Administrator locked out!!

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Guest

I don't know what happened but I installed my new virus scanner and when I
had to shut down and restart my name comes up as Administrator and I put in
my password it does take me to my desktop however I am not able to access
anything, not the control panel,user accounts, anything. I get the message
"Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have
the appropriate permission to access these items." I only have the
Administrator account set up,no other user accounts, I have always accessed
with my admin account, I am the only person who uses the computer. I am
sending this e-mail on my lap-top computer. I have never ever had to boot up
or format my hardrive and don't even know how to do this if this is what I
will need to do, so I really do need help. I REALLY need to get into my
computer. Thanks so much,I look forward to hearing from someone.
Gurrrrrrrrrrrr
 
Please reply back ASAP for me to help your further:
1. What operating system are you using (Windows XP Home Edition, XP Pro, and
Service Pack 1 or 2)?
2. What was the anti-virus that you installed?
3. Have you tried booting into safe mode and uninstalling the program?
 
Ebrena said:
I don't know what happened but I installed my new virus scanner and
when I had to shut down and restart my name comes up as Administrator
and I put in my password it does take me to my desktop however I am
not able to access
anything, not the control panel,user accounts, anything. I get the
message
"Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may
not have
the appropriate permission to access these items." I only have the
Administrator account set up,no other user accounts, I have always
accessed
with my admin account, I am the only person who uses the computer. I
am
sending this e-mail on my lap-top computer. I have never ever had to
boot up or format my hardrive and don't even know how to do this if
this is what I will need to do, so I really do need help. I REALLY
need to get into my
computer. Thanks so much,I look forward to hearing from someone.
Gurrrrrrrrrrrr
Click to expand...

Let's hope you have XP Home and therefore aren't really using the
built-in Administrator account. If you have XP Home, this account is
normally hidden anyway. Assuming that you have XP Home, go into Safe
Mode and log into the Administrator account and uninstall whatever you
installed and do a System Restore to before you did whatever it was you
did.

Get into Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 key as the computer is
starting up. This will get you to the right menu. Navigate using your
Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once in Safe Mode, you will
see the normally hidden Administrator account. The default password is
a blank.

If you can't get into Safe Mode, from the same menu try Last Known Good
Configuration.

To do a System Restore, go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System
Tools>System Restore and "Restore my computer to an earlier time".

Malke
 
Thankyou for being here for me, I was able to figure out the problem with
much determination. I had installed a new version of Webroot Spy Sweeper and
I already had a previous version on my computer. While the download was
taking place a message asked if I would like it to replace the previous
version but in fact it did not, it over lapped. So I was able to close the
spy sweeper program on my desktop and this then allowed me to get into Add or
Remove Programs to delete the programs and then defragmented my C drive and
re-installed the spy sweeper program with success, whew!! Thanks again and I
really appreciate this very valuable site.
 
Something similar happened to me today - the first day on a new job. Without
thinking, I put the former Administrator/User on "Restricted" status before I
created a User Profile for myself. Now I am unable to get into User
accounts, nor can I open up Quick Books Pro. I am afraid to tell the higher
ups what a "dumb" mistake I made. Please help me to log on as an
Administrator; no password can be found. The former person who held this job
was fired and did not leave much to help me learn the ropes. What can I do
or do I need to hire some IT person to fix this situation?
 
Boneita you should put your problem into the post as a seperate question so
someone can see it's a new problem. Your problem sounds different than mine
as it turned out with me to be a download overlap that locked me out. I
wasn't locked out from logging my Administrator in I could do that and get to
the desktop I was unable from the desktop to access any programs. Sorry I
can't help you as I know nothing about the Administrator issues, but do put
your problem in again as a seperate problem from mine and someone will see
it. Good luck.
 
Ebrena - Thank you for the suggestion and I do agree with you. I just was in
such a panic I did not think through what the best way was to get help. I
did scroll through other posts and, amazingly, found a suggestion from
"dougknox". I tried it this morning at the office and a miracle happened - I
was able to log in as the Administrator. I am a believer in this form of
peer help.
 
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