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I have a company laptop (a Lenovo T540) running Windows 10. I am using a domain user to access the computer. That user has administrator privileges. A few days ago, Windows did a Windows Update, rebooted and then failed to start. After the Lenovo splash screen the screen stays black with no further progress.

Holding Shift+F8 during boot shows the Windows 10 recovery menu. However, trying to do any action gives the following error:

You need to sign in as an administrator to continue, but there aren't any administrator accounts on this PC.

Using a recovery USB created from another Windows 10 machine does allow all of the actions from the recovery menu to start, but they all give an error.

At best I would like to use the System Restore to go back to before the Windows Update was installed.

I have some important files still on the drive of the laptop, and would rather not have to do a clean reset of the Windows 10. Is there a way to work around that error?

G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica'
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Eli Iser
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    If Windows wants the Administrator user, just enabled it, [How to get rights of admin after I disabled all admin accounts in my computer](http://superuser.com/questions/1024203/how-to-get-rights-of-admin-after-i-disabled-all-admin-accounts-in-my-computer/1024221#1024221). – Ramhound Sep 03 '16 at 18:41
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    @Ramhound - I would happily enable a local administrator account. Sadly, Windows doesn't boot, as mentioned at the end of the first paragraph. If you have an idea how to enable an account without running the Windows OS, this will certainly help. – Eli Iser Sep 03 '16 at 18:45
  • I suggest you read my linked answer. It goes into specific detail on how to enable the built-in Administrator account. – Ramhound Sep 03 '16 at 18:46
  • @Ramhound - yes, should have read it more thoroughly. I'll give it a try, thanks! – Eli Iser Sep 03 '16 at 18:48
  • @Ramhound - your linked instructions seem to have worked. I am now able to user the Administrator account to repair the Windows installation. Feel free to change your comment to an answer an I will accept it. – Eli Iser Sep 04 '16 at 05:16
  • I have already provided an answer, I am not going to duplicate, my own answer. – Ramhound Sep 04 '16 at 05:40
  • Being a corporate owned laptop makes this question off-topic for [su]. You should hand the laptop over to your IT department for data recovery. – Burgi Sep 04 '16 at 23:06
  • @Burgi - While I don't agree this something the IT Administrator should be handling, this question is not on topic for Serverfault, the only other place it could be on topic. Why is it not on topic there, because the user isn't an IT Administrator with some degree of experience on the subject. In other words, the question would not be well received, because of the author's lack of knowledge. Since they already solved the question because of my answer, best to mark as a duplicate, and move on. – Ramhound Sep 05 '16 at 05:43

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I'm not 100% sure if Windows 10 recovery drives are machine related so I'm not sure if it will help at all, but you can try to repair computer using Windows 10 installer. Just click Repair your computer instead of Install now.

Setup Image

If that fails too, you can install Windows selecting Custom: Install Windows only (advanced). If you just select drive where you had your previous Windows installed, it will move Windows folder to Windows.old and leave rest of your data.

Installation type

I've tried this and it works, but if you are really paranoid you can try any Linux LiveCD (for example Ubuntu). Without any installation you can try this OS and you will be able to browse files on your hard drive.

Tithen-Firion
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  • I tried a recovery USB from a different machine. It didn't work. Do you know if a live-Linux can access user folders (Downloads, Documents, etc.)? – Eli Iser Sep 03 '16 at 14:25
  • That's why I suggest using Windows 10 installation disc/USB. It may make a difference. If you didn't [encrypt](http://superuser.com/questions/244844/encrypting-a-users-directory-in-windows-7) your profile folder, it should read it without any problem. – Tithen-Firion Sep 03 '16 at 14:27
  • My laptop doesn't like either options. It seems to think there is some other Windows installation or upgrade already in progress, so both options to install with the Windows 10 Installation USB fail. I'll try and grab the files with Live Ubuntu and then re-install from scratch. – Eli Iser Sep 03 '16 at 17:03