Cannot open "settings" at all.

[Matthew Kapalske]

I cannot get settings to open. I've tried going through file explorer, control panel, start menu and even using command prompt. I'm trying to open settings because I would like to restore my computer back to windows 7. I also can't get any program to start as an administrator. The screen darkens slightly as if to give me the prompt to allow it to open, but no prompt shows up. The screen just stays dark.

 

[Trouble]

See if creating a new user as a member of the administrators group has any impact on your current issue.
Go to
C:\Windows\System32
Find
Cmd.exe (IF you are hiding file extensions of known type then it might just say "Cmd" as the .exe file extension may be hidden)
Right click it and choose run as administrator
At the admin command prompt type
net user JohnSmith /add
hit enter
then type
net localgroup administrators JohnSmith /add
hit enter
type
exit
hit enter
Restart and log in as JohnSmith

 

[Saltgrass]

You may be able to use Search to open the settings dialog.

Funny things start to happen if a system has not been activated. I had a new system last month which I thought would have been activated as soon as I went online, but it wasn't. I was getting a black desktop, Start menu was not responsive, hovering over the task bar produced a blue circle...

I needed to change my network from a Public network to private to get the system to activate... Homegroup dialog, change network location....