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I have a Windows 7 machine that normally runs from an account with administrator permissions. The User settings in the control panel confirm it is listed as an administrator account.

Something has changed in the system, and the account now has reduced permissions. For example, the device manager console utility DevCon used to run from any CMD script. Now it only runs if the CMD windows is run as administrator. AutoRuns used to be able to directly start RegEdit from the Autoruns UI. Now AutoRuns has to re-start itself with administrator rights to be able to start RegEdit. Many other dialog boxes and operations are asking for permission that didn't before.

What could cause the reduction of permissions on this administrator account? How can I fix it? Are there any tools for debugging permissions and account issues?

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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It sounds like UAC was enabled or increased the security for it. If you want to turn it off (which I wouldn't recommend due to the security it provides), you can do so in the control panel under users.

Click change user account control. If the slider has it enabled, you can drag it down to disable. Reboot the system, and then try again.

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  • I don't think this is a UAC issue. I do not get UAC prompts, and it is turned off in the control panel. Another example of unexpected behavior: Create a new folder in C:\Program Files. Before, it happened directly. Now, a dialog appears -- "Destination Folder Access Denied", "You need to confirm the operation", Continue, Skip, Cancel. "Continue has the UAC shield on it, but this is not the UAC prompt. "Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to your computer".
    – tim11g
    Jul 4, 2015 at 16:28
  • Hmm, two suggestions. First, try enabling and then disabling UAC to see if something got stuck somewhere. Secondly, run a malwarebytes scan just to ensure there's nothing bad running.
    – Will M
    Jul 4, 2015 at 16:41
  • Bingo! CPL showed the slider in the UAC off position. I changed it to on, and clicked OK. Then I changed it back to off and got the UAC prompt. I confirmed and rebooted. Now everything is operating normally again. I hate it when I'm not able to learn the "why" behind the fix, but I guess that's just the nature of Windows....
    – tim11g
    Jul 4, 2015 at 16:52
  • @tim11g Thank you so much for asking this question. I was having this exact same problem as well and it, mysteriously, was also preventing my Catalyst Control Center from showing up. I turned UAC off and on again, and now it's showing up again. Argh, windows.
    – FAE
    Aug 12, 2015 at 18:19

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