAM\Domains\Accounts\Users\000001F4

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

8. Next, highlight 000001F4 key and in the corresponding right pane, look for binary registry DWORD (REG_BINARY) named F. Double click on this DWORD to edit its Data:

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

9. Finally, in the Edit Binary Value box shown above, place your cursor on line 38, in the right side of 11. Press Delete key now and then type 10. Click OK. Close Registry Editor and Command Prompt windows, and turn off your PC.

FIX Lost Administrative Rights In Windows 10

After reboot, you’ll find that you’ve got your admin rights back.

Check the live illustration of this method in following video:

If you’re on Windows 11, refer this video fix:

Hope this helps!

Also available: Lost administrator rights in Windows 11.

229 Comments

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  • Matt Appleby

    I reached step 5, then I stupidly managed to double-click the SAM file rather than click ‘Open’. Now when I try clicking ‘Open’, all I get is a message saying ‘This file is in use. Enter a new name or close the file that’s open in another program’. Also, there is a key in the Registry Editor called ‘SAM’, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, that contains only a single subkey, also called ‘SAM’, which contains only a ‘(Default)’ REG_SZ file. This key might have been there to begin with, but I suspect was created by my error. Is there a way to correct this error and create the REM_SAM hive I was supposed to, or have I just screwed myself completely?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ The ‘SAM’ key is there by default and it have user records. Can you retry complete steps carefully and as directed, see if it helps.

  • Matt Appleby

    Tried it again several times, and still coming up with the same error message. I’m loading the file from the local drive (C:, in my case) as instructed.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ I guess there is something wrong with registry. I suggest you to go ahead with Command Prompt method and see if it helps you: https://www.kapilarya.com/reset-built-in-administrator-account-in-windows-10

  • Anish

    there is no folder named config in my pc

  • Megan

    Will I lose all of my files if I use this method? I’ve tried everything else

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ I don’t think so. It just enables the administrator account and do not delete your files.

  • boriswil

    Kapil Arya
    Hi, I’m boriswil. You answered me, thanks, but I DON’T have a secondary admin account and my built-in adm acc was accid deleted. Is there a way to restore it or somehow recover admin rights without doing a reset to factory settings and horribly losing a lot of things? Besides, my windows 10 was installed in my laptop when I bought it and I don’t have a win 10 disk to do such reset to fact settings. Is there any hope?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ You can do a System Restore if you’ve restore point created before you started facing issue. If you don’t have it, unfortunately you need to reinstall Windows w/o affecting your data: https://www.kapilarya.com/reinstall-windows-10-without-affecting-personal-files

  • Sanku Sinha

    I have a problem on step. It says “You need to sign in as an administrator” to continue, but there aren’t any administrator account on this PC”

  • Tom Xu

    Hello Kapil Arya, I have a question hope your help.
    Question: If my size of the cursor file is greater than a certain value and is displayed to be compressed. Using setsystemcursor() set the system mouse pointer is not working. Whether the question can be fixed by modifying regedit value?

  • Amir Sohail

    Hello kapil I’m not having a secondary admin account,,,now how should i get the command prompt

  • Greg

    Kapil, what about enabling built-in Admin from CMD (from booted media if necessary) to change account back to Admin? Would this also work, or has something else happened to the account?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Greg, I’ve cited many instances when enabling the built-in admin via Command Prompt just doesn’t work. But the registry way mentioned in this article in works always, that’s why I recommend it more :)

  • Greg Carmack

    OK I’m going to start recommending it for these instances.

    Do you happen to know what is happening to explain why an Admin account could lose privileges without the existence of another Admin which is supposedly forbidden? Is it a bug? If so we need to elevate this.

    I do notice that since CMD is always going to prompt for Admin permission except for booted media.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Not sure what may cause the issue of losing admin rights but most users have faced this. A close suspect might be third-party programs or Windows Update. I don’t think it’s a bug.

  • Jolene

    Thank you! This is the only thing that would work! I’m back in control of my computer! phew

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ That’s awesome Jolene, glad we could help you 😎

  • Max

    Hello I get to the point where I need to load the C: drive but uuuh even in Hive it does not detect that I have ANY drive …. Therefore I cant continue..

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Can you load SAM file?

