Can’t make changes to computer

Question

My company recently acquired a new property. The previous company email was set as the admin. I added my email as an admin, and in the control panel switched theirs to standard. When I restarted the computer the old company was still in the top left corner of the settings. I opened the control panel and went to manage accounts but got the “do you want to allow app to make changes” and it said something like “login with username and password to continue” with the only option to click being ‘no’ now in the settings the “other accounts” option is gone so I can’t even see mine. I don’t have access to the previous companies account and do not know what to do.

Answer 1

Hi Ashahblah,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

An account with administrator privileges is a prerequisite for performing troubleshooting.

Unfortunately, there does not appear to be another administrator account available on your device.

Additionally, legacy emails on older devices may have left behind some organization-related information that could have some impact on usage.

We understand the urgency of your desire to use the device, but it appears that the only option will be to perform a clean install of Windows.

Disclaimer: Please back up all your important data before performing it.

• Custom or clean install At this point, we have exhausted all troubleshooting and I recommend that we try to perform a clean install to get your computer back into a working condition. Please ensure that you backup any important data, including Documents, Pictures, Videos, and more. After that, you can find instructions on how to install Windows 10/11 in the following article by MVP Andre:  How to: Perform a Custom Installation of Windows 11 and Windows 10 - Microsoft Community****

If I misunderstand your situation, feel free to correct me and share the information.

Best Regards,

Kyo - MSFT | Microsoft Community Technical Support