admin privilages issues

[Jarm__]

Hello members!

I am having issues running applications that have the small "UAC Shield" Icon along with other handful of applications that do not contain the icon. They only run if I run the application as an admin. If I sign in an administrator account they work just as fine.
Application shortcuts such for; Task manager, Teamspeak, and so on do not work. Right clicking on the task bar to open task manager does not work. Group policies and Regedit don't contain any disabled task manager keys. If I attempt to run these applications without admin, they simply will not open (Mouse icon shows loading icon for a brief second, and goes away during the process.)
I have checked the system restore points, and I have discovered 1 system point that I have not made and its date shows that is was created, when the computer wasn't running at all (turned off).

I have yet to run any malware applications. I have ran a CCleaner scan; clearing cache, old files, unused files, duplicates, and old registry keys.

Shall I try removing my current account, and re-adding it?

Thank you for reading this, and I look forward to all of your help! 😀

 

[Colif]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Jarm__ : "admin privilages issues"

Hello members!

I am having issues running applications that have the small "UAC Shield" Icon along with other handful of applications that do not contain the icon. They only run if I run the application as an admin. If I sign in an administrator account they work just as fine.
Application shortcuts such for; Task manager, Teamspeak, and so on do not work. Right clicking on the task bar to open task manager does not work. Group policies and Regedit don't contain any disabled task manager keys. If I attempt to run these applications without admin, they simply will not open (Mouse icon shows loading icon for a brief second, and goes away during the process.)
I have checked the system restore points, and I have discovered 1 system point that I have not made and its date shows that is was created, when the computer wasn't running at all (turned off).

I have yet to run any malware applications. I have ran a CCleaner scan; clearing cache, old files, unused files, duplicates, and old registry keys.

Shall I try removing my current account, and re-adding it?

Thank you for reading this, and I look forward to all of your help! 😀

 

[Colif]

are you using a non admin local account? UAC should show a password screen if you try to run an app that needs it, you should enter admin password every time to use them.

Task manager should work fine though?

logon to admin and try this
right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, 2nd command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

 

[Jarm__]

are you using a non admin local account? UAC should show a password screen if you try to run an app that needs it, you should enter admin password every time to use them.

Task manager should work fine though?

logon to admin and try this
right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, 2nd command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

I am using a admin local account. Password isn't required for it to work. The Task Manager doesn't work though, if I attempt to open it through the task bar (right click>task manager) it does not open. Nor does ctrl+shift+end>task manager work either. However, if I press ctrl+shift+T it works or I run the task manager from the start menu as admin it'll work. I have attempted SFC multiple times and says failed. Repair windowsimages says;
Path :
Online : False
ImageHealthState : Healthy
RestartNeeded : False

 

[Colif]

that is odd, SFC fails yet DISM (which is 2nd command) finds no problems to fix. Normally if SFC fails, you run DISM and it fixes the files SFC is meant to use to fix it.

try running chkdsk C: \f in command prompt (admin) - probably get 2 paragraphs after saying has to run from startup, just type Y and restarrt PC. See if it helps as something strange happening.

 

[Jarm__]

that is odd, SFC fails yet DISM (which is 2nd command) finds no problems to fix. Normally if SFC fails, you run DISM and it fixes the files SFC is meant to use to fix it.

try running chkdsk C: \f in command prompt (admin) - probably get 2 paragraphs after saying has to run from startup, just type Y and restarrt PC. See if it helps as something strange happening.

After forcing the check disk Command, I have ran the commands on both accounts ( my local Hotmail logged in account and In-built administrator) and with the administrator account, it ran through with the successful results. With my Hotmail account, the SFC scan gave me a result of not needing to fix anything. It has found no errors.
I have tried to run the Repair Command, but I received an error stating:
"Error: 87

The repair-windowsimage option is unknown.
For more information, refer to the help by running DISM.exe /?.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log"

I do want to clarify that the "CTRL+SHIFT+T" Shortcut key is something I created so that I can access the task Manager shortcut with admin privileges. But if I use the "CTRL+SHIFT+ESC" Key, it won't budge because it wants to run normally without admin privileges. This also includes "CTRL+ALT+DEL". This is for my Hotmail account by the way. Local Group Policies and Control panel and User Accounts (netplwiz) state that I am in the administrator group. Yet anything with the UAC Shield icon will not run without right clicking for admin privileges. This all just happened before yesterday.

