High-level Administrator account

[Guest]

What's this top level administrator account I keep seeing mention of? I've
never actually found it, though apparently it's been created for me during
installation.

When I look in user accounts, all it shows me is my own account, which is an
administrator account, and a disabled guest account.

I don't envisage ever needing this super-user account, as I like to just
switch on my machine & have it boot up, rather than mess abount with a log-in
screen, but it would be nice to know how to get it if I ever do.

I have an OEM version of Vista home premium, that was installed when I
bought my new PC. Maybe it wasn't set up when Vista was installed by the
vendor.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

What's this top level administrator account I keep seeing mention of? I've
never actually found it, though apparently it's been created for me during
installation.

When I look in user accounts, all it shows me is my own account, which is an
administrator account, and a disabled guest account.

I don't envisage ever needing this super-user account, as I like to just
switch on my machine & have it boot up, rather than mess abount with a log-in
screen, but it would be nice to know how to get it if I ever do.

I have an OEM version of Vista home premium, that was installed when I
bought my new PC. Maybe it wasn't set up when Vista was installed by the
vendor.

The built-in Administrator account is disabled by default in Vista, and
is not readily accessible. To see all of the user accounts, right-click
the Computer icon and select manage.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Guest]

and then what? I don't see anything to do with user accounts.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

and then what? I don't see anything to do with user accounts.

Then expand the "Local Users and Groups" item in the MMC's left pane.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Mark Bourne]

Then expand the "Local Users and Groups" item in the MMC's left pane.

I think that's only included on Business and Ultimate versions of Vista,
not the Home versions. There are ways of activating the account from the
command line one Home versions, but you don't need to anyway. You should
have been asked to create another administrator account when you first
installed (which you have noticed is the one you usually log on with).

As I understand it, the idea of this inactive Administrator account is
that if you accidentally delete all other administrators (ie. you delete
the account you currently have without creating another with
administrator access), this account will be activated when you boot into
safe mode. I think I have seen problems here where disabling all other
administrator accounts does NOT activate the built-in Administrator in
safe mode, since it detects that other administrator accounts exist even
though you can't actually use them. It's best to be VERY careful when
deleting or deactivating accounts, and make sure that you create a new
administrator account, set it's password, and make sure that you can
actually log in with it, BEFORE deleting or disabling the last old one.

As far as I've seem, the only difference between the built-in
administrator and any other administrator, apart from the magic
activation above, is that using the built-in administrator every program
runs with admin access, whereas using any other administrator every
program runs with standard user access unless you confirm a UAC prompt
to allow it to elevate (assuming you have UAC enabled).

[I'm sure others know more about this than me, so please feel free to
confirm or correct what I've said!]

Mark.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Mark

You explained it very well.

This behavior with the built-in admin account has been the source of many
users being 'locked out' of being able to perform any task that requires
admin privileges. (forgotten password, hiding the only admin account, etc)
People are used to the behavior that they were familiar with in XP, but
things have changed in Vista.

By default, in Vista you cannot:
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reveal the old Win2K logon dialog at the login screen.
Boot to safe mode and automatically have the built-in admin account appear.
Boot to safe mode and use the built-in admin account to recover a forgotten
password on another admin account.

Of course all of these behaviors can be changed to work the way they did in
XP, but you must intentionally make these changes and, hopefully, use the
best practices recommendations when doing so.
--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

Then expand the "Local Users and Groups" item in the MMC's left pane.

I think that's only included on Business and Ultimate versions of Vista,
not the Home versions. There are ways of activating the account from the
command line one Home versions, but you don't need to anyway. You should
have been asked to create another administrator account when you first
installed (which you have noticed is the one you usually log on with).

As I understand it, the idea of this inactive Administrator account is
that if you accidentally delete all other administrators (ie. you delete
the account you currently have without creating another with administrator
access), this account will be activated when you boot into safe mode. I
think I have seen problems here where disabling all other administrator
accounts does NOT activate the built-in Administrator in safe mode, since
it detects that other administrator accounts exist even though you can't
actually use them. It's best to be VERY careful when deleting or
deactivating accounts, and make sure that you create a new administrator
account, set it's password, and make sure that you can actually log in
with it, BEFORE deleting or disabling the last old one.

As far as I've seem, the only difference between the built-in
administrator and any other administrator, apart from the magic activation
above, is that using the built-in administrator every program runs with
admin access, whereas using any other administrator every program runs
with standard user access unless you confirm a UAC prompt to allow it to
elevate (assuming you have UAC enabled).

[I'm sure others know more about this than me, so please feel free to
confirm or correct what I've said!]

Mark.

 

[Guest]

So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?

Mark

You explained it very well.

This behavior with the built-in admin account has been the source of many
users being 'locked out' of being able to perform any task that requires
admin privileges. (forgotten password, hiding the only admin account, etc)
People are used to the behavior that they were familiar with in XP, but
things have changed in Vista.

