Reclaiming Administrator rights in Windows 11

gigglby · Nov 3, 2025

Spunk said:
Rufus should be installed on a different computer, and Rufus should not be burned to the Flash Drive. Either Download the Windows 11 ISO image from Microsoft Download Windows 11
Or via Rufus. Put a blank USB Flash drive in, and to the right of Boot Selection, click the down arrow for Select and choose Download.
This will download the Windows 11 ISO from Rufus's server or click Select and browse it to the downloaded ISO you saved.
Click the Start Button in Rufus to burn the ISO to the Flash Drive.

How to create bootable USB drive for Windows 11 with Rufus (2026) - Pureinfotech

Rufus lets you create a bootable Windows 11 USB for supported and unsupported hardware. Also, it offers the option to download the ISO file.

pureinfotech.com

Once the USB Flash drive has been burned successfully, put it into the Troubled computer.
Stat the computer and with an HP laptop, press the F9 key continuously. Click the Flash Drive to boot from.
Follow pictures from the link in post #8. For Clean Install of Windows.
You are booting from the Flash Drive so Admin rights are not an issue.

Basically once you boot into the USB Flash drive Windows installer,
Choose your language, then Install now than Custom Install.
In Where Would You Like to Install Windows? Select each partition and click the Delete button
Until the drive is all Unallocated Space, then Press Next.

the Windows installer will do all the rest, just follow the on screen prompts.

Thanks Spunk. I will study your links and suggestions and let you know how it went.

FreeBooter · Nov 3, 2025

Try Hiren's Boot PE media, it has password recovery software which can be used to promote Standard user account to Administrator account.

From Hiren's open Start Menu --> All Programs --> Security --> Password -->Windows Login Unlocker.

Download | Hiren's BootCD PE

How to create hiren's bootable pendrive.

USB Booting | Hiren's BootCD PE

LesFerch · Nov 3, 2025

Situations like these demonstrate the benefit of having a second working computer on hand, even if it's an old clunker.

As that's apparently not an option, what about a friend or family member that can visit with a laptop? Or take a flash drive to a friend's house, or a local computer shop, and set it up with Rufus there?

Try3 · Nov 4, 2025

gigglby said:
I followed youtube tech

Follow ElevenForumTutorials instead.
They are well-thought through & they get improved by feedback from members.

Denis

It's really worth making time to browse through the ElevenForum Tutorial index - there's a shortcut to it at the top of every ElevenForum page [within the Tutorials dropdown list].
- At the foot of the ElevenForum Tutorial index is a shortcut to download it as a spreadsheet.
- I download a new copy each month.
- By downloading it as a spreadsheet I can benefit from Excel's excellent filtering capabilities when I search for topics of interest.
- ElevenForum tutorials are also listed at Tutorials and there's a shortcut to that at the top of every page.

You can search ElevenForum using the search box in the top-right corner of all ElevenForum webpages or using Advanced Search - ElevenForum
- You can also search ElevenForum threads in many general search engines, such as Google, by adding site:elevenforum.com after your search term. For example,
Taskbar setup site:elevenforum.com
- [This is what the search box in the top-right corner of ElevenForum webpages does automatically]

pparks1 · Nov 4, 2025

@gigglby : Did you ever boot into safe mode and try following the guide that I posted in response #15?

UAC is not active in safe mode and should be able to get you around the UAC prompts so you can try to rectify the problem you have. This isn't a problem I have encountered before myself though.

Try3 · Nov 4, 2025

gigglby said:
I am going to try your Fix UAC prompt.

How are you getting on?

Denis

DJNelson · Nov 4, 2025

LesFerch said:
Situations like these demonstrate the benefit of having a second working computer on hand, even if it's an old clunker.

So true. Some problems can't be fixed without access to a 2nd (working) computer unless you plan ahead.

gigglby · Nov 4, 2025

gigglby said:
Thanks Spunk. I will study your links and suggestions and let you know how it went.

gigglby · Nov 4, 2025

Good morning community. Update for today... I followed Spunk's, Dacrone's and Try 3's suggestion of a creating a bootable drive. I had to get another computer to make the clean thumb drive. That took a long while and several attempts, because of the weak computer I was doing it on, but late in the evening I got it. This morning I'll be applying this method. So, if it's successful you'll be hearing from me shortly. I'm sure it'll work. I'll let you all know.

Try3 · Nov 4, 2025

gigglby said:
I followed Spunk's, Dacrone's and Try 3's suggestion of a creating a bootable drive

I take it that you've decided to clean install instead of fixing the problem.
The fix procedure I suggested involved using Safe mode to fix the problem but I can see that a clean install will also resolve matters and will be more straightforward.

[This is not a criticism. Sometimes a more straightforward task can take less effort & be less prone to mistakes than a direct approach.]

Denis

pseymour · Nov 4, 2025

You can lead a horse to cookies, but you can’t make them crumble. I’m not very good with idioms.

DJNelson · Nov 4, 2025

IDK about anyone else, but it seems to me that even if one's choice of software and hardware setups makes it possible to clean install windows while managing to keep all files, programs, apps and their data, reinstalling windows when a problem can be solved by changing a few registry keys makes about as much sense as replacing the entire powertrain in a car because of one bad spark plug.

gigglby · Nov 4, 2025

Try3 said:
I take it that you've decided to clean install instead of fixing the problem.
The fix procedure I suggested involved using Safe mode to fix the problem but I can see that a clean install will also resolve matters and will be more straightforward.

[This is not a criticism. Sometimes a more straightforward task can take less effort & be less prone to mistakes than a direct approach.]

Denis

At my age you'll find yourself turning down the radio to concentrate better when driving. So for this old man's brain, reinstalling straight to the BIOS was the most straightforward and easiest attack. But it worked. I have my local user and admin rights back. Thanks to all you guys for your help. I appreciate you. Couldn't have done it without y'all. Go Seahawks!

Try3 · Nov 4, 2025

I always make spare Admin accounts so I never have to face the complexity of recovering from the fault you experienced.
my ditty - Create two spare local, password-protected Admin accounts [post #2] in Windows 10, 11 - TenForums

All the best,
Denis

Spunk · Nov 5, 2025

As discussed several times, Once you burn the Windows 11 ISO image using Rufus to the Flash Drive, as stated, you put that into the troubled computer and boot off the Flash Drive. Choose to do a Clean Install as discussed. There will be no Admin prompt at this stage.

Once Windows is installed, UAC will be enabled, and pop up whenever you install an app. Also, some apps will need to be right clicked and Run As Administrator like the Command Prompt. This is called an Elevated Command Prompt. But most apps can be installed or run without an Elevated Admin

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