When you install Windows 7, there was an initial user account with administrative rights. Then there is hidden administrator that can be activate by running (with elevated rights) net use administrator /active:yes If you activate administrator account, you can do the recovery, erase and create new user accounts,etc. Regards Milos

Hi, If the issue occurred recently, you can try system restore first. In addition to enable built-in administrator account, you can change the current account type for a test. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Change-a-users-account-type Niki Han TechNet Community Support

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium and somehow lost my "administrator user profile". I only have the "standard user profile" and therefore can't delete programs, change, etc., and am locked out of doing just about everything! I'm an intermediate user, but follow directions well. I was thinking about backing up my files and then reloading Windows 7 to fix the problem, but if there is an easier/faster way, I'd really appreciate your input.

Hi, If the issue occurred recently, you can try system restore first. In addition to enable built-in administrator account, you can change the current account type for a test. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Change-a-users-account-type Niki Han TechNet Community Support

When you install Windows 7, there was an initial user account with administrative rights. Then there is hidden administrator that can be activate by running (with elevated rights) net use administrator /active:yes If you activate administrator account, you can do the recovery, erase and create new user accounts,etc. Regards Milos