I also do want to note that I did turn off UAC before all this 'glitch-ness' as I couldn't bother always clicking Yes to every single action I take on the computer.

I am suspecting its malware. When all this happened, I had to update Notepad++ because of a Scintilla error (Cannot load DLL). The update fixed that error, but that issue arose again and Notepad++ won't start again along with the new errors it came along such as an "DLL signature verification failed" error (C:/Users/account/AppData/Local/Temp/3582-490/SciLexer.dll : Cannot find requested object) and a "Library verification failed" error (Authenticode check failed: signature or signing certificate are not recognized). But what the most interesting part is that through with this path : "C:/Users/account/AppData/Local/Temp/3582-490", an Nvidia NVSHIM.exe file sometimes pops up as a command window. As I wrote this, the executable file has appeared in that path. Only that file exists in that path. Nothing else. But when I try to start Notepad++, it gets overwritten with a "NOTEPA~1.EXE" named file. It also has the Notepad++ icon. This also persists with the In-built Administrator account as well.

I do hope that I don't have to reinstall again. i had to reinstall Windows nearly a month ago as the Start menu, Notifications menu and the Date/Time Menu refused to work all of a sudden. Back then, that was caused by a malware. I'm going to try to scan for any malware this time and hope things can be fixed. Meanwhile I would be very grateful if you can suggest me something I have not thought of. 😀

 

[Colif]

did you put the spacing exactly as I did in DISM? as the spacing is important. That is normal reason you get a error 87

here is the version of DISM you run in command prompt (admin), just copy/paste it in
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

the powershell version is exactly same, just different format for command.

try running malwarebytes and bitdefender Free on the hdd



You might be best doing a repair install, all it will remove are any cumulative patches since the last version was released. it might not work as you need admin access to run it.

The above repair install only works if you are on latest version of win 10.
right click start button
choose run...
type winver
the latest version is 1709, if you aren't on it you can't run that repair as it uses a copy of current ISO to repair win 10.


UAC is a pain but its there to stop other things installing without your permission. If you did get malware, it has full reign as UAC isn't there to say no.

 

[Jarm__]

did you put the spacing exactly as I did in DISM? as the spacing is important. That is normal reason you get a error 87

here is the version of DISM you run in command prompt (admin), just copy/paste it in
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

the powershell version is exactly same, just different format for command.

try running malwarebytes and bitdefender Free on the hdd



You might be best doing a repair install, all it will remove are any cumulative patches since the last version was released. it might not work as you need admin access to run it.

The above repair install only works if you are on latest version of win 10.
right click start button
choose run...
type winver
the latest version is 1709, if you aren't on it you can't run that repair as it uses a copy of current ISO to repair win 10.


UAC is a pain but its there to stop other things installing without your permission. If you did get malware, it has full reign as UAC isn't there to say no.

I copied and pasted your Command code, and it worked this time, despite me typing the exact same thing last time. The check disk command once didn't work for me oddly. it gave me an error, so I don't know really know what was the culprit of that.

Anyways, the DISM was successful. I am running both malware programs you have recommended me, and now Task manager and all UAC icon-ed applications work! Although before I get over excited, I don't want to close this thread yet in case this nuisance comes back, as this did appear suddenly one day over the other.

I am on Windows 10 Version 1709. So if whatever happens, I can use the repair install.

The only thing that bothers me, which is outside of this thread topic now is the errors I get with Notepad++. I will try to completely uninstall it and reinstall it. Hopefully that will permanently solve my issues.

