Windows 8 Windows 8.1 administrative user has no rights

[CruzIzcaredoNotn]

I bought an HP laptop for my daughter for the holidays. Once she started using it the computer was giving us issues, so we sent it back to HP for repairs. Turned out it had a bad power supply or something. Anyhow, I didn't have any issues with it until today when my daughter can't play her roblox. Found some fixes on their website, but when I attempted them I found that I can't access anything that requires administrative rights. For example, I couldn't look at the contents of the \Temp folder. Found a fix for that, but when I tried looking deeper I found I can't even change the power settings. Under power settings go to advanced and the little window pops up with all the choices, they are all greyed out. This since the computer came back from HP. My user is an administrator and shows having all rights, but I still can't even change power settings.

I want to upgrade to Windows 10, but am afraid I will still not have access. I would do a clean install, but I did that with my other laptop when I upgraded from Vista to 7 and I can't use the webcam anymore.

 

[Neemobeer]

Ever since Windows Vista, when a user logs in, even one with administrative rights, windows creates two logon sessions. Basically an admin has a regular user token and an admin token. In order to invoke the admin token you need UAC, or if you are running an exe or script you need to right click it and select "Run As Administrator" this will switch your user context to your admin token.

 

[ussnorway]

If you are thinking of moving into ten I recommend getting a cheap $300 (ish) laptop and testing the waters with that as the parts inside a new system will be much more compatable.

To be blunt,
Windows X takes away more rights because most people are better off letting Microsoft decide but that's another post.