  • Harshit

    Tried it even changed the F 00038 value to 10 but still getting the administrator password box is there a way to fix that

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Can you try this and see if it helps: https://www.kapilarya.com/reset-built-in-administrator-account-in-windows-10

  • Rami

    Hi Kapil,
    I have a similar problem but from the first step I don’t even get the UAC pop up, I simply get this error message: ”This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Please install a program or, if one is already installed, create an association in the Default Programs control panel”

    of course I cannot install or uninstall anything. I cannot Run anything, no regedit, if I try to run config I get a message ”You dont have permission to access this folder” and if i click continue to get access nothing happens..
    If I try to open cmd as administrator i get this error”Windows cannot find C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe”
    Are you familiar with this problem?

  • muhammad talha

    hey! this actually worked.but i am wondering if it will harm my pc.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ No 😊

  • muhammad talha

    hi again. I want to ask that my windows does not respond frequently and other programs crash frequently.also uninstall.exe is gone. why is this happening.it started after i did what you said in this tutorial.

  • Sam

    Is there anyway to reset this

  • Ellen

    I reached step 5, but when I ‘Open’, file SAM it say ‘This file is in use, Enter a new name or close the file that’s open in another program’. i saw how its done in the video but in my computer it doesn’t work. please help

  • Po

    As of 3/23/2018, this solution is still working. Thank you, Kapil Arya!
    That said, the “Delete” part in step 9 should be “Backspace” instead.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Happy to help 😎

  • Rochelle

    I don’t have permission to access the config folder. How do I get to pass this point?

  • John

    Thank you so much for this fix, it saved me hours of work and stress.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help, John 😊

  • Rajnish Kumar

    Thank you very much. You saved my day.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Happy to help, Rajnish 😎

  • Helekesite Vui

    thank you very much. you’re one of the best.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ You’re most welcome Helekesite 😊

  • Deb House

    I did this fix and restarted my computer and now just get the blue stop code screens. It tries to repair and is unable to and restarts. I can’t start in safe mode either. I get the following stop codes: IRQL not less or equal – I get this one A LOT
    Driver overran stack buffer
    Crypto library internal error
    Page fault in nonpaged area
    APC index mismatched

  • Kurtis

    When I enter REM_SAM it says The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process…I’m confused
    How can I stop the previous process

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Refer: https://www.kapilarya.com/the-process-cannot-access-the-file-because-it-is-being-used-by-another-process

  • Joshua

    When I got to step 8, the F 00038 value was already set to 10. What do I do?

  • Chasity

    Everything worked fine except this created an “log in” at the start screen that needs no password. Although I am the only one using my computer Im not comfortable leaving administrator rights open to anyone who decides to turn it on or if it gets stolen.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Alright! You can add a password to this account, using lusrmgr snap-in. Open this snap-in, click Users > Built-in administrator > right click > Add password.

  • Ashwini Belgundkar

    Hi Kapil, After getting into command prompt mode , its asking for Administrator password which i dont remember. Is there any way I can remove the password to fix this issue?

  • Ashwini

    Hi Kapil, when I got into Command prompt mode, it asked me to login to administrator mode for which I dont remember the password. Is there any way I can get into the next step by removing the admin password? Its not letting me go ahead with further steps to get back lost Admin access.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Plug Windows 10 bootable USB and then use recovery mode Command Prompt.

  • education officer

    i reached upto config. now cant open it. again asking do you want to….. giving option no only. so what can i do now

  • Leslie

    I think I’m in the right area… After a system reboot and reinstall of Windows 10, my PC no longer recognizes my password and says “Windows couldn’t connect to the ProfSvc service. Please contact your system Administrator”.

    I am the Admin. It’s my computer. 😡. Cann you help?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Please refer this fix: https://www.kapilarya.com/the-user-profile-service-failed-the-sign-in-windows-10

  • Leslie

    Thanks, Kapil. But since my screen login doesn’t recognize my password, in locked out and unable to access the start menu or Internet.

  • Leslie

    Thanks, Kapil, but I’m locked out and unable to access the start menu or Internet because of pc says password is not valid.

  • Rajesh Kumar

    Thank you so much, Now I can full control the computer again.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ You’re most welcome Rajesh 😊

  • waklogo

    Thanks a lot kapil…it works!

