Ways to gain Admin from Non-Admin account?

Okay so I'd like to install drivers for my tablet and other programs into my work laptop, I did find a solution here.

But I have to get Startup Repair to fail, to repair my computer. Which It doesn't seem to do (It will tell me to restart the computer to see if system restore worked instead).

So I need to ask does anyone know how to Make system Restore fail on me, Or any other way to gain the Admin account from a regular account?

1 Answer

WARNING - if you are using a computer administrated by your employer then you should not follow this answer. Contact your IT support. However, if this is your own computer and you cannot access the administrator account you can try this work around.

Don't bother trying to get the System Restore to fail. There are other ways of getting to an administrator account. The following method will allow you to add an Administrator Account to ANY windows system.

First get an installation disk for any version of Windows (note - a repair disk should work also, but I have only ever done this with the installation disk) - you can get one from the Microsoft website along with the Installation Media Creation Tool (Windows 10 is easy to get). Load this to a DVD or a USB.

Now restart your computer and boot from the installation disk/usb. DO NOT INSTALL WINDOWS, instead choose repair my computer. The repair tool will search for installations and then give you an option to LOAD DRIVERS.

CHOOSE LOAD DRIVERS and navigate to C:\Windows\System32 - now scroll down to the executable called osk.exe. RENAME this osk1.exe - Now scroll back up to the executable called cmd.exe. Rename this osk.exe. Cancel out of the repair tool and restart Windows.

What you have done here is to rename the Command Prompt as the On-Screen-Keyboard. Now, when you get to the login screen, click on the button in the bottom left corner and select Open the On-Screen-Keyboard. This will open an Administrator Command Prompt.

In the Command Prompt, type:

net user Dave /Add net localgroup administrators Dave /Add 

This will add an Administrator called Dave to your computer (no password has been created - you can do this later).

Now close the Command Prompt window and click change user. Click on Dave and you now have access to the computer as an administrator.

IMPORTANT - Once you have done this you need to rename the two executable back to their original names. Failing to do this could cause problems and will leave a way in for hackers.