Deleted admin account

[jthebeau]

After an auto update my admin account and the hidden admin account were deleted leaving me unable to do anything on the computer. Even when booting into safe mode it requires an admin password so I cannot reinstall the os. My wife has an account on the computer with no admin privileges and that account was unaffected. Is there anything I can do here? This oc has been nothing but trouble since I ordered it from HP. Please help

[Grzwacz]

Hi 

Please provide an HP model or product number. When did you buy this PC?

Where did this auto update come from, Microsoft or HP?

I have been building, purchasing Dell, HP, and IBM PC's and using PC's since 1997 and have never seen an update wipe out admin accounts but leave user accounts intact.

Grzy

[jthebeau]

I  Believe the PC is about a year and a half old I built it on HP.com  but unfortunately I left it sit in my computer room for eight months before setting it up due to being busy and honestly not having the inclination when I wasn't busy. And any rate the computer has had very little use since I have set it up because the first update ghosted the hard drive completely an after hours on the phone  with tech-support they sent me recovery discs.  I have not visited any nefarious websites at all I'm a homebrewer most of my time on the computer is spent in homebrewing forms that I have used for years with no difficulties as it relates to my computers. Serial# is 4c168080f48 product # is noxo8av#ab model# is 251-a110z

[Grzwacz]

Hi

Use the HP recovery discs.

Grzy

[jthebeau]

How? When I boot into safe mode it states that something to the effect that an admin password is required but no admin account can be found.

[jthebeau]

Anyone? There must be a way to use these recovery discs without an admin password.

[CherylG]

You should be able to reinstall Windows even without using the Recovery Discs..by tapping F11 after powering on. You could of course use the discs but F11 is faster.

See the last section in the document here and use the process for "Recovery when Windows does not start correctly":

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04758961

Btw-You do not boot into Safe Mode to use Recovery Discs. The process for that is in the document link above also.

[jthebeau]

I tried that but after taping f11 it goes to a screen that states something to the effect that an admin password is required but no admin is found on this computer.

[CherylG · Accepted solution]

The document also tells how to boot from Recovery Discs. Put first disc in drive and shut down computer. After a few seconds power on and start tapping Esc key. This will bring up a menu with options. Do NOT press F11 here. Press F9 for Boot options. This will show you all bootable devices. Use arrow key to move down and select/highlight CD/DVD drive. Next press Enter key.

Note:If you are using recovery media supplied by HP, a black window opens asking you to Press any key to boot from the CD or DVD..... This screen will only appear for 3-4 seconds and if no key is pressed the system will boot normally into windows. You will have to repeat the steps in order to boot from the CD/DVD recovery media.

[jthebeau]

I will give this a shot tomorrow when I get home from work. Thank you for the advice.