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help waklogo 😊

  • phil

    there is no folder ‘system root drive’ in the ‘hive’ window

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Here, ‘system root drive’ means the drive on which Windows is installed.

  • Nour

    I can’t get to the command prompt or any other menu in the advanced options, it requires me to login as an admin and when I do it keeps telling me it’s a wrong password although it is not.

  • Harsh Sharma

    Thanks Kapil you are really a genius .

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Harsh 😊

  • Colin Benson

    Thank you for this detailed procedure. Unfortunately I failed at the first hurdle: “The only requirement here is the presence of secondary or standard admin account on your system.”

    I have only ever had one account – ‘Colin’. I’m not aware of any others – although I think I added me as a gmail address account.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Try booting via Windows 10 install media, it won’t require secondary account to operate Command Prompt.

  • SlickNick

    What will i do if “Load Hive” is not clickable after it opens the registry editor from cmd?

  • solomon korn

    If I could access config, I wouldnt need to come this page. this is of no help. gets stuck at config with same prob.

  • Happy Man

    Kapil, I scoured the internet and spent way to long trying to find a solution and yours worked. Thank you very much. You should add a “Donate” button so users can buy you a cup of coffee or storage space. ;)

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad I could help! I love to help people, not doing this for money or to receive donation 😊

  • Babybear

    I have found the config folder but cant open it because of user account control please help

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ What is the exact error you received?

  • Punia Shree

    Dear Kapil,

    I don’t know how to Thank you because just saying thank you is not enough..I followed your advise step by step and I could add restore my admin privileges.

    Thanks a million bro! God bless you.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Punia 😊

  • Poh li

    Key in the REM_SAM, show cannot process. Any solution? I can’t recover my admin account

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Refer this link: https://www.kapilarya.com/the-process-cannot-access-the-file-because-it-is-being-used-by-another-process

  • spmfls

    Hello Kapil,
    Prior to this last forced upgrade from Microsoft, I was able to stop and disable update service and update orchestrator. Now both services are greyed-out saying I don’t have permission.

    I am now only able to temporarily end the process of these services only using the PID in Task Manager.

    I am able to do some playing around with these two services in Task scheduler but I am now limited there also with no permissions.

    I applied your procedure to my computer…
    Windows Home
    V 1803
    OS Build 17134.472
    and everything went just as you said.

    However, it did not fix my greyed-out or permission issues.

    Specifically, in windows update and update orchestrator, I still do not have privileges in those services (still greyed out), and my Task Manager, and Task Scheduler, and Registry still prevent me from privileges.

    I did have all of those privileges prior to this last forced update about one week ago, 20 Dec 18.

    I know there are those working on a fix to prevent 1809 from downloading soon, but sure was hoping your fix would have done it. Thanks for your efforts.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Please perform repair upgrade, see if it helps: https://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-repair-windows-10-using-in-place-upgrade

  • Keshav tomar

    Please help me Kapil. Following your steps to boot in command prompt On windows recovery setting it asks for password I entered the right password but it says that it is incorrect. What to do

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Try booting into Safe Mode, see if that works!

  • Kowed

    For some administrative account is without typing any password just hit enter leave the box empty and it should work… and do a system restore to resolve your problem, start menu go to your power press shift key then press restart from there advanced option or just system restore click on administrative or so… and then click enter without entering any password and go to your restore point before the date it happened…

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ I don’t get that: ‘just hit enter leave the box empty and it should work’. There is no box appearing which can be skipped with Enter key.

  • DesiMoon

    Hello Kapil, I did the exact steps you provided here and when I typed the REM_SAM, I got ‘couldn’t load SAM file, it is already in use’. What should I do? Can you help me?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Known problem. Refer: https://www.kapilarya.com/the-process-cannot-access-the-file-because-it-is-being-used-by-another-process

  • M ALL

    Hi Arya :
    I have two problems with your progress At first when I hit command prompt open blue page that asked me enter ID key I skipped this and then typed regedit and so on untill I must go to windows which that on C partition but my c partition were blocked by bitlocker but I opened system32 file on C with dos and after that go to config and select SAM.the 2nd problem is when I typed REM-SAM and hit enter give me an error message please let me know what can I do?
    Thanks

  • celia

    Hello. I can’t use regedit on com prompt w/o admin right through Sys Rec Options. I signed in and tried again on com prompt. I got as far as Load HIve. No folder of system>root drive>windows>system32>config. Everything else I tried to open I need admin right.
    Any suggestions? :( thx

  • Mariam

    I went to delete 11 and type 10, 10 was already there. so this didn’t work. What to do?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Please refer WAY 2 mentioned here: https://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-enable-built-in-administrator-account-in-windows-10.

