Locked Windows 10 "Can't open access control editor"

[xubuli]

I have to confess that I use bittorrent for hacked software even before finding this forum. I just noticed I have no write access to C:\Program Files (x86) on my PC when trying to applying Medicines to certain software downloaded here.
1. When trying to modify ownership of Program folder, I got the error as below: "Can't open access control editor. The activation requires a display name to be present under the CLSID key. "

2. I can no longer modify user account or add any user account. Control Panel >> User Account >> Click of "Change User Account Control settings", "Manager another account", or"Change your account type" has no response.

BTW, my PC runs Windows 10 and I login as local administrator. I cannot find anything useful with Google and hope gurus here can shed some light on the problem I have.
Many Thanks!

 

[juanamm]

Hi @xubuli,
I haven't read that kind of mistake you mention for years.
I remember that in Windows 8 that error was caused by Ccleaner (or similar) when the Windows registry was cleaned and important keys were deleted leaving the registry corrupted.
You can try restoring the PC to an earlier point when it was working fine or if you have any backup better.
The other thing you can do is run these basic commands that sometimes fix Windows errors.
Type in CMD:

sfc /scannow

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Another thing you can try is to take control of all the folders and files with this command:

takeown /F E: /r /d y

That will take ownership of all files and folders on the E: drive
Change "E:" to the letter of your hard drive.

I hope I've helped.

 

[Cyler]

The way you describe the problem is a bit generic as to what caused it. Try to do the few things you will see below but I'm afraid that it sounds like another program (virus etc) taking control of PC. We'll see.

First of all, let's see what happened to your account.
Press Win + R and type cmd /c net user Administrator > "%UserProfile%\Desktop\Admin.txt" & pause Don't forget to change the Administrator with your account name. Press enter in the window that will pop. After that, you will see a file Admi.txt on your desktop. It looks like this

-----------------------
User name Voodoo
Full Name *****************
...
we care about this section
Password last set 12/18/2017 5:19:05 AM
Password expires Never
Password changeable 12/18/2017 5:19:05 AM
Password required No
...
---------------------

Check the last password set and that's the day the "bad thing" happened. Try to remember what you did, what you installed or who logged on your PC etc.
Once you find out that date, set system restore to a day prior to that and you should be ok.

Additionally, click run (win+r) and type control userpasswords2 From there go on advanced and advanced user management and see what you can do there. Do you see other admin accounts? Can you fix your issue from there?

If all fails, let's go hardcore mode:
Run CMD as admin (I hope) and go to root C:\
cd \
make current user, owner
takeown /f c:\ /r /a /d y
Let's reset permissions for the file system
icacls * /t /q /c /reset

If you want to see what the above commands do, type Takeown /? or icacls /?

Let us know what happened.

 

[xubuli]

Hi @xubuli,
I haven't read that kind of mistake you mention for years.
I remember that in Windows 8 that error was caused by Ccleaner (or similar) when the Windows registry was cleaned and important keys were deleted leaving the registry corrupted.
You can try restoring the PC to an earlier point when it was working fine or if you have any backup better.
The other thing you can do is run these basic commands that sometimes fix Windows errors.
Type in CMD:

sfc /scannow

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Another thing you can try is to take control of all the folders and files with this command:

takeown /F E: /r /d y

That will take ownership of all files and folders on the E: drive
Change "E:" to the letter of your hard drive.

I hope I've helped.

I tried all the methods and ran commands as administrator. But none of them works. BTW, I do not have early enough restoring point on file. The "takeown" command does change ownership of the Program File folder from "trustedIstaller" to my account. Not sure what will be the impact in the future because the former is the default owner. But still no new folder can be created inside Program File and my second problem remains.
As you mentioned, I believe is is related to registry settings. Some malware changes my registry on purpose. I have another desktop which has the same problem! I doubt the malware could be TurboTax when its server detecting a pirate installation. Can anybody confirm?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[juanamm]

...As you mentioned, I believe is is related to registry settings. Some malware changes my registry on purpose.

If you don't have any recent restore points or backups we can do little. More if you tell us that you may have malware that may have modified registry data.

I have another desktop which has the same problem! I doubt the malware could be TurboTax when its server detecting a pirate installation. Can anybody confirm?

I don't think Intuit, Inc. has loaded a malware onto your PC that detects that you are using a pirated version of Turbo Tax and that's why it modified your registry files.

In conclusion, important files on your system and registry have been modified (perhaps by malware).
What I would advise you in this case is radical, but it is the effective solution for your problem, make copies of your most important personal files and install a fresh and updated version of Windows 10.

 

[xubuli]

There is no sign of password been changed by checking the exported Admin.txt. I am the only one using the PC all the time. After issuing "control userpasswords2 " command, listed user names are valid. However, I cannot add user by clicking "Add.." button or create another local admin account. Even after adding my current user name into Administrator group, it still does not help the problem. But the PC runs smoothly except the issue and my Symantec Endpoint report no virus. I guess fresh Windows installation will be necessary for now. The malware gets two of my PCs!!??

If anyone knows the name of the malware that does similar things, please post. Please also recommend a reliable Antivirus software. It seems Symantec Endpoint is not powerful enough.

Thank you all for the help.

 

[juanamm]

....If anyone knows the name of the malware that does similar things, please post. Please also recommend a reliable Antivirus software. It seems Symantec Endpoint is not powerful enough...

The best AV in the world is our behavior.
For the best antivirus that you have installed, if you download and install things you do not know, you deactivate the AV because a Medicines / Medicines of a program cannot be executed, etc ... in the long or short term you will infect the PC.

Anyway, I advise you to try the combination of

You must be registered for see links

+

You must be registered for see links

.
Do not install security software such as anti-virus, anti-malware, etc., cracked or patched, always install this type of clean program with an activation key.

BTW can we close this thread?

 

[MrZeb]

Hi,

Search on google for "Windows Repair (All-in-One) Portable", download the tool from bleeping and use the repairs included on the tool, in my opinion is the best option before doing a Reinstall if you already clean the system from the malware!

 

[xubuli]

The best AV in the world is our behavior.
For the best antivirus that you have installed, if you download and install things you do not know, you deactivate the AV because a Medicines / Medicines of a program cannot be executed, etc ... in the long or short term you will infect the PC.

Anyway, I advise you to try the combination of

You must be registered for see links

+

You must be registered for see links

.
Do not install security software such as anti-virus, anti-malware, etc., cracked or patched, always install this type of clean program with an activation key.

BTW can we close this thread?

Please close the thread. Thank you for your comments: "The best AV in the world is our behavior. ". I reconfigured my Windows today. BTW, the following command recommended by Cyler should be run with care. It takes long time to run ...

Let's reset permissions for the file system
icacls * /t /q /c /reset

 

[juanamm]

At the author's request, the thread is closed and tagged as completed.