Administrator Problems

It sounds like what you want to do is to turn User Account Control (UAC) off.

UAC removes the adminstrator token from your process when you log on and prompts you whenever an action that requires administrative privileges occurs. If you concur, then the token is added back in to perform that action.

This is done because if you use an administrative account then any old virus can use administrative privileges to subvert your system. UAC annoys some, but it's actually a good thing.

If you really, REALLY want to get rid of all the UAC prompts, then go to Start -> type "UAC" into the search field, and click the "User Account Control Settings" link. Move the slider to the "Never Notify" position.

But be forewarned - this is like leaving the front door to your house unlocked.

Blackhawk1928,

You can also always go in to MSCONFIG and hit the tools tab to turn UAC off from there as well.

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team

Okay, sounds like a solution, however why is that when I go to control panel and try to switch my account to Administrator instead of standard use, it won't let me....no matter how I try to change my account to full admin privilage, as soon as I log off/on to make the setting stay, it switches right back. Or is that UAC also?

And a lot times UAV promts me to do stuff but sometimes since I am a "standard user" it just locks me out totally...

Anyway thanks for the help so far.

I'm not seeing those problems on my system when I change my normal, non-administrative account to an administrative one.

When I use "Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts", the area in the right side of the screen that shows my picture gives my user name to the right of the picture and below that it says "Administrative User" and "Password Protected".

If, as an Administrator, I click on the "Change your Account type" link, then the change screen has the "Standard User" button selected - but that's because that's the default choice. It doesn't mean that's the type of account you have - you're still an administrator unless you hit the "Change Account Type" button at that point.

I see, thank you for clarifying, that was specifically what I had a problem with!
In addition, here is a another thing I don't understand.

There is another thing that can be used to control accounts and I open it through the CMD. I open up CMD as administrator and then I type in:

"control userpasswords2"

Then once I press enter, a window pops up giving me lots of control over accounts, passwords, privileges...etc.

Well thing I wanted to ask was, my name is listed as "Homeusers:Administrators" under the group category.

Here is what I mean:




Now, when I am listed as this "HomeUsers; Administrators" then there are certain files on my hard drive and other things that I can't delete or edit. So whenever I need to to do this, I go to to this, Click on my name and then select "Properties".
Once I open up "Properties" a new window pops up with two general tabs open. One tab is called "General" and the other tab is called "Group Membership".
I click on group membership. Then my membership is listed as "Other"...not "Standard User" or "Administrator" but "other". There is the word HomeUsers next to it but it is grayed out. So Once I reach this screen, I click on administrator to change my membership to. Once I do that, it asks me to log off to make the setting take into affect. After I complete this, it allows me to delete that file that I want to because I am now an Administrator. However this setting resets back as soon as I restart or something else, because no matter what, when i check it again, it has back in the "Other"...not administrator.



^Thats what I mean.

So my questions are:
1) Why won't it keep that setting as pure admin.
2)Whats the difference between "HomeUsers; Administrators"/"Other" and Just administrator.
3)How do I fix this or is there a solution.

Thank you so much for the help so far everyone!  

"HomeUsers" and "Administrators" are security groups. Resources such as files are protected by listing the groups that are allowed to read them, write them, delete them, etc.

This is another dialogue box that's not showing you which groups the account is ALREADY in, it's giving you the option to CHANGE which groups it's in. Don't read the option as checked as indicating the current state of affairs. The current state of affairs is shown by the previous "User Accounts" dialog box / "Users" tab that lists the groups beside each user name.

The real issue here is why you can't delete the files in the first place if you have administrative privileges. Answers to the following questions would help:

What files are you trying to delete?

What is the protection on the files? (right-click the file in Windows Explorer, select "Properties", click the "Security" tab, and select the "Administrators" group to see what appears under "Permissions for Authenticated Users")

Are you trying to delete them using Windows Explorer or the Command Prompt?

Do you get a UAC prompt when you try to delete them?

Well...I can't find a file right now, it depends which one and usually its in installation directories like programfiles or programfiles x86. And I tried opening up the security tab on a file I randomly found in my windows directory and you can edit permissions for who to deny or allow access to certain parts. I'll have to try that. Thank so far, I think i'm grasping this very different aspect on security then it was in windows XP.

And yes, i always use windows explorer to delete files.


And

I see now. Thank you for explaining to me. I always get the prompts and I am fine with it and all. However sometimes when I want to save a file or delete a file from a certain location, the prompt pops up except instead of asking me if I want to continue with my action, it simply tells me you don't have the privilege to do so. Maybe it depends on the application? But anyway thanks for the help. If i find the pop again I guess I'll revive this topic.

Oh here! So I downloaded a demo version of a Model Flight Simulator called "Real Flight G5"...once I downloaded it asked me to log into an administrator account in order to be able to install it. I activated my admin account and it still didn't give me permission. Do you think if I turn off UAC it will allow me to?

Some programs aren't smart enough to ask for administrative privileges. Instead of just double-clicking on the install program to run it, try right-clicking it and selecting "Run As Administrator".

Best answer selected by blackhawk1928.

My problem was about I cannot install anything in my laptop like adobe flash player.. It says that I need to have a permission with the administrator while I'm actually the administrator.. Is there any solution with it? Thanks for those will help me