  • Yw

    You just save my life, thank you so much ,for a second i thought i might need to repair the computer,and i was so frustrating that i had try so many times but still could not get back the administrator rights,anyway thank you so much

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Yw 😎

  • Jakob

    when I are in system recovery options is there no command prompt. I have tried many times, but it i can’t see it

  • Mikhail D.

    Wow thank you so much sir for saving my day, this actually save my day today from my sister who own the laptop. Thank thank thank so much, I hope you can help more people in the future^__^

  • IvanV

    Epic! You saved my life, Thanks!

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad I could help 😎

  • Robert Spaltman

    hi Kapil… when trying to open config file, system responds: you don’t currently have permission.. enter continue… same problem as before… EDIT SECURITY can not enter only ‘NO’ option shown in window.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Try booting to Advanced System Recovery Options via Windows 10 installation media instead.

  • Robert Spaltman

    Thanks, problem solved using your advice…

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Robert!

  • Shashwat Khare

    This did work for me(for which I thank you Kapil) but with a slight catch: A new user account with the name Administrator was created which seemed to be allowing admin rights. My previous admin account was also there.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Shashwat 😎

  • Shashwat Khare

    Kapil, can you also help me remove the local account created(on following the steps on this page) with the name of ‘Administrator’ from my system, if it is possible? I can’t see any option to remove it using the control panel or settings.

  • Shashwat Khare

    I was able to remove the local account created(on following the steps on this page) with the name of ‘Administrator’ from my system by following steps on: https://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-enable-built-in-administrator-account-in-windows-10 with a slight change- I used ‘net user administrator /active:no’ instead of ‘net user administrator /active:yes’ in Way 2 on that page. Thank you Kapil again. You are very knowledgable.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ You’re most welcome 😊

  • Rajesh

    5 step is given access denied option in config folder.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Make sure you’re selecting correct system drive letter.

  • Anuraag

    The value in the file mentioned was already set to 10 but in a file ending f8 was set to 11. What should i do?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ There is no ‘f8’ mentioned in step 9. What you need to do is > place your cursor on line 38, in the right side of 11. Press Delete key now and then type 10.

  • Mason

    Didn’t work at all. Complete waste of time.

  • Edward

    hi
    I deleted my admin account by mistake and because it was the only account on the laptop I am now unable to log back in. Any advise as to how I can solve this problem?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ The steps mentioned in this article are still applicable for you.

  • Manish

    After reaching command prompt “preparing command prompt” message or command prompt screen to type regedit does not appear. Instead it is asking for a administrator password. Please help.
    Thanks
    Manish

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Try booting to Advanced System Recovery Options using Windows 10 installation media instead.

  • SZ

    ^^ Thanks Kapil this worked for me :-)

  • Pradip

    Thanks a lot.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Pradip!

  • Tavish Bhardwaj

    Hi Kapil.
    I am facing the problem.
    I recently upgraded to windows 10 from windows 7. in windows seven I had two accounts one was the main account which I used and it had complete admin access and the other was secondary and didn’t had admin access. When I upgraded I logged in to one of the account with my password which I used to use in my administrator account but there was a problem. I have lost my administration in the PC.
    I am asked to login with the admin username and password.
    Username is already mentioned there which is the account which did not had administration access in my PC in window 7 but here I am asked to enter the password and unfortunately I have forgot it’s password and now I am unable to login and get administrator access. I am not able to access many apps install anything and also not able to install windows online..when I try to open cmd in troubleshoot while Booting my PC it only shows and asks password for that account which has administrator access now and was secondary in windows 7 and I am not able to access anything which requires administrator access.

    Please help me can I get administrator access without loosing my data.

    Will be looking for your reply.(please help)

    With Regards
    Tavish Bhardwaj

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Have you tried steps mentioned in the article?

