Windows 11: can't open anything as admin, I'm stumped


ArkLeksis

ArkLeksis

Member
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8:27 PM
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6
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window 11
Hey everyone, I'm stuck on something weird and could use a second pair of eyes.


I'm definitely an admin on my PC, but the moment I try to open anything as admin (Task Manager, cmd, PowerShell, Event Viewer...) I get "An administrator has blocked you from running this app." No UAC prompt (Yes/No), it just closes immediately. Non-admin, everything opens just fine.

I've already checked a bunch of stuff (group policy, registry, AppLocker, IFEO via Autoruns, the AppInfo service, leftover Avast bits): nothing unusual anywhere. An sfc /scannow found 462 corrupted files but none related to the blocked tools. ESET caught a suspicious .exe and quarantined it, but it had never been executed, and nothing changed after removing it + rebooting.

The weirdest part: I can't even read the event logs from the command line (wevtutil), "Access denied" on Application and System, which shouldn't happen to anyone normally.

If this rings a bell for anyone, I'm all ears!
(text modified by ChatGPT for better clarity)
 
Windows Build/Version
version 25h02 build 26200.9445

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

window 11Ryzen 5 360016 Go DDR4 Corsair VengeanceAMD Rx 580 Pulse
OS
window 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
CPU
Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard
Asus
Memory
16 Go DDR4 Corsair Vengeance
Graphics Card(s)
AMD Rx 580 Pulse
We need you to enable Admin account to work on troubleshooting the problem.

This video guide provides a detailed walk-through on enabling the built-in Administrator account using Hiren's BootCD.

 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11AMD Ryzen 7 5700GMicron Technology DDR4-3200 16GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Manufacturer/Model
HP Pavilion
CPU
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard
Erica6
Memory
Micron Technology DDR4-3200 16GB
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Sound Card
Realtek ALC671
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung SyncMaster U28E590
Screen Resolution
3840 x 2160
Hard Drives
SAMSUNG MZVLQ1T0HALB-000H1
FreeBooter said:
We need you to enable Admin account to work on troubleshooting the problem.

This video guide provides a detailed walk-through on enabling the built-in Administrator account using Hiren's BootCD.

Click to expand...
should i not just install "lazesoft recovery" and using it in "Safe Mode" rather than booting on an unknown iso i don't really trust ?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

window 11Ryzen 5 360016 Go DDR4 Corsair VengeanceAMD Rx 580 Pulse
OS
window 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
CPU
Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard
Asus
Memory
16 Go DDR4 Corsair Vengeance
Graphics Card(s)
AMD Rx 580 Pulse

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two

  • At a glance

    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦26300.9445 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦26H2AMD Ryzen 7 3700XG.Skill (F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
    OS
    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦26300.9445 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦26H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
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    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
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    Operating System
    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® (not in use)
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
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    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
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    Other Info
    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 15 years?
ArkLeksis said:
should i not just install "lazesoft recovery" and using it in "Safe Mode" rather than booting on an unknown iso i don't really trust ?
Click to expand...
How are you going to install the program and use it with administrative privileges if you don't have that option?

This guide will show you how to enable the hidden built-in Administrator account from Windows Recovery Environment.

 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11AMD Ryzen 7 5700GMicron Technology DDR4-3200 16GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
OS
Windows 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Manufacturer/Model
HP Pavilion
CPU
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard
Erica6
Memory
Micron Technology DDR4-3200 16GB
Graphics Card(s)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Sound Card
Realtek ALC671
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung SyncMaster U28E590
Screen Resolution
3840 x 2160
Hard Drives
SAMSUNG MZVLQ1T0HALB-000H1
ArkLeksis said:
sfc /scannow found 462 corrupted files
Click to expand...
That's quite a few...

I would keep running it until it finds none.

Failing that, you might have a corrupt user profile.

Create a new admin account, and see if that works.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro 25H2
OS
Windows 11 Pro 25H2
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Toshiba
Mechz said:
Hiren's BootCD is well known and trusted.
Click to expand...
So is the Media Creation Tool ISO...


In-Place Upgrade -

Download, mount the ISO, open an elevated Command prompt, and cd to the drive letter of the mounted ISO.

On supported hardware -

Run setup.exe

On unsupported hardware (bypasses checks) -

Run setup.exe /product server

Done.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro 25H2
OS
Windows 11 Pro 25H2
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Toshiba
ArkLeksis said:
should i not just install "lazesoft recovery" and using it in "Safe Mode" rather than booting on an unknown iso i don't really trust ?
Click to expand...
The idea was to boot in windows safe mode since there i can run anything as administrator. Instead i performed a recovery while keeping my files but nothing changed
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

window 11Ryzen 5 360016 Go DDR4 Corsair VengeanceAMD Rx 580 Pulse
OS
window 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
CPU
Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard
Asus
Memory
16 Go DDR4 Corsair Vengeance
Graphics Card(s)
AMD Rx 580 Pulse
ArkLeksis said:
Hey everyone, I'm stuck on something weird and could use a second pair of eyes.


