Administrator account prevents me from reverting Windows 10 to 8.1

Question

On Windows 10, I had to enable the Administrator account using

net user administrator /active:yes

for reasons that aren't relevant here.

Now, if I try to revert to Windows 8.1 through Settings >> Update & Security >> Recovery >> Go back to Windows 8.1, I get the following message:

But there is no other user, including Administrator, visible on the Other Users screen:

I did

net user administrator /active:no

to deactivate the Administrator account (because the Administrator account is always existent, just that it can be disabled or enabled). After that I double-checked that the Administrator account is disabled in lusrmgr.msc and not visible in netplwiz.exe, but I still keep getting the message in the first picture.

What could be wrong? Any ideas? I really want to roll back to 8.1.

Solution

Administrator account prevents Windows 10 rollback

Use one of the solutions below and then try again to rollback.

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Solution 1

1. Press Windows+R, type sysdm.cpl andpress Enter.

2. Click on "Advanced" tab.

3. Click on "Settings" under the "User Profiles" section.

4. On the "User Profiles" dialog select the <COMPUTER NAME>\Administrator account and click on "Delete".

5. Confirm the delete.

Warning:

The above steps will also delete all data associated with the built-in Administrator account – please ensure data associated with the built-in Admin is backed up prior to performing the steps.

Source Roll Back of Windows 10

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Solution 2

Please go to the registry editor and do the following steps:

1. Click Windows+R, to open run command. Type "regedit" and click enter.

2. Create a back of the registry. Click on Hkey and go to the File Tab, press Export and save it to your desired your location.

3. Go to the provided path HKey_LocalMachine\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.

4. In the profile list you will find a few SID's please find the one related to the deleted user account and delete it.

To know which sid is related to the User Account you wish to delete just go to a particular S-1-5 series and on the right side look for ProfileImagePath, you will notice c:/users/User_Account_Name.

Source Go back to Windows 7 with User account issue

Comments

[Kevin Borders]

The first solution worked perfectly. You are a life saver.

[LonnieBest]

Fantastic post. Great information.