  • Tavish Bhardwaj

    I tried with all the steps but not a single one worked for me. In every case it is asking for administrator access login which I am not able to.
    Please help.
    It’s important.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ I suggest booting from installation or recovery media. Refer my previous comments here for hints.

  • Kae

    Will I lose my personal information after this process

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Nope!

  • Akshat Aggarwal

    Hey there ! I have got stuck on step 6. When I type “REM_SAM” and press enter it shows an error message which says, “Cannot Load X:\Widows\System 32\config\SAM: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.” FYI I’ve windows 10 installed on my PC.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Akshat, refer this fix: https://www.kapilarya.com/the-process-cannot-access-the-file-because-it-is-being-used-by-another-process

  • Akshat Aggarwal

    It worked. Thank You so much !!! ♥️

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Akshat!

  • Subhash Chopra

    Hi Kapil. I hope you can help me. I am having trouble running an application setup program. I am on a Windows 10 PRO computer. Here is what happened. For the purpose of this scenario I will call the application as myapp.
    1. I had already installed myapp ver. 1 and was running fine for last many years.
    2. I downloaded myapp ver. 2.
    3. Uninstalled myapp ver.1.
    4. Installed ver. 2.
    5. Did not like ver. 2. So uninstalled ver. 2.
    6. Now when I try reinstall ver. 1, I get the UAC error “This app has been blocked by the administrator.
    I have tried everything I found on the internet but i can’t get it going. I have many other setup programs that work just fine except this one. In your article, one of the fixes to try run the program from Administrator Command prompt. It works with this. But I can’t run it from Explorer. Is it possible that installation program of ver. 2 changed some settings on my computer that will not let me reinstall ver. 1. I will really appreciate if you help resolve this issue. Thanks in advance.
    Subhash

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ As the issue you described particularly present with a specific app, you must contact its app vendor and try their recommendations.

  • Subhash Chopra

    Hi Kapil.Thanks for the quick reply. Just wanted to mention 2 things.
    1. After step 6, I did a System Restore and got the App ver. 1 back.
    2. The setup program works from Administrative command prompt.
    If this gives you any ideas what can I do to fix this without having to contact the vendor, I will really appreciate. Vendor support is very minimal.

  • Neerav

    Hi Kapil, I tried the above method till step 2 but when I clicked Command Prompt the computer asked for an administrator password which was unknown to me. I tried using my old password but it still did not work . What should I do ?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Suggest you to boot from installation or recovery media. Refer my previous comments here for hints.

  • Shazyar

    Hello , help please!
    I have the same problem , I followed your steps but at the 6th one I can’t create REM_SAM a warning box appears and says: “The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.”
    What should I do !?

  • Shazyar

    Hello kapil
    I couldn’t find number 11 at the right side of line 38
    What should I do !?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Make sure you’re editing the Value data for correct registry DWORD.

  • Ahmet

    Do you have a Turkish version of this article Kapil?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Nope. You can use Google Translate for that 😊

  • Kevin

    i can’t get past step 2. when i select Command prompt from the system recovery options, it says i “need to be signed in as administrator to continue, but there aren’t any administrator accounts on this pc.” so i cannot open the command prompt to do the rest of the steps. what can i do?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Please boot from installation media and use recovery mode Command Prompt.

  • Klein Ramoran

    Need help guys my Asus x200m was given by my father he doesnt remember the password,i tried command prompt but it still requires me to log in with the password what to do?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Try above guide using installation media. Refer previous comments for hint.

  • Montro

    will this be surely helpful? I am afraid……so many steps!

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Hopefully, try it!

  • Robert Maxwell

    Hi Kapil, i have a lot of valuable folders on my laptop. if i follow the steps that you have provided, would it clear the folders and files i have on my desktop, documents, pictures, downloads and videos?

  • Robert Maxwell

    how do i get to the windows setup as shown in the video?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Plug Windows 10 bootable USB and then boot using it.

  • Robert Maxwell

    hi again kapil, do you mind giving me step to step instructions on how to use the bootable usb?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Create bootable USB: https://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-create-bootable-usb-from-windows-10-iso-file-using-command-prompt

    Refer steps 1-5 here: https://www.kapilarya.com/your-pc-ran-into-a-problem-and-needs-to-restart-windows-10.

