Win7 Administrator Questions

[ronbo613]

I am the only user on my Windows 7 computer. There is only one user account listed; my name and "Administrator". There is a user account named Administrator and "Administrator" but I don't think it is active because there are no options to manage it, except to change the name and picture. There is a Guest account option but it is turned off. I can't change my user account, listed as Administrator from "Standard" to "Administrator".

When I open the command window, I get a non administrator user account prompt. If I run the cmd.exe as and administrator, I get:

C: \Windows\system32>

I entered "net localgroup administrators {my user name} /add" and it says "The specified account name is already a member of the group" so why don't I show up as Administrator? Is there any way to change my only user account from "Standard" to "Administrator"?

 

[Fardringle]

If your user account is a "standard" account and there are no other "administrator" user accounts, then you will need to use the actual Administrator account to make the changes. If you did not specify a password for that account when Windows was installed, try making the change with the user name "Administrator" and leave the password field blank. If that doesn't work, boot to Safe Mode and see if you can log in as Administrator there (again, with a blank password if you did not create one).

 

[ronbo613]

After making the "net localgroup administrators" changes with the command prompt, when I rebooted I got two user accounts(before the changes it booted directly to the my user name desktop); my "user name" and "Administrator". I logged into the "Administrator" account and tried to change my "user name" account from Standard to Administrator but it would not let me. I tried it in Safe Mode, same deal.

Windows always has a surprise behind every keystroke...

 

[Bubbaleone]

There seems to be a general misconception that if one installs Windows (Vista and later) as the only account holder then their account is, by default, the built-in Administrator account (this default practice actually ended with XP). In fact, the account one creates during the installation is simply a member of the group referred to as "Administrators". Although file permissions for a member of the "Administrators" group are much less restrictive than guest or other user accounts, they don't confer the unlimited file access permissions of the built-in "Administrator" account. The built-in Administrator account is still created in Windows Vista and later OS, but it's disabled by default for security purposes: How to Enable Windows Hidden Administrator Account

.

 

[ronbo613]

There seems to be a general misconception that if one installs Windows (Vista and later) as the only account holder then their account is, by default, the built-in Administrator account (this default practice actually ended with XP). In fact, the account one creates during the installation is simply a member of the group referred to as "Administrators".

I've come to that conclusion after fooling around with this situation for awhile. The easy way out is to not worry that the sole computer user is not the administrator and merely use the "Run as administrator" option when necessary.