Changes require an administrator user name and password.

Question

Hello. I inherited a Windows 10 PC from my father. I have purchased an updated version of Office and was trying to uninstall the 2007 version he was using. When I went to uninstall, I got the message below. I do not know how to enter the admin user name and password and I do not have this information from my father. I get this message not only for the uninstall process but for any changes I try to make to the computer. Any advice? Thank you.

Answer 1

If you mean that your Father is no longer with us and this was his PC, then you need to reset the PC with the option to keep data, and set the system up in your name

Answer 2

Hi Palcouk,

I like your image; I haven't seen Andy Capp in decades! Thank you for your reply. To do what you suggest, do I start the PC in safe-mode and then select the option under troubleshooting to save files and re-install Windows? Not sure if this is the right approach or if there is a different (better) method. Thanks again.

Answer 3

Hello there. This is Emily.

I am sorry you are running into this issue. Unfortuantely it looks like you are just a standard user and your father is the admin. Without admin access, you cannot install or uninstall programs. There's no way to bypass it. I hope you can get the information from your father. Or have your father log into the computer with his admin credential, and then you can do the following:

hold down Windows +R key combo, type in netplwiz and hit enter. Double click on your user, go to the Group Membership tab, and make you administrator. Restart the computer, log into your user. You should have admin after that and won't need your father's account anymore.

Answer 4

Hi Emily,

Unfortunately, my father is deceased and I don't have the admin sign on that he must have used. Palcouk suggested a method that I am not overly familiar with. Any thoughts? Thanks for your response.

Answer 5

I am very sorry for your loss.

Without his admin credential, the only option left for you is to clean install Windows 10. This is a two-part process. First part is to download Windows 10 into a flash drive (at least 8GB and empty) from another computer. You can't do it on your computer because the tool you will need to run requires admin credential. You can download Windows media creation tool here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-downlo... Run it on a computer that has admin, and choose the option to create a flash drive. It will then download Windows installation files into the flash drive.

Once you have the flash drive, you can use it to boot up your current computer directly from BIOS boot menu. Then choose install. A fellow advisor has put together a great tutorial here with screenshots. It is for Windows 11, but Windows 10 uses the same steps: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

Once Windows 10 is installed, you can set it up with your own account as admin then.

Pls know that this process will wipe out all of your programs and data. Make sure you take a look at all of the programs you will need to reinstall later, and backup your files.

I hope this helps.