    At step 6, select Command Prompt and type regedit and proceed with instructions provided here.

  • Robert Maxwell

    what if i can’t open the administrative command prompt. i’m completely blocked from using anything that the admin has control of

  • john doe

    I can’t see my account in cmd.Is that normal?

  • john doe

    Actually,i solved this with safety mod.

  • Gecko

    Aloha, Kapil Arya. I don’t have this problem … as yet, but am very impressed with your knowledge & willingness to help. Your instructions seem so helpful (and I have seen lots of posts about lost Administrator problems) that I am keeping notes on some of them … just in case.

    Could you have a summary of links at the top of the postings so you don’t have to repeat the same ones over & over; e.g. process already being used by another process?

    Thanks again!! 👍

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Gecko!

  • Sajeev V

    Hi
    I reset my Windows 10 due to some issues & now runs fine.
    Needed to update the drivers & insert the motherboard CD. But no access.
    Looking for a solution found 2 of your articles. This and “[How To] Reset Built-in Administrator Account In Windows 10”.
    Is there a difference in the outcome of the 2?
    Which one should I follow?
    Thanks…

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ If you don’t have administrative access, you should follow steps mentioned in this article.

  • Morgiana

    Hi Kapil Arya,
    Im also having problems with the lost of administrative rights in windows 10 of my laptop recently.
    I’m asking if i follow your steps on how to recover it, will it delete my files that saved in my laptop? What will happened to my other account that is sign in??
    Will my laptop be reset to factory default?
    I’m hesitant to do it because of what might happen to my laptop.
    Please help me….
    Thank u so much
    Stay safe…

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Nothing will be deleted, your laptop won’t be reset to factory defaults. This will enable Administrator account using which you can fix your original account.

  • Morgiana

    Hi Mr. Kapil,
    Thanks for the time to reply. I have still one question. What happens to my other account that is signed in? Can I still use it? because that account has all my files.
    thank u so much
    stay safe

  • Morgiana

    Hi Mr. Kapil,
    in addition to my question before, are these steps applicable to my windows 10 version 2004? because that’s the version of my windows right now.
    thank u so much
    stay safe.

  • Morgiana

    Hi Mr. Kapil Arya,
    I just want to follow up my questions to you..
    I really need your answers because i don’t want to lost all my files and since your the expert in field, I need your word from it.
    I’m so desperate so please if you have time, please answer my questions.
    I’ll be waiting..
    Thank u so much
    Stay safe

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Steps are applicable to V2004. Rest assured, your files won’t be deleted until you delete your broken account yourself.

  • Morgiana

    Hi Mr. Kapil Arya,
    I’ve followed your steps now and it worked!! But it keeps asking for administration password which I don’t know. Please help me to fix this..
    thank u so much
    stay safe

  • Morgiana

    Hi Mr. Kapil Arya,
    What i mean was when i want to install a program, it keeps asking for administor password which I don’t know.
    Please help me on how to fix this.
    Thank u so much
    Stay safe

  • Morgiana

    Hi Mr. Kapil Arya,
    Turns out I can just install some programs without the administrator password. I change my account type to administrator and restart my laptop.
    It worked like magic!! I can now install some programs. Thank u so much!!!
    I have one question though, can I disable my built-in administrator account?? because I don’t want anyone to misuse my laptop.
    Is there some major changes or just the bulit-in administrator account that will be disabled?
    Can I still access all my saved files on my laptop?
    Can I still install some programs without enabling the built-in administrator?
    Please help me…..
    Thank u so much.
    Stay safe.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ You can disable built-in admin now and continue using your admin account. Built-in admin account is there just to deal with scenarios like this, not for permanent use.

  • Morgiana

    Hi Mr. Kapil Arya
    It’s me again. My flash drive has been recently write-protected and I don’t know the reason why. Can u help me to remove the write protection? This flash drive is very important to me because it also had my very important files.
    thank u so much
    stay safe

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Please refer: https://www.kapilarya.com/the-disk-is-write-protected-error-for-usb-drives-in-windows-10.

  • Morgiana

    Hi Mr. Kapil,
    Thanks for replying. I’ll try to follow these steps.
    thank u so much and stay safe.

