I'm not the administrator... but I am... kind of?

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RubyHeart

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Dec 10, 2011
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The User Accounts control panel on my HP laptop shows that I am the administrator, yet when I want to change my desktop background (through the Personalization control panel), I get a message that "this feature has been disabled. Contact your system administrator." Huh?? 😱

This was not the case until after I got the laptop back from a stint with the Geek Squad (ultimately replacing the motherboard, the power cord port, the power cord itself, the USB port, and one trackpad button... on a less-than-1-year-old laptop!). They had sent it to an out-of-state facility for 2 weeks, and when it came back, I had them send it again to have them fix something they got wrong. All tolled, I was without my computer for almost 4 weeks.

When I finally got it back, I wanted to update the desktop appearance, and that's when I discovered I was locked out of changing the background. I can change other things, but not the background. Very weird!

I called the Geeks to ask them how to change it back so I was the administrator, and they wouldn't tell me anything by phone. When I asked if I brought it in, could they do the fix right then and there, they virtually assured me they could not and that the unit would have to be shipped back to the facility again because the User Accounts panel does list me as administrator. WHAT? Come on, seriously? :sarcastic:

How can something like this not be a quick fix for someone who knows computers?? They screwed it up and, yes, I should have let them take care of it, but after all that, I was unwilling to be without my computer again for that long, or even overnight, frankly. I thought it was ridiculous they would even suggest it. :pfff: The whole thing was immensely frustrating. (Being a mostly Mac person, this nonsense only intensifies my hatred of Windoze, Microsoft, and PCs in general.)

So am I wrong? Is this not the sort of thing they should have been able to not only do themselves in a matter of minutes, but could have easily guided me to do myself over the phone?

By the way, that was over a year ago. I'm pretty well fed up with this after all this time. I want this fixed! I want full control of my own frickin computer! Any advice? Should I really let them send it away for another week or more just to fix this seemingly small thing?

FYI, it's an HP Pavilion DV6 running Windows 7. (I have no idea if I have the latest and greatest version of W7 because I can't figure out how to TELL if I have the latest and greatest. Updating Windows software is not a simple prospect! GRRRR! :fou: Sorry.)
 
Solution
There is more than one Version of win7, 32bit 64 bit, basic, ultimate etc.
Also having no idea everything done by "Geeks" I suggest this:

Under your current (supposed admin Logon), Create another Admin user account.
1) See if you can function under the new logon.
2) Always good to have secondary Admin account to logon with anyhow.
3) If necessary, you could take ownership or copy folders/filles from old to new logon.

Also, Possibly, some settings in Group Policy have been set to "No".
(gpedit.msc)
:hello: Welcome to the forums.

I sympathize. I have run into similar problems with admin priviedges.

And I have my own Geek Squad horror tales. However, the maintenance problems were the GS fault. on that they were just the middlemen. They send the laptops out to some independent repair service.

Well, here's what you can do:
Pull the drive out of the laptop and plug it directly into a desktop system to backup your data files. Then, working from the BIOS, restore or reload Windows and restore your data.

Tedious, but it should work.
 
There is more than one Version of win7, 32bit 64 bit, basic, ultimate etc.
Also having no idea everything done by "Geeks" I suggest this:

Under your current (supposed admin Logon), Create another Admin user account.
1) See if you can function under the new logon.
2) Always good to have secondary Admin account to logon with anyhow.
3) If necessary, you could take ownership or copy folders/filles from old to new logon.

Also, Possibly, some settings in Group Policy have been set to "No".
(gpedit.msc)
 
Solution



Sorry, yes, I forgot to mention I have the 64-bit, Home Premium version of W7.

Thank you both for your input. I must say, I never imagined it would be so complicated to do something so seemingly simple! I really thought it was just a matter of knowing which control panel to open and which tabs to click. Good heavens! :pt1cable: But again, thank you.
 
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