By default, in Vista you cannot:
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reveal the old Win2K logon dialog at the login screen.
Boot to safe mode and automatically have the built-in admin account appear.
Boot to safe mode and use the built-in admin account to recover a forgotten
password on another admin account.

Of course all of these behaviors can be changed to work the way they did in
XP, but you must intentionally make these changes and, hopefully, use the
best practices recommendations when doing so.
--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

davey_griffo wrote:
and then what? I don't see anything to do with user accounts.


Then expand the "Local Users and Groups" item in the MMC's left pane.

I think that's only included on Business and Ultimate versions of Vista,
not the Home versions. There are ways of activating the account from the
command line one Home versions, but you don't need to anyway. You should
have been asked to create another administrator account when you first
installed (which you have noticed is the one you usually log on with).

As I understand it, the idea of this inactive Administrator account is
that if you accidentally delete all other administrators (ie. you delete
the account you currently have without creating another with administrator
access), this account will be activated when you boot into safe mode. I
think I have seen problems here where disabling all other administrator
accounts does NOT activate the built-in Administrator in safe mode, since
it detects that other administrator accounts exist even though you can't
actually use them. It's best to be VERY careful when deleting or
deactivating accounts, and make sure that you create a new administrator
account, set it's password, and make sure that you can actually log in
with it, BEFORE deleting or disabling the last old one.

As far as I've seem, the only difference between the built-in
administrator and any other administrator, apart from the magic activation
above, is that using the built-in administrator every program runs with
admin access, whereas using any other administrator every program runs
with standard user access unless you confirm a UAC prompt to allow it to
elevate (assuming you have UAC enabled).

[I'm sure others know more about this than me, so please feel free to
confirm or correct what I've said!]

Mark.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?

Yes, this is recommended.


What I usually do is enable the built-in account, change the name from
Administrator to something, assign a very strong (long) password and then
disable the account.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?

Mark

You explained it very well.

This behavior with the built-in admin account has been the source of many
users being 'locked out' of being able to perform any task that requires
admin privileges. (forgotten password, hiding the only admin account,
etc)
People are used to the behavior that they were familiar with in XP, but
things have changed in Vista.

By default, in Vista you cannot:
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reveal the old Win2K logon dialog at the login
screen.
Boot to safe mode and automatically have the built-in admin account
appear.
Boot to safe mode and use the built-in admin account to recover a
forgotten
password on another admin account.

Of course all of these behaviors can be changed to work the way they did
in
XP, but you must intentionally make these changes and, hopefully, use the
best practices recommendations when doing so.
--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

Bruce Chambers wrote:
davey_griffo wrote:
and then what? I don't see anything to do with user accounts.


Then expand the "Local Users and Groups" item in the MMC's left
pane.



I think that's only included on Business and Ultimate versions of
Vista,
not the Home versions. There are ways of activating the account from
the
command line one Home versions, but you don't need to anyway. You
should
have been asked to create another administrator account when you first
installed (which you have noticed is the one you usually log on with).

As I understand it, the idea of this inactive Administrator account is
that if you accidentally delete all other administrators (ie. you
delete
the account you currently have without creating another with
administrator
access), this account will be activated when you boot into safe mode. I
think I have seen problems here where disabling all other administrator
accounts does NOT activate the built-in Administrator in safe mode,
since
it detects that other administrator accounts exist even though you
can't
actually use them. It's best to be VERY careful when deleting or
deactivating accounts, and make sure that you create a new
administrator
account, set it's password, and make sure that you can actually log in
with it, BEFORE deleting or disabling the last old one.

As far as I've seem, the only difference between the built-in
administrator and any other administrator, apart from the magic
activation
above, is that using the built-in administrator every program runs with
admin access, whereas using any other administrator every program runs
with standard user access unless you confirm a UAC prompt to allow it
to
elevate (assuming you have UAC enabled).

[I'm sure others know more about this than me, so please feel free to
confirm or correct what I've said!]

Mark.

 

[Guest]

I can't even see "local users & groups" to enable it. I tried what Bruce
said, but it's not there.

So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?

Yes, this is recommended.


What I usually do is enable the built-in account, change the name from
Administrator to something, assign a very strong (long) password and then
disable the account.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?

Mark

You explained it very well.

This behavior with the built-in admin account has been the source of many
users being 'locked out' of being able to perform any task that requires
admin privileges. (forgotten password, hiding the only admin account,
etc)
People are used to the behavior that they were familiar with in XP, but
things have changed in Vista.

By default, in Vista you cannot:
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reveal the old Win2K logon dialog at the login
screen.
Boot to safe mode and automatically have the built-in admin account
appear.
Boot to safe mode and use the built-in admin account to recover a
forgotten
password on another admin account.

Of course all of these behaviors can be changed to work the way they did
in
XP, but you must intentionally make these changes and, hopefully, use the
best practices recommendations when doing so.
--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


Bruce Chambers wrote:
davey_griffo wrote:
and then what? I don't see anything to do with user accounts.


