Vista - Delete Administrator Account?

Hi,

Is it possible to delete the Administrator Account?
I cannot login using the Administrator Account and I fear that I may have
deleted it.
My PC is on a domain using Windows Vista Business.

Thank you

If you want to ensure the administrator's account is still there, boot in
safe mode. The administrator account should be default and there is not a
password. Simply press enter. The adminstrator account is disabled by
default and only can be used through safe mode.

Robert Firth
http://www.winvistainfo.org


"McGuywer" <McGuywer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BEECF5C0-B4EA-4965-9292-70A1CFF88CE1@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> Is it possible to delete the Administrator Account?
> I cannot login using the Administrator Account and I fear that I may have
> deleted it.
> My PC is on a domain using Windows Vista Business.
>
> Thank you
>

Hello,
It should be very hard to delete the local administrator account. I am not
going to say impossible, because people will find a way I am sure<G>
The Local Administratro account it disabled by default if another account
exists and if it is not explicitly enabled. You may also need a password
for this account since you are on a domain.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------
|>Thread-Topic: Delete Administrator Account?
|>thread-index: AcdVws+5b9MqaceGTPCyGeXmRc1zeQ==
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|>From: =?Utf-8?B?TWNHdXl3ZXI=?= <McGuywer@discussions.microsoft.com>
|>Subject: Delete Administrator Account?
|>Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 06:16:00 -0800
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|>Hi,
|>
|>Is it possible to delete the Administrator Account?
|>I cannot login using the Administrator Account and I fear that I may have
|>deleted it.
|>My PC is on a domain using Windows Vista Business.
|>
|>Thank you
|>
|>

In what kind of system configuration is this possible? Because I've never
seen Vista act this way. Normally, the Administrator account is disabled
regardless of whether or not you're in Safe Mode -- AFAIK. WinXP would behave
this way, if you left the password for the Administrator blank during
installation. Vista wouldn't be very secure at all if all anyone had to do
was to boot into Safe Mode to get into a passwordless Administrator account.

If what you describe is, indeed, possible in Vista (and I suspect that the
only way to get that result would be to ENABLE the Administrator account
while leaving it without a password), but I still wouldn't expect that to
come up as a "default" user account in Safe Mode. On the Vista systems I'm
using you get all of the accounts displayed on the Safe Mode logon screen --
EXCEPT for Administrator.

"Robert Firth" wrote:

> If you want to ensure the administrator's account is still there, boot in
> safe mode. The administrator account should be default and there is not a
> password. Simply press enter. The adminstrator account is disabled by
> default and only can be used through safe mode.
>
> Robert Firth
> http://www.winvistainfo.org
>
>
> "McGuywer" <McGuywer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:BEECF5C0-B4EA-4965-9292-70A1CFF88CE1@microsoft.com...
> > Hi,
> >
> > Is it possible to delete the Administrator Account?
> > I cannot login using the Administrator Account and I fear that I may have
> > deleted it.
> > My PC is on a domain using Windows Vista Business.
> >
> > Thank you
> >
>

Hello,
By default the administrator account is disabled, even in Safe Mode.
In Windows XP, even a disabled Administrator account was available for
Logon in Safe Mode.
In Windows Vista, Safe Mode only allows a logon with a disabled
Administrator Account if that is the only remaining administrator account
left on the machine.
If other administrator accounts exist, then you cannot log onto the machine
using the disabled adminstrator account even in Safe Mode.
If you would remove all the administrator accounts on a machine, before
enabling the local administartor account, you would not be able to create
an administrator account on that machine, You would probably need to
reinstall.
To logon locally in Safe Mode as the disabled administrator you would need
physical access to the machine.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------
|>Thread-Topic: Delete Administrator Account?
|>thread-index: AcdXcRV2F5CdptPPQBqAQC8H5COEjw==
|>X-WBNR-Posting-Host: 65.167.125.1
|>From: =?Utf-8?B?amltbXVo?= <jimmuh@discussions.microsoft.com>
|>References: <BEECF5C0-B4EA-4965-9292-70A1CFF88CE1@microsoft.com>
<0ACE14AF-CB7C-433A-8F11-8FEA3BD408D5@microsoft.com>
|>Subject: Re: Delete Administrator Account?
|>Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 09:36:00 -0800
|>Lines: 37
|>Message-ID: <757897F8-E48E-4EBF-BC81-EBA239E575A8@microsoft.com>
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microsoft.public.windows.vista.administration_accounts_passwords
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|>X-Tomcat-NG:
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|>
|>In what kind of system configuration is this possible? Because I've never
|>seen Vista act this way. Normally, the Administrator account is disabled
|>regardless of whether or not you're in Safe Mode -- AFAIK. WinXP would
behave
|>this way, if you left the password for the Administrator blank during
|>installation. Vista wouldn't be very secure at all if all anyone had to
do
|>was to boot into Safe Mode to get into a passwordless Administrator
account.
|>
|>If what you describe is, indeed, possible in Vista (and I suspect that
the
|>only way to get that result would be to ENABLE the Administrator account
|>while leaving it without a password), but I still wouldn't expect that to
|>come up as a "default" user account in Safe Mode. On the Vista systems
I'm
|>using you get all of the accounts displayed on the Safe Mode logon screen
--
|>EXCEPT for Administrator.
|>
|>"Robert Firth" wrote:
|>
|>> If you want to ensure the administrator's account is still there, boot
in
|>> safe mode. The administrator account should be default and there is not
a
|>> password. Simply press enter. The adminstrator account is disabled by
|>> default and only can be used through safe mode.
|>>
|>> Robert Firth
|>> http://www.winvistainfo.org
|>>
|>>
|>> "McGuywer" <McGuywer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
|>> news:BEECF5C0-B4EA-4965-9292-70A1CFF88CE1@microsoft.com...
|>> > Hi,
|>> >
|>> > Is it possible to delete the Administrator Account?
|>> > I cannot login using the Administrator Account and I fear that I may
have
|>> > deleted it.
|>> > My PC is on a domain using Windows Vista Business.
|>> >
|>> > Thank you
|>> >
|>>
|>

