How to Sign in to Windows 10 if All Accounts are Disabled
10/11/2015
If for some reason all user accounts on your PC have been disabled, then you are unable to sign in to Windows 10 and getting the error message that says: Your account has been disabled. Please see your system administrator.
Fortunately, Windows 10 comes with built-in administrator account that is disabled by default. The strategy is to enable it, and then sign in to Windows 10 using it to enable the rest user accounts.
Despite the simplicity of the method described in this article, you should perform an each suggested operation carefully (you don't want to corrupt the registry and reinstall Windows 10 afterwards, do you?).
1. Turn on or restart the PC and press the F8 key before the operating system starts. If the boot menu is disabled on the computer, then you may need to catch the moment.
2. When the Startup Settings list appears, press F10 for more options.
3. Press F1 to launch recovery environment.
4. Choose Troubleshoot, and then Advanced options.
5. Select Command Prompt from the list of recovery options.
6. Type regedit into the command window and press ENTER.
7. In Registry Editor select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, open the File menu, and then click Load hive.
8. Open This PC folder and find the partition whereon Windows 10 is installed. Open the Windows/system32/config folder on that partition.
9. In the opened folder double-click the SAM file.
10. In the appeared window type NEWSAM into the input field and click OK.
11. In Registry Editor navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\NEWSAM\SAM\Domains\Accounts\Users\000001F4
12. Double-click the value named F.
13. On line 0038 find 10 and replace it with 11. Click OK.
14. Restart the computer.
15. If the previous steps were completed correctly, the built-in administrator account should be enabled. Now you need to log on to Windows 10 using that account.
16. Open any folder, right-click This PC shortcut on the left and choose Manage.
17. In the Computer Management window navigate to Computer Management / System Tools / Local Users and Groups / Users.
18. Double-click your account in the list of user accounts on the right.
19. In the user account properties window clear the Account is disabled checkbox and click OK.
20. Restart the PC and sign in to Windows 10 using your account.
More about User Accounts:
- How to Change an Account Type in Windows 10
- How to Rename a User Account in Windows 10
- How to Remove a User Account in Windows 10
- How to Create a User Account in Windows 10
- Administrator User Account in Windows 10
- How to Log on to Windows 10 Automatically
- Add, Change or Remove User Password in Windows 10