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I accidentally made all the users on a computer non-administrators. So no one can get past UAC now. The hard drive is also encrypted with TrueCrypt, meaning I can mount it on another computer but I can't use any boot CD kind of thing.

Does anyone know how to add a user to the Administrators group using the registry?

Another option - I have figured out how to re-enable the Administrator default account, but the computer won't let me login - it says I need to use a smart card.

Any ideas on how to deal with either one of these issues? Thanks guys.

I'm using Windows 8.1 w/ latest updates.

Edit: Don't want to decrypt the drive. You need to get past UAC/elevate to decrypt a drive in Windows, which obviously isn't possible under the circumstances. Using a rescue disk to decrypt the drive would require a large amount (read: 1 day+) of downtime.

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  • Seems strange your Administrator account would be configured to use a smart card. What sort of setting is this in?
    – Ramhound
    May 18, 2014 at 3:23
  • I have no idea. I'd really like to figure out how to turn it off. May 18, 2014 at 12:39
  • You could decrypt the volume, use a boot tool to remove the password, then encrypt again. Just one option
    – user201262
    May 18, 2014 at 13:59
  • I could, but I'd have to use the rescue disk (because you need elevated privileges to decrypt in Windows), which would take like a day. May 19, 2014 at 12:46

1 Answer 1

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How to fix this:

  • Boot up in another system and mount the encrypted/problem drive that hosts the Windows OS where you don't have Admin rights. In my case this meant using TrueCrypt.
  • Load the SYSTEM hive in c:\windows\system32\config\system. You can use regedit or Registrar Registry Manager Pro or whatever.
  • Change HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Setup\SetupType to "2".
  • Change HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Setup\CommandLine to "cmd.exe".
  • Boot into the encrypted drive like normal. A command line window will pop up. You will have admin privileges in it.
  • Type: net localgroup Administrators [UserLoginName] /add​

All done. The command line window won't pop back up when you reboot.

See: How to Reset a Windows Password in Regedit at Boot

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  • THANK YOU. I was stick with a KSOD, loging always as SYSTEM account using the trick of pressing Shift 5 times to get a cmd (having replaced System32\sethc.exe with cmd.exe). Now with your trick, as Admin I can try more things to restore my broken pc. Apr 22, 2015 at 10:38

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