I'm definitely an admin on my PC, but the moment I try to open anything as admin (Task Manager, cmd, PowerShell, Event Viewer...) I get "An administrator has blocked you from running this app." No UAC prompt (Yes/No), it just closes immediately. Non-admin, everything opens just fine.

I've already checked a bunch of stuff (group policy, registry, AppLocker, IFEO via Autoruns, the AppInfo service, leftover Avast bits): nothing unusual anywhere. An sfc /scannow found 462 corrupted files but none related to the blocked tools. ESET caught a suspicious .exe and quarantined it, but it had never been executed, and nothing changed after removing it + rebooting.

The weirdest part: I can't even read the event logs from the command line (wevtutil), "Access denied" on Application and System, which shouldn't happen to anyone normally.

If this rings a bell for anyone, I'm all ears!
(text modified by ChatGPT for better clarity)
Click to expand...
Addendum: I performed a system recovery while keeping my files; I haven't installed anything yet except my drivers. The same error is still there.
However, when I boot into Windows Safe Mode, I have access to everything in administrator mode, which allows me to perform many more operations.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

window 11Ryzen 5 360016 Go DDR4 Corsair VengeanceAMD Rx 580 Pulse
OS
window 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
CPU
Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard
Asus
Memory
16 Go DDR4 Corsair Vengeance
Graphics Card(s)
AMD Rx 580 Pulse
Banjoman301 said:
That's quite a few...

I would keep running it until it finds none.

Failing that, you might have a corrupt user profile.

Create a new admin account, and see if that works.
Click to expand...
I did redo the sfc /scannow and nothing was found. I reset my windows install while keeping my files. The error is still occuring. I will try to create a new user
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

window 11Ryzen 5 360016 Go DDR4 Corsair VengeanceAMD Rx 580 Pulse
OS
window 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
CPU
Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard
Asus
Memory
16 Go DDR4 Corsair Vengeance
Graphics Card(s)
AMD Rx 580 Pulse
Second Addendum :
- I did a scan with Kaspersky Recovery Disk which found nothing
- I downloaded another version of powershell that could be run as admin. For some reasons only systems / microsoft apps are blocked.
- I created a new user with admin privilegdes. There everything is fine
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

window 11Ryzen 5 360016 Go DDR4 Corsair VengeanceAMD Rx 580 Pulse
OS
window 11
Computer type
PC/Desktop
CPU
Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard
Asus
Memory
16 Go DDR4 Corsair Vengeance
Graphics Card(s)
AMD Rx 580 Pulse
ArkLeksis said:
Second Addendum :
- I created a new user with admin privilegdes. There everything is fine
Click to expand...
Seems like you have a corrupted profile.
The good news is that you have time to try to copy some settings before the corruption worsens making it unusable.
It will not get better and cannot be fixed.

A corrupted profile gets that way when the NTUSER.dat file is not properly closed/written to the disk.
This can happen when a process, update, shutdown, etc. is interrupted intentionally (or non-intentionally as during a power outage)
 

My Computers My Computers

System One System Two

  • At a glance

    All Branches but StableAMD Ryzen 7 7735HS 3200-4500 Mhz 8 cores x 232 GB DDR5Radeon Graphic / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB...
    OS
    All Branches but Stable
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Nitro ANV15-51
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS 3200-4500 Mhz 8 cores x 2
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    Sportage_RBH
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    32 GB DDR5
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    Screen Resolution
    FHD 1920X1080 16:9 144Hz
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  • At a glance

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    Operating System
    Windows 11 Beta
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    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus X751BP
    CPU
    AMD A9-9420
    Memory
    8 GB of DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    AMD Radeon R5
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 1 TB
ArkLeksis said:
I created a new user with admin privilegdes. There everything is fine
Click to expand...
From Microsoft Support...

Copy Files from the Corrupted Profile
  • Press the Windows Key + E to open File Explorer.
  • Go to C:\Users\ where C: is your main system drive.
  • Open the folder with your old, corrupted username.
  • Copy the contents of important folders like Documents, Pictures, Desktop, and Downloads.
  • Warning: Do not copy hidden system files like Ntuser.dat, Ntuser.dat.log, or Ntuser.ini, as these may carry over the corruption.
  • Paste these files into the corresponding folders inside your new user profile folder (C:\Users\<New_Username>). [1, 2, 3]
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 11 Pro 25H2
OS
Windows 11 Pro 25H2
Computer type
Laptop
Manufacturer/Model
Toshiba
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