Admin Account Lost Permissions: HELP! (Tech Vanity)

Windows XP ^ | July 15, 2005 | Alouette

[Alouette]

Dear FReepers,

I don't normally post Vanities or requests for tech support, but I have reached the end of my patience.

About 6 months ago, I installed Windows XP Service Pack 2. Unfortunately as many other people have experienced, it broke a lot of stuff and so I rolled back to Service Pack 1. Rolling back restored basic functionality, but broke other stuff, such as: ability to start and stop IIS, set Disk properties, set permissions, edit local policy, create and edit ODBC data sources, and other stuff that requires Administrator privileges. Unfortunately, the Administrator account has lost these privileges.

I'm now in the process of creating a development environment for a new web project, and this permissions issue has become critical.

I have searched for a solution to this problem. Microsoft does not have an answer in their knowledge base. There was one user who posted at experts-exchange.com with the same problem, but no one there had an answer.

So FReepers, now I appeal to you. Does anyone here know how to restore functionality to a busted Admin account?

Here is my machine configuration:

Windows XP Professional, SP1, rolled back from SP2
1Ghz processor
40GB HD (about 60% full and defragged)
256MB RAM
Samsung DVD-ROM
Lite-on CDRW
Microtek Scanmaker E3 SCSI scanner (a real antique!)
Comcast Broadband, SMC Barricade router

Installed Programs:
MS Office 2003
MS Frontpage 2003 (FP extensions are busted)
Macromedia Studio MX
MS Visual InterDev 6.0
MS Visual Basic 6.0
Adobe Photoshop CS
Adobe Illustrator 10
Norton Internet Security 2005 (I'm told this can break things)
Ad Aware SE
Spybot Search & Destroy
Roxio CD & DVD Creator 6

[Golden Eagle]

Microsoft provides free support for anyone applying or configuring security upgrades. Simply call 1-800-pc-safety and they'll walk you through any required repair processes, I used it before myself one time after XP SP2 caused some issues on a system.

[Zavien Doombringer]

Freepmail me your address. I may have a few things for you to help you out.