Windows 7 Administrator - Run as Administrator Issues

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Garymac

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Jan 19, 2009
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I am not sure where to post this but will try here. As an XP user who is now trying the Win 7 Beta, I have found most things work well and software installation and configuration has worked for most applications. I set up Win 7 as a clean install on a second hard drive, thus creating a dual boot system., without having to use my XP setup. However, the one thing that is really confusing is the frequent warnings that I do not have administrator rights to install a program or to update a program. On two occassions, I could not install or upgrade programs at all because quote "I am not an administrator." I have the security setting setting to minimum, the first step on the scale. Given that I installed it on my computer, set up my name, computer name, etc; can anyone explain to me why I am not the administrator of my own machine? I'm sure there must be an explanation or a way to change permissions or rights, but I haven't been able to figure it out. Thanks. Following is my system configuaration:
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7000 Build 7000
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name GARYROSS-PC
System Manufacturer Gateway
System Model GT5028
System Type X86-based PC
Processor AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, 2000 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 10/02/2006
SMBIOS Version 2.2
Windows Directory H:\Windows
System Directory H:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale Canada
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7000.0"
User Name GARYROSS-PC\GARYROSS
Time Zone Canada Central Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 3.25 GB
Available Physical Memory 2.50 GB
Total Virtual Memory 6.79 GB
Available Virtual Memory 5.62 GB
Page File Space 3.54 GB
Page File H:\pagefile.sys
 
Solution
If you're using the 32-bit version, Windows Update provides a fix for the permissions problem.

If that doesn't apply,

Right-click on the drive letter, choose properties, click the Security tab, , click the Edit button, select your username in the list and check the Full Control checkbox.
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Many many many many people have had the same issue that you have been having. What i have told them to do is to boot into safe mode and then login under admin and then change the permissions for your account. Even if they are checked uncheck them then hit apply and then recheck them and see if that helps. Also ensure to take ownership of your entire drive. Hope this helps.
 
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also, never turn UAC (the security setting) off (lowest). it causes a lot of trouble. the "frequent" (you never used vista ) prompts may be a little disturbing at first but they are a great security improvement and you don't even notice them after a while.
I personally would advice you to set UAC to it's highest level. it's gotten really much better in 7.
 
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I have turned off UAC completely even since I got my first Vista computer and turned it off in Windows 7 as well

If you're using a good spyware detector with real-time monitoring, a good Anti-Virus also doing background monitoring, and finally a good firewall that actually informs you when programs are trying to access the Internet and what site they are trying to connect to.

No need for UAC whatsoever. Never need to use "run as administartor"
 
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As reghakr said - ditto.
Here I open the usual can of worms. The comments concerning the disabling of the UAC date back to the early days of Vista. They are hackneyed and repeated over and over, without foundation. I have , since the real legacy Os's, run first, as the full, global Administrator. (Only necessary since Vista, which defaults to the OS user/Admin) Also, since Vista, one of my first customisations has been to turn off or disable the UAC.
I have good anti malware running and have never experienced any serious problems.
 
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Global Admin Privileges (again, sorry)

I'm a Windows user since the very first version and I've NEVER had the problems setting up that I have with Win 7 RC. Feeling pretty ignorant here - I've been reading the various posts about how to take control of all the drives - I can't get to files on my primary C nor on my external drive. I'm locked out ofthe most simple processes.

Surely I'm missing something really simple - is there a global command that releases all admin privileges to the owner? I didn't have these problems with the Win 7 Beta.........

I feel like I'm reading instructions in Greek or Latin or maybe I'm a newbie all over again - any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
 
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If you're using the 32-bit version, Windows Update provides a fix for the permissions problem.

If that doesn't apply,

Right-click on the drive letter, choose properties, click the Security tab, , click the Edit button, select your username in the list and check the Full Control checkbox.
 
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Solution
Oh thanks

Thank you - I've give that a shot when I get home. BTW - do you know if Win 7 RC is automatically running updates? I guess I presumed that was happening in the background. Thanks again
 
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OK,

I would recommend you set Windows Update with the following settings.

Go to Control Panel > Windows Updates click the Change setting link and select Check for Updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.

Personally , I want to know what's being added to my computer
 
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Ouch! You are correct of course -

In my excitement using this new OS I've obviously let some of the more normal settings go without proper attention - and I admit that I did think that MS was pushing updates/changes to the RC version as they made them. Silly me.......

Again, thank you.
 
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No problem,

I think all users should choose this option as I've heard of some horror stories with automatic downloads being installed without the user knowing about it.
 
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