Thank you very much for your help and time!

 

[Colif]

Glad I could help

see if this helps with notepad++ -

this sounds familair

Hello everyone.

I’ve successfully built Notepad++.exe in Visual Studio from https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus, and also Boost.

However when I launch the resulting notepad++.exe I get these 3 fatal errors…

- Cheking signature of C:<snip>\scilexer.dll - DLL Signature verification failed
- Library verification failed - Authenticode check failed: signature or signing certificate are not recognized
- Exception on WM_CREATE - ScintillaEditView::init : SCINTILLA ERROR - can not load the dynamic library
I assume this is related to https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/13415/v7-3-3-fix-cia-hacking-notepad-issue ?

How can I run/debug from Notepad++ source?

Thanks.

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/14054/certificate-required-for-building-notepad

have a look at suggested fixes.

 

[Jarm__]

Glad I could help

see if this helps with notepad++ -

this sounds familair

Hello everyone.

I’ve successfully built Notepad++.exe in Visual Studio from https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus, and also Boost.

However when I launch the resulting notepad++.exe I get these 3 fatal errors…

- Cheking signature of C:<snip>\scilexer.dll - DLL Signature verification failed
- Library verification failed - Authenticode check failed: signature or signing certificate are not recognized
- Exception on WM_CREATE - ScintillaEditView::init : SCINTILLA ERROR - can not load the dynamic library
I assume this is related to https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/13415/v7-3-3-fix-cia-hacking-notepad-issue ?

How can I run/debug from Notepad++ source?

Thanks.

https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/14054/certificate-required-for-building-notepad

have a look at suggested fixes.

Okay, I'm back, again.

Apparently, after restarting the PC, when I launch Task manager, I get an application not found error, even though the file is in System32 and SysWOW64. But it only lasts for a little while. FireFox is also acting weird. When I launch through the Task Bar, I get the pop-up menu asking for an application to open the .EXE file. I have to scroll down, click "Browse" Or "Open with Another App", find the FireFox.exe file and click on it. Then FireFox launches along with a download pop-up menu asking if I want to save FireFox.exe or not.

When I run MalwareBytes, the whole process restarts. I do get a svchost.exe file malware pop up during scanning and from time to time. I feel it may be linked to that. I checked it in the Quarantine, and it's location says: "C:\Windows\svchost.com". If I delete it and attempt to re-open Task manager, it comes back along with the pop-up, and afterwards Task manager fails to open again with the same "Application Not Found" error. Same thing applies to FireFox.exe. However, if I use my "Admin Privilege" Task Manager shortcut key, it will run just fine.

I feel like I may need to do a Repair Install at this point. All these things are way to bizarre to my knowledge.
Or should I just attempt a Clean Install? I don't really want to go through the hassle of backing up again though to be honest. Unless I absolutely have no choice.

 

[Colif]

I would try the repair install 1st. The repair install may not work as all these errors may happen, or might not fix anything, as it could be a permissions thing to do with your user

You could try a full reset. No point saving users as they could be part of problem. It only clears C drive. If you have other partitions on C or another hdd, it won't touch it. Can copy files to there and run a full reset. I think it needs a login but if your current user in admin group in users, it should work. Faster than a full install and since dism found no errors, your image is good enough to use to rebuild win 10.

Otherwise, the clean is painful but might be the least amount of time wasted. You should get a 2nd hdd at some stage as it makes recovering from disaster a little easier if all your data is already on a 2nd drive (and backed up on a cloud ore USB drive as well). I haven't used a PC with 1 hdd in so long I am not sure when it started. I wouldn't feel safe. The only things on my C drive are applications that need to be reinstalled anyway if windows does.

Don't do either without backups

Your problems are different and might be a virus. or just a corrupted user. Turning off UAC makes it difficult to guess which.

