After a previous wallpaper-related bug forced Microsoft to issue a Windows 7 patch, another problem seems to have cropped up on Microsoft’s old operating system.
A flurry of posts on reddit and Microsoft’s own forums have flagged the new bug. Apparently, when users try to shut down their computer they’re faced with a rather snooty message that says: “You don’t have permission to shutdown and restart this computer.”
Some people have managed to get around the issue by running a sneaky fix – essentially, opening the Group Policy Editor and forcing through new admin permissions. But it’s not ideal to go through all that faff when you just want to shutdown and go to bed.
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Unfortunately, it’s not really clear what has caused the issue. Some users are speculating that it could have been caused by Microsoft itself, after the company fixed a handful of Windows 7 issues in January. But others are pointing a finger in a different direction, blaming the problems on a handful of Adobe services.
Following on from the issue, Microsoft has issued a statement, saying: “We are aware of some Windows 7 customers reporting that they are unable to shut down without first logging off and are actively investigating.”
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We’ve also reached out to Adobe for comment, to see if their users have reported any other issues of compatibility with Windows 7.
This all follows on from Microsoft announcing that it was about to end support for Windows 7 from mid-January, but so far the company hasn’t managed to remain on schedule. It issued a wallpaper-bug fix at the end of January – and given the severity of this issue, we bet there will be another update out soon.
Quick Fixes
The below solution has cropped up on both Reddit and the Microsoft forums – but others have had to stop Adobe services from running, in order to fix the problem. Here’s the common user solution circling the web at the moment:
- Open Run Window
- Type in Gpedit.msc then hit enter
- In the new window, travel down this path: Computer settings>Windows settings>Security settings>Local policies>Security options
- Now in the security options, search “User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin approval.” Set this to enable
- Reopen your run window, type in gpupdate /force and hit that enter button again.
- Follow this with a healthy system restart and hopefully your issue should be resolved.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
