SOLVED Recovery to Win7 not possible because of new account

[LaMarc]

Hi, I'm Marc and a computernerd from the very start of the PC 40 years ago
I've been working with Windows 7 Home Premium for years and was very satisfied with it, but decided to give windows 10 a try a few weeks ago. So I did the upgrade, keeping all settings and files (so no clean install). After two weeks of misery and one problem after another, I decided today to switch back to my Windows 7.
But Win10 refuses to execute the recovery, because yesterday I activated the administrator account using the 'command box' and the 'net user administrator /activate:yes' command. Win 10 says I have to delete that account manually first.
As it is not possible to delete such an account via the standard account settings, I went back in the command box and deactivated the administrator account again via 'net user administrator /activate:no'. The command was accepted, and the administrator account is no longer available at startup.
But the problem remains. Win10 refuses to do the recovery saying I have to delete the administrator account first.
I don't know what to do anymore. And I wish not to do a clean install of windows 7 because that means I loose a lot of software.
Can someone help me please?

 

[Trouble]

But Win10 refuses to execute the recovery, because yesterday I activated the administrator account using the 'command box' and the 'net user administrator /activate:yes' command. Win 10 says I have to delete that account manually first.

While I am not in the business of interpreting Microsoft's messages as they can often be somewhat less than succinct .....
It's possible that at some point you converted your local account (not actually "the" administrator but a member of the local administrators group) to a Microsoft Account and.....
Because Windows 7 hasn't a clue what to do with a Microsoft Account, you may need to go in and revert that back by choosing to "Sign in with a local account instead"
Start Button -> Settings -> Accounts
That would be my best guess

 

[LaMarc]

Meanwhile I did found the solution myself.
Even when you deactivate the administrator account again in the cmd-screen, the user folder that is created when activating the account under Windows 10, is still there.
So what you have to do:
Go to your C:\ drive (with File Explorer). Then open the 'Users' folder. You will see a folder named 'Administrator'. Delete that folder, and restart the recovery to Windows 7 function. And now the recovery works normal.
I hope my experience will help others with the same problem.

 

[Norton]

That's interesting to know. I'm glad you resolved the issue. I guess the experience was a lesson learned.
Backup, back up, back-up. Time to create a restore point and perform a disk image.