W2KPro Administrator lacks permissions?

[PCWatchman]

I upgraded my laptop from Squeaky clean, problem free W98SE to W2KProSP3. Then I updated it to SP4, followed by a rollup pack, Windows2000-KB891861-v2-x86-ENU.exe.

I installed a handfull of software properly, and everything was OK for a day. Then I went to open Device Mgr, and got notice that I didn't have permission to uninstall any devices. I also got BSOD when I tried to install ZoneAlarm.

I've been running W2KproSP4 on my desktop for about 2 years and have never dealt with permissions.

I tried fast repair from Windows CD, and that didn't fix it. I then ran setup/repair and that reinstalled it to SP3. I then ran SP4 flawlessly. When I
tried to run rollup pack, it gave me :

Setup Error
You do not have permission to update Windows 2000. Please contact your system administrator.

So I contacted myself. "Self", I said, "why is this happening?" I told me to submit it to this awesome forum for speedy solution.

Thanks in advance!

[ProfessorU]

oh dear, it sounds like someone is using win2k as a workstation OS. Not to worry, there are only a few quirks as long as you're not networking or anything. But in the interest of full disclosure, win2k is rarely the right operating system for a laptop PC. XP has all the features you are likely to use and comes with only 10% of the administration stuff to worry about. That said:

Use your administrator password and 'administrator' as your username to log in. Make any changes you need to the system configuration in that account. Then go back to using your personal account for day-to-day use.

As for the reason why this happened, I would assume that in the course of a service pack, microsoft increased security on non-administrator accounts. Perhaps your account was 'power user' or something like that, and the default policy for that group was changed in the SP.

Good luck.

[PCWatchman]

Please tell me how to make changes. I am logged in as Administrator, with only one other account, User. Is there a simple way to just give total control for everything back to Administrator?

[ProfessorU]

If you don't have full control of your computer when you are logged in as administrator then something is messed up.

Do you log onto a corporate LAN with this computer?

[PCWatchman]

No, but after spending the last 4 hours trying every possible setting of permissions for local, group and domain policies, I implemented what is as destructive as it gets, while at the same time brings the most peace. Good ol' FDISK. Kinda like a nuclear bomb, but a fresh start nonetheless.

I'm installing 2KPro fresh, and troubles are over. I'll spend less time rebuilding it than fixing what was, since I have all software and tweaks on CDs ready to go.

I learned how permissions are supposed to work, so it's not a total waste of time. I also possibly have 2 clues: I upgraded to 2K from 98SE where user name was Administrator. Maybe that freaked out 2K. I also had installed Norton WinDoctor from SystemWorks2003 CD. This, and Ghost are the only things I use from Mr. Pete, and only after cleaning out everything extraneous they all throw over the registry. When I went to run it, it didn't do anything except bog down processor until reboot. No process was even listed in task mgr. Weird. I went to uninstall it, and it said completed, but at next boot it was still in Add/Remove lineup. No Norton anything will touch this laptop again. I have WinDoctor and Ghost (tamed to a manual service when I want it only, for backups) on my desktop for a couple years and they both work great. I'll use them as long as they behave.

Thanks for your time ProfessorU

[ProfessorU]

I haven't been a fan of Norton since pre Y2k.

Sorry to hear that you had to fdisk. I would make an attempt to use microsoft's 'best practices' for security as it relates to usernames and passwords, etc. Using a real username in the user or power user group is much safer than using the admin account. Bringing the admin account over from a 16 bit OS isn't necessarily a good idea, definitely.

Enjoy your fresh install!

[PCWatchman]

Best thing I could have done. It's almost all set up and running great.

Thanks again, "see" ya on another thread sometime!