# Win 8.1 administrator access



## toddwilli (Jul 18, 2011)

I have Win 8.1 and I have administrator access - I am the only user.
I have an external USB hard drive I am using for backup. I had backed up my "data" directory some time ago. I want to use a new backup program, so I need to clean off the external drive. There are some files which I cannot delete. I keep getting a message that I need permission. Attached is a screen shot. 

How can I delete these files? Thank you.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

formatting the drive should do it. also you can try to access the hidden admin account

at the command prompt type the command:
"net user Administrator /active:yes" and confirm it by pressing Enter or Return.


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## TexasBandit (Jul 18, 2006)

I just have a question "sobeit" ... can anyone who gets their hands on my laptop with 8.1 use the command to gain administrator access? That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence in the security of my laptop ...


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## toddwilli (Jul 18, 2011)

Thanks for the response, sobeit. Unfortunately, I have been unable to enter the command string properly, so far. Attached is a screen shot of several attempts and the lack of success. Presumably, I am just not using the correct syntax somehow. Can you enlighten me? Thank you.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

TexasBandit said:


> I just have a question "sobeit" ... can anyone who gets their hands on my laptop with 8.1 use the command to gain administrator access? That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence in the security of my laptop ...


Not if you don't give them your password.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

toddwilli said:


> Thanks for the response, sobeit. Unfortunately, I have been unable to enter the command string properly, so far. Attached is a screen shot of several attempts and the lack of success. Presumably, I am just not using the correct syntax somehow. Can you enlighten me? Thank you.


"net user Administrator /active:yes"
Look carefully at what you typed in.....yours had no space between "Administrator" and "/"
Please try again....


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## TexasBandit (Jul 18, 2006)

Thanks for the reply Rich-M ... I feel better.

Have a good Sunday


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Hey you as well!


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

TexasBandit said:


> I just have a question "sobeit" ... can anyone who gets their hands on my laptop with 8.1 use the command to gain administrator access? That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence in the security of my laptop ...


since Rich-M already answered this, I will say once you do what you needed to do under admin, retype the command and replace the "yes" with a "no" to disable admin again. This will help with security.


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## TexasBandit (Jul 18, 2006)

Thanks for the reply "sobeit" ... hope I never need to use the information ...


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## toddwilli (Jul 18, 2011)

Thank you for trying again, sobeit. However, I still cannot successfully complete the command. 

Where you typed "net user Administrator /active:yes", I have tried various versions in which "net user" is entered as such, I have substituted my name (shown as "Todd" in the command line prompt), my full name as listed in the "manage accounts" in control panel, and as my email address as used in my Microsoft account. I have made sure I left the spaces exactly as you typed them.

Nothing has worked. 

When the words "net user" are used, I get "system error 5 has occurred". 
When any version of my name is used, I get "NAME (whatever I used) is not recognized as an internal or external command".

Is there something wrong with some system file somewhere? Or does anyone else have any ideas?


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

I thought something was wrong Sobeit left out you need to run this from an elevated administrator level which means you must "Run As Administrator" first have a read here:
Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable in Windows 8


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

Rich-M said:


> I thought something was wrong Sobeit left out you need to run this from an elevated administrator level which means you must "Run As Administrator" first have a read here:
> Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable in Windows 8


oops, I did forget to mention that part... sorry about that...
:uhoh::uhoh:


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## toddwilli (Jul 18, 2011)

Thank you, Rich-M! and also sobeit.

I have gotten a high level command prompt, I think. There is nothing displayed which indicates it. But anyway I was able to enter the "net user Admin..." command and it was accepted.

Now, when I went back to delete the troublesome files, I still was unable to gain access. In each of these directories, there are two subdirectories: amd64 and i386. I cannot gain access to these directories. Do the names mean anything to anyone? Does amd64 refer to an AMD microprocessor? which I do not have. 

I was able to work around my deletion problem (in order to gain space) by putting these inaccessible directories into a separate directory and erasing everything else on the drive. Then I did my backup successfully.

Thanks to those who tried to help. Unless anyone has more ideas, I will label this string as closed.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

you can always boot to a linux live cd and delete those files.


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Great glad to help.


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