SOLVED Windows thinks my user account is the built-in administrator account

[rwilson2008]

Three day old PC, came with Windows 10 installed. I set up my user account following on-screen prompts and everything was fine. I checked out a few apps just to see what they did and they worked. Spent next day installing software and transferring my files from old PC. When I finished all that I went back to run an app (tried maps & others) and got the "This app can't open" message saying I was using the built-in administrator account (I wasn't, didn't know it existed at that time). I did a search on line and found out how to enable/disable the built-in account using "net user administrator..." but that just affects the administrator account and does nothing for my problem.
How do I get my user account back to normal?
Thanks, Rick

 

[Trouble]

Have you tried resetting the store cache, sometimes that helps with the problem
Right click the start button and choose run and in the run dialog box type
wsreset.exe
hit enter or click OK
See if that helps

 

[rwilson2008]

Just tried wsreset.exe, got the "This app can't be run by the Built-in Administrator" message.

 

[Saltgrass]

Maybe the problem is related to how you "copied" over the old stuff. You may have brought something which is interfering with the install.

Did you set your system up using a Local account or a Microsoft account?

Are you in a place where you can do a factory reset on that system or is it too late?

 

[rwilson2008]

I did a local account. Most every thing I copied over was photographs and files related to Lightroom. Old PC was running win 7. I can do a reset but was hoping to avoid having to reinstall everything. That may be my only option however.

 

[Trouble]

Personally.... I try toggling my account between standard and admin group.
Enable the local hidden administrator account
Right click the start button and choose Command Prompt (Admin) and in the command prompt window type
net user administrator /active:yes
hit enter
reboot and log on as administrator
go to user accounts in control panel and change the problem account from admin to standard
log off as administrator and log back on with your account
click around and see what's up
then log off and back on as administrator and change it back to admin from standard
see if that manages to flip a switch somewhere.

 

[rwilson2008]

Trouble, That worked! I thought I had gone through those steps before without success but what ever happened it worked this time.
Thanks, Rick

 

[Trouble]

Glad to hear it.
Thanks for letting us know.
Much appreciated.

 

[rwilson2008]

A bit more information: The account was already set to 'standard' so I changed it to 'administrator' and then back to 'standard' and restarted. While this was problem was going on, when ever I went to restart or shut down the PC it would say that another user was using the computer and if I continued they would loose any unsaved work. That also went away with this fix.

 

[luperculus]

I have/had the same problem. I followed the procedure outlined above (i.e. use the real Built-in Administrator account to downgrade the user account to standard, then give to it admin privileges). It worked.... but only for a while. After a few days, the problem reappeared. I repeated the procedure, and it worked, again... but then the problem come back. There must be a bug somewhere, or some setting that needs to be adjusted.

 

[R_W_B]

Great thread, good info, but I have some questions,
(1) What exactly is a " Built in " Administrator account ?
(2) Does this come embedded into the windows OS install before any (other) user acct is created ?
(3) Does it have the same rights, power, etc as an Adminstrator Account that a user creates on their own ?
(4) And finally I kinda get the feeling there is no way to " NOT have " this " Built in " Administrator acct, which makes me wonder does it have some sort of default password that any hack can boot or enter into this acct on your computer for whatever reason ?
(5) And if -(4)- is true, is there a way to change the default password ?
Appreciate any info on this.

 

[Aaron Granger]

Trouble, Ive been having this issue as well, though your solution on switching from standard back to admin. worked for me once, the problem is back and now it wont work. I've tried everything short of wiping and starting over but my problem is im running windows 10 on a ssd and all my my actual data is on a hdd so i dont know how to recover and still get access to everything on my other drive.

 

[Windohman]

I had this problem when I migrated from windows 7 to windows 10. I used the legacy Files and Settings transfer from windows xp since I didn't like the windows 7 version. After a long call with Microsoft I was told the only fix was to reload the machine and manually transfer my files over.

 

[Peter Romano]

I also have the same problem.
I upgraded from Windows 7 Ultimate to Windows 10 PRO once it was available and ran it for more than the 30 days.
I was not happy with Win 10 so I wiped the drive and went back to my backed up Windows 7 image.
After the 1 year was over, I reinstalled the Windows 10 upgrade and have been on Windows 10 PRO ever since.
I tried to use Calculator and got this error message.
Every native Windows application gives me the same error message.
I tried your fix and it doesn't work.
I have to install separate applications for everything I want to do in Windows 10.
This is getting to be a real P I A and Microsoft needs to fix this or get out of the OS business...

Pete...