 

[Jarm__]

I would try the repair install 1st. The repair install may not work as all these errors may happen, or might not fix anything, as it could be a permissions thing to do with your user

You could try a full reset. No point saving users as they could be part of problem. It only clears C drive. If you have other partitions on C or another hdd, it won't touch it. Can copy files to there and run a full reset. I think it needs a login but if your current user in admin group in users, it should work. Faster than a full install and since dism found no errors, your image is good enough to use to rebuild win 10.

Otherwise, the clean is painful but might be the least amount of time wasted. You should get a 2nd hdd at some stage as it makes recovering from disaster a little easier if all your data is already on a 2nd drive (and backed up on a cloud ore USB drive as well). I haven't used a PC with 1 hdd in so long I am not sure when it started. I wouldn't feel safe. The only things on my C drive are applications that need to be reinstalled anyway if windows does.

Don't do either without backups

Your problems are different and might be a virus. or just a corrupted user. Turning off UAC makes it difficult to guess which.

I sort-of do the same thing with the whole Backup HDD's and all. Would a Repair Install work if I use the In-Built Administrator Account, since I don't really have any problems there?

 

[Colif]

I sort-of do the same thing with the whole Backup HDD's and all. Would a Repair Install work if I use the In-Built Administrator Account, since I don't really have any problems there?

I am not sure, the notes state you have to be signed in as an admin but it doesn't mention the built in admin. A repair install fixes windows but if I am right below, it might be a waste of time.

Since you say admin has no problems opening task manager, it must be your user. A repair install won't fix that as it leaves your user files alone.

See fix 2 here: https://www.easeus.com/todo-backup-resource/fix-a-corrupted-user-profile-windows-10.html#part3 and create a new user and see if it faces same problems.

 

[Jarm__]

I sort-of do the same thing with the whole Backup HDD's and all. Would a Repair Install work if I use the In-Built Administrator Account, since I don't really have any problems there?

I am not sure, the notes state you have to be signed in as an admin but it doesn't mention the built in admin. A repair install fixes windows but if I am right below, it might be a waste of time.

Since you say admin has no problems opening task manager, it must be your user. A repair install won't fix that as it leaves your user files alone.

See fix 2 here: https://www.easeus.com/todo-backup-resource/fix-a-corrupted-user-profile-windows-10.html#part3 and create a new user and see if it faces same problems.

Sit rep, I did a PC Reset through the Troubleshooting menu. I have selected to remove ALL personal files, only backing up what I needed like save files and those sorts. After the Reset, I chose NOT to log in with my hotmail account, so I essentially made a new account. The first thing I did was wipe Windows.old folder through the Disk Cleanup Tool. But now, a day later, I am getting the same problem! Task manager' "Application not found" error comes up again if launched normally. If I add Admin privileges to it, it'll run without any hiccups. The same "Choose an application to run this -" still comes up. I have not tooled around with UAC settings, I left everything stock on purpose this time. Windows Defender brings me the same "svchost.com" file pop-up that the malware programs did back then. The only thing I installed was the Nvidia Drivers from the official Nvidia Site. I also installed FireFox, Notepad++ and PowerISO. All from the Official sites. Windows Defender also states there are severe Nvidia threats.

I am totally stunned right now and in a bit of rage.

Edit: The reason I did not do a Windows Install by booting the USB with bios is because for some unknown reasons to me, it refuses to boot up the Installer USB. I have used Rufus USB Tool to create a bootable image with the default settings (UEFI, Fat32). It worked like a charm on a friends computer of mine. But not for me. I have Legacy USB turned on in the bios and all those. I select the USB to boot with, but it just simply ignores it and just boots into windows. I have tried every single port front to back. I know the USB itself is compatible because I have been using this for years now, and I used it about 2-3 weeks ago with another computer. Went through no problems at all. One thing I do want to mention, which I think is important, is that before I did the 'clean reset', I was getting blue screens of death when I tried to run through the Repair Install with this USB installer. But even more strangely, I was getting blue deaths even if I was just watching a Youtube video. It was very random.
Maybe i should try using the Windows Image Toolkit instead?

