I really need some help here! I have both an admin account and a standard account on my PC. I was trying to separate the two according to instructions I found, but things went horribly wrong. I followed the steps which told me to change the owner to 'administrators' and then to run a command in the command prompt (something like 'icacls /reset /t /c /q'). However, after restarting my computer, I can't access my admin account anymore; I keep getting a message saying 'preparing windows' followed by 'we couldn't sign in to your account, sign out and sign in again'. Gemini (the tool I used) mentioned that my issues might be due to aggressive ownership changes. I can still access my files from the standard account, but I desperately want my admin account back to normal. I don't mind the files being visible in the standard account; I just need my admin access back! This is the fifth time I've messed things up trying to fix this. Gemini suggested a system restore, but when I tried restarting the computer in that mode, the clock was set to 00:00. Please, any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
Honestly, it's shocking that tools meant to help can lead to such messes! If you can still log into the standard account, you could create a new admin account from there, but it might be complicated depending on your current setup. Reinstalling might be the cleanest solution in the end.
Honestly, this is a good reminder not to trust random advice online, especially from AI! If you can still access your files through the standard account, back them up on an external drive first before trying anything more drastic like an OS reinstall. Being cautious is key here!
It sounds like you've run into a classic case of messing with account permissions! Honestly, using instructions from AI can be risky without fully understanding what you're doing. Your best bet may be to try a system restore to a point before you made these changes, but since your clock is reset, you might run into issues with restore points. If that fails, consider reinstalling your operating system to resolve the admin access problem completely. Just make sure to back up your important files first! Good luck!
If restoring doesn't work or if you're stuck, you can also try booting into Safe Mode. Sometimes that helps with access issues!
Totally agree! It's always better to be safe. You could also look into using installation media to repair Windows without losing your current files.