Non-Admin Standard User Able to Reset PC

jrupp68

New Member
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2
I'm setting up a stolen laptop tracking software and want to leave a standard/non-admin user account open for a potential thief. The software requires someone to log in and connect to the internet in order to start tracking. So if I only have my personal admin account password protected, I will be out of luck. The problem is that while logged in as a standard user I am able to access recovery options. From there I can use advance startup and proceed to reset my pc. If a thief logs in and resets my pc right away, I will have no way of tracking them. I have windows 8.1 standard and have not been able to find any way from restricting access to the recovery options.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 Standard
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Hp Envy 15t-j100
    CPU
    i7 4700mq
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GT 740M
If a potential thief has enough knowledge about computers, there's nothing you can do to stop it. You can make it harder for them to crack into the system such as put in a supervisory password in the BIOS so that before booting into Windows environment, you must enter the supervisory password. However, this password can also be cleared by using a jumper on the mother board.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
I understand that I can't make it perfect, but I am wondering why administrator rights are not needed to reset my computer. Almost everything else requires admin rights, so why not a system reset? It seems really contradictory to me. I've disabled cd/usb boot and also set a bios management password. Setting a power on password is counter productive because then my tracking software doesn't have a chance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 Standard
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Hp Envy 15t-j100
    CPU
    i7 4700mq
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GT 740M
You can do this via Group Policy if you have Windows Pro installed.
If you set UAC to Always notify me, then you will not be able to use the refresh and reset Windows 8 features. These features require UAC to be set to the default or lower level to work.
And you can disable access to Refresh/Reset in the control Panel in via GPO too.

UAC Group Policy Settings and Registry Key Settings
Group Policy Settings for Control Panel

Edit : Just noticed you have windows 8.1 Standard. You're out of luck I think, but you might try manually editing the registry settings, some Group Policies are still avalaible even on Standard.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 (x64)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
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