Right now I am basically right back where I was before.

 

[Colif]

A full reset with new users should have fixed it.. the only option being a virus had installed itself on the image and reinstalled itself on new install.

What motherboard do you have as it is likely a setting like secure boot or fast boot is in place.
Since win 10 currently installed, you can boot from USB from insde windows.
Go to settings/update and security/recovery
under advanced startup, choose restart now
Choose troubleshoot
Choose use a device
put USB in PC
Pick USB from list and PC will boot from USb and reinstall win 10

fresh install instructions:
boot from installer
follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

when you reach the screen asking for licence, click "I don't have a key" and win 10 will continue to install and reactivate once finished

On the screen where you choose where to install win 10, if it gives you an error about GPT drives, delete all the partitions on the hdd and press next. If it still gives error, cancel out of the installer and restart PC and start installer again, it will accept next on that screen this time (some PC just need a restart here).

 

[Jarm__]

A full reset with new users should have fixed it.. the only option being a virus had installed itself on the image and reinstalled itself on new install.

What motherboard do you have as it is likely a setting like secure boot or fast boot is in place.
Since win 10 currently installed, you can boot from USB from insde windows.
Go to settings/update and security/recovery
under advanced startup, choose restart now
Choose troubleshoot
Choose use a device
put USB in PC
Pick USB from list and PC will boot from USb and reinstall win 10

fresh install instructions:
boot from installer
follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

when you reach the screen asking for licence, click "I don't have a key" and win 10 will continue to install and reactivate once finished

On the screen where you choose where to install win 10, if it gives you an error about GPT drives, delete all the partitions on the hdd and press next. If it still gives error, cancel out of the installer and restart PC and start installer again, it will accept next on that screen this time (some PC just need a restart here).

I managed to fix the boot up issue. I used a different USB along with a different image this time and it worked without any problems. I used my laptop to write the new image on to the usb. It's quite fascinating how I've always used that one particular usb for installing windows. It works on every other computer and laptop except mine. Whether the image got corrupted after the last time i used it or the usb gave up is now a mystery. I will check out though what the problem was. I fiddled around with the boot settings before using another usb with new image. Nothing changed. The boot simply just ignored my usb and went straight to Windows 10 like if my usb was not even plugged in.

So, now I have managed to reinstall the computer. I formatted the HDD. The only things I did so far is wait for all the upgrades to install, then after a restart I install FireFox to reply to you and did a Disk Cleanup to remove any traces of old files has there still was with Windows.old. folder. Nothing else. I don't plan on doing anything until I know I am totally clean and ready to move on from all this nightmare. Any suggestions on where to look and with what?

 

[Colif]

In the majority of cases, after a fresh install, there is nothing left to find. You wiped the hard drive as part of process and the chances of a virus being on your motherboard are tiny enough to not think about.

So you shouldn't have anything to worry about provided you use a good Anti virus program (like bitdefender instead of Defender), it won't let you install things that come bundled with install packages. It will also scan any files you try to install from backups.

Don't disable UAC, you may want to but its there to stop things deciding to install without your permission.

 

[Jarm__]

In the majority of cases, after a fresh install, there is nothing left to find. You wiped the hard drive as part of process and the chances of a virus being on your motherboard are tiny enough to not think about.

So you shouldn't have anything to worry about provided you use a good Anti virus program (like bitdefender instead of Defender), it won't let you install things that come bundled with install packages. It will also scan any files you try to install from backups.

Don't disable UAC, you may want to but its there to stop things deciding to install without your permission.

Alright! I have did various scans meanwhile on all drives. I am clean now. Task manager hasn't given up on me. The Application menu has not came up yet. I believe I am good now. I will keep UAC on from now on. Hopefully that will save me from ripping my hair out.

Thank you very much for your time and effort in helping me out! Now onward to my studies :lol: