High-level Administrator account

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.

davey_griffo wrote:
> 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:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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

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

"Bruce Chambers" wrote:

> davey_griffo wrote:
> > 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:
> http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
> 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
>

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.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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

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.

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


"Mark Bourne" <Mark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:u9SM9%23U9HHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> 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.

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

"Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:

> 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
>
>
> "Mark Bourne" <Mark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:u9SM9%23U9HHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> > 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.
>

> 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


"davey_griffo" <daveygriffo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F18CD4B3-D920-4F98-B63E-485ED1F1657D@microsoft.com...
> So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?
>
> "Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>>
>> "Mark Bourne" <Mark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:u9SM9%23U9HHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> > 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.
>>

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

"Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:

> > 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
>
>
> "davey_griffo" <daveygriffo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:F18CD4B3-D920-4F98-B63E-485ED1F1657D@microsoft.com...
> > So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?
> >
> > "Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:
> >
> >> 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
> >>
> >>
> >> "Mark Bourne" <Mark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:u9SM9%23U9HHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> >> > 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.
> >>
>

"davey_griffo" <daveygriffo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9E0B60ED-8D81-45A9-83D3-4B3172F4B304@microsoft.com...
>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


>
> "Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:
>
>> > 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
>>
>>
>> "davey_griffo" <daveygriffo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:F18CD4B3-D920-4F98-B63E-485ED1F1657D@microsoft.com...
>> > So it's probably best to just leave the built in admin alone?
>> >
>> > "Ronnie Vernon MVP" wrote:
>> >
>> >> 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
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "Mark Bourne" <Mark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:u9SM9%23U9HHA.1164@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> >> > 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.
>> >>
>>