Over-ride Administrative Policy

Two days ago i upgraded one of my Windows XP running desktop to Windows Vista Home Premium. Installation went fine without any problem. The system has just one User Account and that is Admin account. I am the only Administrator of this PC. Now the problem is whenever i try to install any thing on this computer, it ends up with the following error message:

"The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation".

I tried installing several programs such as iTunes 7.1, Windows Mobile Device Center 6, and many others, but use to get the same error message at last. Any suggestions?

In Windows Vista Microsoft has introduced some new security features under which though you are logged in as Administrator, apps runs with standard user privileges until a program asks for administrator elevation. Furthermore there are possibilities that the applications you are trying to install might not be updated for Vista. Hence in such cases you should always right click the installer and select the option "Run as Administrator". This will fix the issue.

I appreciate the help RaeS but seems like that wont work. Even i have the same problem. Whenever i try installing iTunes 7.1.1 on my Vista HP laptop, evey time it ends up with the above mentioned error message. I tried running the installer as an Administrator but it wont work for me. Let me tell you that i am logged in as Administrator but my Admin account doesn't have any password.

OK guys, here is the working solution for your problems. I have been struggling with the same problem since past two weeks. After lots of troubleshooting finally that in my Windows Vista Home Premium secpol.msc is not available. I went to through the command prompt to open the 'real' administrator account and thats it. Now more such errors and i can install anything comfortably.

Hope it helps you guys also.

Hello HAYES, i happy to read that finally there is a solution which can help this problem but the way you described, everything went above my head. Can you please advice precise path after the (black) screen appears with all the mumbo-jombo. What do i need to do thereafter?

Thank you.

If you are using Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate, the policies that control the UAC prompt that you see when a program asks for system wide, unrestricted access, are set in either the Group Policy Editor or Security Policy Editor. If you are using the Vista Home Basic or Home Premium, they are set in the registry.

There are only a couple of ways to over-ride administrative policies. One is to turn UAC off, which you have already noted can be dangerous and the other is to use the built-in administrator account, which has the administrator elevation prompt disabled. Using this account can be as dangerous as disabling UAC, since it has the ability to allow any program to gain unrestricted access to the entire system with no prompt as to what is happening.

Another disadvantage to using the built-in administrator account is that changes made to the system may only be applied to settings when you are logged on with that account. You can enable the built-in administrator account by going to Start and typing cmd.exe In the results, right click cmd.exe and select the Run As Administrator option.

In the command window, type the following command:

net user administrator /active:yes

Press Enter.

This will make the built-in admin account visible on the login screen.

I have the same problem as the first post, except my computer's in safe mode (with networking) and I'm trying to install the latest iTunes; help?