  • yussra chunara

    hi kapil
    i cannot access “config” it says i have no permission, what do i do?! :( please help me been trying to solve this problem for a while now

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Can you share me the exact error message?

  • Thiemo

    Dear Mr. Arya, same problem here. I have not had administrative rights for a week although I am still registered as administrator. I can not delete or change files in the Documents, Pictures or Videos folder. Your instructions are great but I already had a 10 in line 38, so I couldn’t change it here. Are there any other options for me? Thanks for your effort!

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Check this video fix by me: youtube.com/watch?v=qfTMZLYsDsg

  • William

    Hi, may I know that if I use this method, will it delete all my data?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ It won’t affect your data!

  • Alton Godwin

    So I’m stuck at step 4. Since UAC locked me out, I don’t have permission to open “config”. What do I do from here?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ When you’re working in RE Command Prompt, there is no UAC.

  • Michael Lowery

    I made the changes successfully. But when I reboot I still have the same two user accounts. Neither have admin access and I don’t have an option to login as Administrator.

  • Michael Lowery

    Nevermind, in step 9 you indicate moving the cursor to the right of 11 then pressing Delete. It should be press Backspace to delete the 11 entry and change to 10

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ I hope it should have worked now!

  • Hugo D

    I cannot get into command prompt. It says I have to have admin rights for that!!!

  • Angelslick

    I followed this to the letter and changed the number value from 11 to 10, but when I reboot the PC it reverts back, the Rem-Sam file completely dissappears in the registry and I no longer have admin rights again?

  • TA-Son

    Dear Kapil Arya. I reinstall window 10. Then my HDDs are locked. They require the bitlocker recovery keys. I do not have those keys. I checked in my Microsoft account and so on, but i can not find out my keys. Could you help me to get my data back from the HDDs.
    Thank you so much
    Best regards,
    TASon

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Check, if you saved your recovery key to USB drive or somewhere else. Without recovery key, we can’t do anything to get data back.

  • Wes

    My F Binary Values are totally different from yours. I still changed 15 to 11 and left the rest as they were. Should I change everything?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Make sure you modify F DWORD value under only 000001F4 registry key. Kindly don’t proceed if the values are not same in your case.

  • Jeremiah

    it says i need a admin user name and password pls help

    Jeremiah

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Boot into RE Command Prompt, refer previous comments.

  • Nitin

    This worked perfectly sir. Thank you

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Nitin!

  • XVT

    I’m also stuck at step 4. Need help bro!

  • Mary

    This worked perfectly, thanks Kapil 🙏

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help!

  • Jodi Sainz

    Thanks for your help with this issue.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ You’re welcome!

  • Supriya Yadav

    Hi Kapil, I am glad I found this link…. hoping that you would help me….

    I tried doing this but cannot go beyond ‘config’ as it says the same message as you shown im the beginning of your video. (YES button not available)

    Could you please guide?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Are you getting ‘The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process’ error?

  • Venkatesh

    Hello Kapil
    I have the same issue, I’m following the same steps like you mentioned it here.
    1. Unable to select Hive option (is greyed out)
    2. At line 38, in the right side of 11, 10 number is already mentioned there. Unable to make any default changes…
    3. I followed all the steps, unable to get administrator rights back.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Venkatesh, you mentioned hive option is greyed out. How did you performed rest of steps?

  • Michael

    I can’t load the sam file😭

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ What exactly happens when you load SAM file?

  • a.s

    Wow thank you for this magic!

  • Miracle

    Sincerely I am grateful to you for this detailed description, it saved me Last night as I was trying to delete some user profile in my system and was locked out.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help!

  • Nat

    Hey Kapil,
    I just wanted to know that will these steps help me to regain Administrator privileges on the current account I am using or will it create a separate account where I have Administrator privileges and can do stuff from there?

    Thanks!

  • Lander Velez

    I reached the config step but i couldnt open it because it required admin how do i do it without admin

  • Tolbert

    i got to step 6 but got a response that “cannot load X :/windows/system 32/config/SAM;The process cannot access the file becaue it is beng used by another process.”What should I do next?