Then expand the "Local Users and Groups" item in the MMC's left
pane.



I think that's only included on Business and Ultimate versions of
Vista,
not the Home versions. There are ways of activating the account from
the
command line one Home versions, but you don't need to anyway. You
should
have been asked to create another administrator account when you first
installed (which you have noticed is the one you usually log on with).

As I understand it, the idea of this inactive Administrator account is
that if you accidentally delete all other administrators (ie. you
delete
the account you currently have without creating another with
administrator
access), this account will be activated when you boot into safe mode. I
think I have seen problems here where disabling all other administrator
accounts does NOT activate the built-in Administrator in safe mode,
since
it detects that other administrator accounts exist even though you
can't
actually use them. It's best to be VERY careful when deleting or
deactivating accounts, and make sure that you create a new
administrator
account, set it's password, and make sure that you can actually log in
with it, BEFORE deleting or disabling the last old one.

As far as I've seem, the only difference between the built-in
administrator and any other administrator, apart from the magic
activation
above, is that using the built-in administrator every program runs with
admin access, whereas using any other administrator every program runs
with standard user access unless you confirm a UAC prompt to allow it
to
elevate (assuming you have UAC enabled).

[I'm sure others know more about this than me, so please feel free to
confirm or correct what I've said!]

Mark.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

I can't even see "local users & groups" to enable it. I tried what Bruce
said, but it's not there.

Davey

You probably have Vista Home Basic or Premium. These versions do not have
the 'local users and groups' snap-in.

You can activate the Built-in Administrator account by doing the following.

Go to Start and type: cmd.exe In the results, right click the CMD.EXE
item and select the Run As Administrator option.

In the command window, type the following:

net user administrator /active:yes

And press Enter.

You can now open Control Panel/User Accounts and you will see the
Administrator account there.

When you are finished with it, you can disable the built-in administrator
account by typing the same command except substitite 'no' for 'yes' in the
command.


--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?

Yes, this is recommended.


What I usually do is enable the built-in account, change the name from
Administrator to something, assign a very strong (long) password and then
disable the account.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?

:

Mark

You explained it very well.

This behavior with the built-in admin account has been the source of
many
users being 'locked out' of being able to perform any task that
requires
admin privileges. (forgotten password, hiding the only admin account,
etc)
People are used to the behavior that they were familiar with in XP,
but
things have changed in Vista.

By default, in Vista you cannot:
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to reveal the old Win2K logon dialog at the login
screen.
Boot to safe mode and automatically have the built-in admin account
appear.
Boot to safe mode and use the built-in admin account to recover a
forgotten
password on another admin account.

Of course all of these behaviors can be changed to work the way they
did
in
XP, but you must intentionally make these changes and, hopefully, use
the
best practices recommendations when doing so.
--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


Bruce Chambers wrote:
davey_griffo wrote:
and then what? I don't see anything to do with user accounts.


Then expand the "Local Users and Groups" item in the MMC's left
pane.



I think that's only included on Business and Ultimate versions of
Vista,
not the Home versions. There are ways of activating the account from
the
command line one Home versions, but you don't need to anyway. You
should
have been asked to create another administrator account when you
first
installed (which you have noticed is the one you usually log on
with).

As I understand it, the idea of this inactive Administrator account
is
that if you accidentally delete all other administrators (ie. you
delete
the account you currently have without creating another with
administrator
access), this account will be activated when you boot into safe
mode. I
think I have seen problems here where disabling all other
administrator
accounts does NOT activate the built-in Administrator in safe mode,
since
it detects that other administrator accounts exist even though you
can't
actually use them. It's best to be VERY careful when deleting or
deactivating accounts, and make sure that you create a new
administrator
account, set it's password, and make sure that you can actually log
in
with it, BEFORE deleting or disabling the last old one.

As far as I've seem, the only difference between the built-in
administrator and any other administrator, apart from the magic
activation
above, is that using the built-in administrator every program runs
with
admin access, whereas using any other administrator every program
runs
with standard user access unless you confirm a UAC prompt to allow
it
to
elevate (assuming you have UAC enabled).

[I'm sure others know more about this than me, so please feel free
to
confirm or correct what I've said!]

Mark.

 

[Guest]

Sorry Ronny, yes, I should have mentioned I have home Premium. That worked
great. Cheers.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Davey

Great! I'm glad this worked for you.

 

[Supermaurix]

Hello, I'm having a serious problem with my new HP printer. I have had a
answer message from HP that ask me to access as super admin with command :
"net user administrator /active:yes" to remove some corrupted files.
When I run this command the OS tell me" Errore di sistema n.5 Accesso
negato" in english is "System error n.5 - Access denied".
Now I'm locked at this point ....
Could you help me.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Supermaurix

Are you running that command from an elevated command prompt?

Log on with your standard administrator account, go to Start/All
Programs/Accessories. Right click 'Command Prompt' and select the Run As
Administrator. Run that command from there.