I have an old XP Pro machine that belonged to a long-dead domain. I had an administrator account on the machine which allowed me to use it effectively, if infrequently, on a roaming profile.
I also have local administrator accounts.
In error I managed to downgrade the domain account to a standard user (I know...) and now I'm locked out of the files that were held in the user folders (custom Office add-ins, application settings etc.).
It appears that the downgrade has marked them as inaccessible (or even removed some altogether, which is worrying) and so I can no longer get hold of them. Also, GPO seems(?) to require that some applications are run with administrator privileges so I can't access them and the config that was tied to the old admin account (SSMS etc.).
What I've tried
If I log in as a local administrator I can't upgrade the standard domain account from the normal XP Pro users admin as it only shows local accounts and groups.
If I log in as the standard domain user I can't access any domain account admin as I ased to be able to do, and elevating privileges only allows me to see the local accounts again.
If I attempt to use any AD tools (dsa.msc) then I get multiple errors related to the missing domain controller.
I can use a live CD to access the 'locked' files and pull them out, but there are quite a few files and a lot of applications that I'd like to be able to use properly again.
Nothing is of critical importance but it would be good to restore the previous access and functionality.