How Do I Make Myself the Administrator on Windows 10
Windows 10 basically comes along with a hidden administrator account that is called “Administrator”. When you install Windows, this account is disabled by default actually. However, it is safe to keep it disabled or delete it if you guys are really concerned, then you can enable and use it as a regular interactive account as well. We are going to discuss How Do I Make Myself the Administrator on Windows 10.
Windows has always come along with an account called “administrator” that has all of the privileges of doing anything on the PC. The hackers mostly targetted this account name in order to hack into the users’ systems.
From Windows Vista onwards, Microsoft made a change to the naming convention in order to keep the users safe from these kinds of attacks. Although Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 basically come with the “administrator” account, it is turned off by default as well. Windows also create a new account during installation. The name of the new account has to enter via the user.
Well, in this article, we will discuss how you can enable or disable the administrator account in Windows 10 or even delete the account for security reasons as well.
How Do I Make Myself the Administrator on Windows 10
Windows 10 basically includes a hidden account that you can use in order to manage all the resources of the computer. In previous versions of Windows, for example, Windows XP, this account was readily available whenever you set your computer for the very first time. Starting with Windows Vista, the built-in administrator account is turned off by default.
Turn On or Off the Administrator Account in Windows 10
In order to enable the built-in account, you have to follow the steps below:
- Head to Run –> lusrmgr.msc. This will open the local users and also groups management console.
- Under the Users folder, then you will find “Administrator” in the list of users as well. You guys will see a down arrow on the administrator icon there. This means that this account turns off.
- Right-tap on “Administrator” in the right-hand pane and choose Properties. You can also double-tap on the Administrator entry in order to open its properties.
- Just uncheck the “Account is disabled” checkbox and then tap OK.
Now you guys can also see that the down arrow on the Administrator icon is not here. That actually means that it is turn on. If you log out of your PC, you will then see the option to login as the Administrator user as well.
In order to disable the built-in Administrator user, you have to follow the steps below:
- First, head to Run –> lusrmgr.msc.
- Then Users folder, right-tap Administrator, and choose Properties.
- Then check the “Account is disabled” checkbox and then tap OK.
Turn On or Off Administrator account Using Command Prompt
You guys can also enable or disable the built-in administrator via the Command Prompt. This can be really useful in situations such as enabling the administrator account from a remote computer or automating things as well.
- Well, you have to open Command Prompt in administrative mode.
- Then run the following command:
net user administrator /active:yes - Then click on Enter. The command should run successfully and also the administrator account should turn on.
If you want to disable the administrator user, then you need to run the following command:
net user administrator /active:no
Turn ON or Off Administrator” account via Group Policy Editor
You guys can also use the group policy settings to enable or disable the administrator account. Here are the steps that you can follow:
- Head to Run –> gpedit.msc. This will then open the Local Group Policy Editor.
- Now navigate to the following folder:
Computer Configuration --> Windows Settings --> Security Settings --> Local Policies --> Security Options. - In the right-hand pane, you need to open “Accounts: Administrator account status”.
- Choose the “Enable” radio button in order to enable the account and “Disable” in order to disable the account.
Turn On or Off the built-in Administrator account in Windows 10 Home
Well, the limitation of Windows 10 Home edition is that it does not come along with a group policy editor. So the methods discussed above will not really work in a straightforward way in Windows 10 Home.
If you guys try to open the local user management console (lusrmgr.msc), then you guys will get the following error:
This snapin may not use with this edition of Windows 10. In order to manage user accounts for this computer, use the User Accounts tool in the Control Panel.
However, the problem is that you can’t actually enable the built-in account from the user accounts tool.
After you guys have installed the group policy editor and restarted your system. Just head to Run –> gpedit.msc and follow the steps highlighted in Enable or disable the “Administrator” account via the Group Policy Editor section.
Then restart your computer after configuring the group policy. And you will see there, the account along with other accounts on Windows 10 logon screen.
A lot of other sites have mentioned that using the command-line option will actually work in Windows 10 Home. However, I have not been able to make it work so I’ll not recommend you use the command-line option to enable the account in Windows 10 Home.
Remove the built-in administrator account in Windows 10
Although it is Turned off by default, the built-in account can be a security risk. It’s easier to hack the built-in administrator account than you think actually.
The trick is that because the account is disabled by default, it does not have any password actually. A hacker can easily turn on the account through gaining physical access to your PC. And also booting the computer via the bootable Windows installation disc or any other bootable rescue disc as well.
The best possible way in order to secure the account is to set a really strong password and then turn off the account. You can also change the group of the Administrator account to Standard users as well.
If you guys want extreme caution, then you can also delete the account altogether. In order to keep your system clean and secure as well.
Well, deleting the account “Administrator” is not as simple as it sounds. Because Windows will not let you delete the account even via the command-line tools.
So we will have to edit the Registry to delete the Administrator account. Follow these simple steps below to delete the Administrator account from Windows 10.
Steps
- Head to Run –> regedit. This will then open the Windows Registry editor.
- Now open the following folder:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM - Under the folder, there will be another folder just like that. Right-tap on the sub-folder and choose Permissions.
- Then choose the Administrators group under the Security tab and also check the Full Control check-box under Permissions for Administrators.
- Now press F5 in order to refresh the Registry Editor window.
- Also, expand the sub-folder to the following:
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\Names\ - Right-tap on the Administrator folder under Names and choose Delete.
In a corporate world where security is of utmost importance, we actually recommend you to delete the Administrator account altogether, especially in the domain environment. I have yet to see any side effects of deleting the built-in account as well.
Conclusion
Alright, folks, I hope you like this article and understand now. If you have any issues and queries related to it, just comment down and let us know.
Keep Smiling!
Also See: How to Change iTunes Library Location in Windows 10