  • akop

    Hi Kapil,
    Getting this error while trying to get into the recovery mode from settings>>recovery or from here Control Panel\System and Security\Administrative Tools imgur.com/a/WSs1R48

    Already tried the fixes mentioned here https://www.kapilarya.com/fix-the-extended-attributes-are-inconsistent-error-in-windows-10 but the result is the same. Please help

  • zach

    I followed the steps exactly but upon reboot i did not gain admin privilege’s. is there a way someone could block this from being changed on reboot?

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Retry and make sure to make no mistakes while following the steps.

  • Ravi

    All of sudden, cannot log into windows 10 pc. Then went to the safe mode, select Command Prompt but it was warned:”You need to sign in as an Administrator to continue, but there aren’t any administrator accounts on this PC”. but the login ID was the sole account in this pc. currently cannot log into PC….I really need to use this pc. Can someone help to solve this issue ASAP? Thanks

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Have you tried steps in this article?

  • Igor Vukovic

    Great tutorial. Helped me a lot.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help!

  • Greg Rose

    Wow!!! I was in the right area by myself w/reg-edit…just couldn’t finish it. Friggin’ GitHub sent me to Pro-type status, w/o me knowing he took my ole’ Inspirion to server/dev. route after I told him I was interested in lookin’ around at options as I…”MAY”…open a small bidzness in the near future.
    Free Advice…you’ll be blessed for your works.

    I’m gonna try your fix process…wish me luck…please.

  • Sagar kumar Verma

    Hearty thanks buddy. Can’t explain how happy i am today. I changed my account type last year in june and then was unable to get back to the administrator account. It was like my laptop was imprisoned for more than a year. Finally I came accross your blog and it helped me out get my laptop out from the prison 😂

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad to help Sagar 😎

  • Eco

    Please help! On line 32

    I see 15 where the other number should be not 10 should I change it?

  • Eco

    My tablet is acting up sorry on line 38 on the left of 2 I see 15! Should I change it? I’m in s mode btw

  • Eco

    Further information: 000001F8 has the value as 11 default and 000003E9 has it set as 10 default all the rest (000001F7, 000001F5, 000001F4) are set as 15

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Do you see 11 on line 38? If not, don’t change anything!

  • Eco

    As mentioned before, i only see 11 on line 38 in 000001F8 not 000001F4

  • Eco

    Hi again Kapil, i have more infomation for you! in the regular Sam Files It says 10 but in REM_SAM it says 15 should i change the regular sam?

  • Bibi

    Nope still says an administator has blocked you from running this app. It just created an extra account with Administrator as login name and no password. I’m running Windows 7.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ If your system is connected to AD or AAD, try disconnecting it.

  • Tushar Thakkar

    Hello @Kapil! I do not have secondary admin in Win10. There is only ONE admin which is defaultuser0 which got created by itself during the upgrade from Win 8 to 10. I do not have the password for existing defaultuser0 (Administrator).
    Please advise if can still follow the instructions as illustrated by you above, if I don’t have secondary admin account. Thank you!

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ You must try the steps from Windows RE.

  • lia

    i did everything right and at the end it didnt worked.

  • O

    Where is config I can’t find it

  • Hanson

    Thank you so much man, love from USA ❤❤❤

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ You’re most welcome, Hanson!

  • Suvrodeep

    After do all things,a message is shown: Your acc has been disabled.Please see your system Administrator.

  • Rayansh Raushan

    I’m not able to get the recovery options in the starting. Please help.

  • TdeCampo

    THANK YOU very much.
    1. Initially when you click the Command Prompt the default is ADMIN , if you click on it it will ask you for password and of course the one you deleted will not work. Solution leave the password blank and click to get the prompt
    2. Most likely the config will be on memory so the REM-SAM will not work as you indicated to choose the disk where the system is in my case C: the go to windows and select the “config” file and follow your instructions.
    How did you figure out all these steps!!. You are just great.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad the issue is resolved for you 😎

  • Mark

    Hello, I have a problem now.

    I have followed these steps from this tutorial :https://www.kapilarya.com/reset-built-in-administrator-account-in-windows-10

    I couldn’t delete .bat files and i have created TEMP file but i can delete the .bat file.

    Now I have followed this tutorial and when i start my pc it only show me user account and i can login with it but it doesnt load that account it switches me to temp account. I still have that error message where it says that i need permision to instal so, now i can’t login to my user account and i can’t login as admin.

    Any suggestions?

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