logging in as administrator

[rookie1010]

Hello,

I was trying to install a program on windows vista ultimate. when i try to install the program i get the message "you must be logged in as administrator when installing the program".

how do you login as administrator into windows vista ultimate?

i have gone into My Computer (right click) --> [Manage] --> [Users and Groups] --> Users --> Administrator --> Properties. and created an administrator account but i cant find the account at logon time.

 

[spherrod]

Can you right click the install program and choose 'Run as Administrator'?

 

[rookie1010]

thanks dude.

that worked. program installed successfully.

but where is the adinistrator account, how can i access that?

 

[spherrod]

Glad it worked. not in front of a Vista box till sometime tomorrow though. Someone else should be able to help out soon :beer:

 

[egale]

In Vista, the pure administrator account you saw on XP is hidden. If you search around there are ways of getting it back but it requires registry hacks and such.

 

[rookie1010]

thanks for the reply,

why is the administrator account hidden.

i thought registry hacks are not possible in vista?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: rookie1010
thanks for the reply,

why is the administrator account hidden.

i thought registry hacks are not possible in vista?

Hidden and disabled, actually.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: rookie1010
thanks for the reply,
why is the administrator account hidden.
i thought registry hacks are not possible in vista?

It's hidden because you should never use it. You're primary account is an admistratior account except your security token has some rights removed. When you actually need to do something as admin (which is rare once your machine is installed and running) you can right click and 'run as administrator' with full rights (after answering the UAC prompt). This way, if something else tries to do something malicous under your security context it can't (or at a minimum you get prompted).

 

[rookie1010]

thanks for the reply,

now it makes sense. what do you mean by security token has some rights removed. what is the UAC prompt?

but why is the guest account also hidden?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: rookie1010
thanks for the reply,
now it makes sense. what do you mean by security token has some rights removed. what is the UAC prompt?
but why is the guest account also hidden?

Your rights to do something on the box is really tied to rights and privledges the code running under a particular account has. Administrator accounts are one of the most powerfull accounts on Windows, as such they are a great account for malicous code to install themselves under (especially since most people run as administrator). To deal with this Vista actually removes rights you would normally have, and if you need to use them, you get a user account control prompt (UAC) which can reenable them.

As for the guest account, it's evil, thats why its hidden

 

[rookie1010]

thanks for the reply, it makes sense now.