Thank you for that information. That was pretty much what I expected was the
case. I think a lot of people with some experience with WinXP had installed
without specifying a primary admin password during installation and just
assumed that a non-password-protetected admin account in Safe Mode was a
standard feature of the OS. If that were so, you'd have to be a real bonehead
not to be able to "hack" such a system!

;-)

I had figured that the smart way to handle this in Vista was to prevent that
primary admin account from being available unless all other admin accounts
were unavailable (corrupted, deleted, etc.). I wasn't sure, however, whether
or not the account would be available in Safe Mode if you ENabled the
account. I tried enabling it and booting into Safe Mode and still didn't see
the Administrator account presented as a choice for logon. I wasn't really
curious enough to see if disabling the logon screen and turning off display
of the last user logged on would make Administrator available under the same
conditions.

""Darrell Gorter[MSFT]"" wrote:

> Hello,
> By default the administrator account is disabled, even in Safe Mode.
> In Windows XP, even a disabled Administrator account was available for
> Logon in Safe Mode.
> In Windows Vista, Safe Mode only allows a logon with a disabled
> Administrator Account if that is the only remaining administrator account
> left on the machine.
> If other administrator accounts exist, then you cannot log onto the machine
> using the disabled adminstrator account even in Safe Mode.
> If you would remove all the administrator accounts on a machine, before
> enabling the local administartor account, you would not be able to create
> an administrator account on that machine, You would probably need to
> reinstall.
> To logon locally in Safe Mode as the disabled administrator you would need
> physical access to the machine.
> Thanks,
> Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
> --------------------
> |>Thread-Topic: Delete Administrator Account?
> |>thread-index: AcdXcRV2F5CdptPPQBqAQC8H5COEjw==
> |>X-WBNR-Posting-Host: 65.167.125.1
> |>From: =?Utf-8?B?amltbXVo?= <jimmuh@discussions.microsoft.com>
> |>References: <BEECF5C0-B4EA-4965-9292-70A1CFF88CE1@microsoft.com>
> <0ACE14AF-CB7C-433A-8F11-8FEA3BD408D5@microsoft.com>
> |>Subject: Re: Delete Administrator Account?
> |>Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 09:36:00 -0800
> |>Lines: 37
> |>Message-ID: <757897F8-E48E-4EBF-BC81-EBA239E575A8@microsoft.com>
> |>MIME-Version: 1.0
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> |> charset="Utf-8"
> |>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
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> |>Newsgroups:
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.administration_accounts_passwords
> |>Path: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
> |>Xref: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.administration_accounts_passwords:1032
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> |>X-Tomcat-NG:
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.administration_accounts_passwords
> |>
> |>In what kind of system configuration is this possible? Because I've never
> |>seen Vista act this way. Normally, the Administrator account is disabled
> |>regardless of whether or not you're in Safe Mode -- AFAIK. WinXP would
> behave
> |>this way, if you left the password for the Administrator blank during
> |>installation. Vista wouldn't be very secure at all if all anyone had to
> do
> |>was to boot into Safe Mode to get into a passwordless Administrator
> account.
> |>
> |>If what you describe is, indeed, possible in Vista (and I suspect that
> the
> |>only way to get that result would be to ENABLE the Administrator account
> |>while leaving it without a password), but I still wouldn't expect that to
> |>come up as a "default" user account in Safe Mode. On the Vista systems
> I'm
> |>using you get all of the accounts displayed on the Safe Mode logon screen
> --
> |>EXCEPT for Administrator.
> |>
> |>"Robert Firth" wrote:
> |>
> |>> If you want to ensure the administrator's account is still there, boot
> in
> |>> safe mode. The administrator account should be default and there is not
> a
> |>> password. Simply press enter. The adminstrator account is disabled by
> |>> default and only can be used through safe mode.
> |>>
> |>> Robert Firth
> |>> http://www.winvistainfo.org
> |>>
> |>>
> |>> "McGuywer" <McGuywer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> |>> news:BEECF5C0-B4EA-4965-9292-70A1CFF88CE1@microsoft.com...
> |>> > Hi,
> |>> >
> |>> > Is it possible to delete the Administrator Account?
> |>> > I cannot login using the Administrator Account and I fear that I may
> have
> |>> > deleted it.
> |>> > My PC is on a domain using Windows Vista Business.
> |>> >
> |>> > Thank you
> |>> >
> |>>
> |>
>
>

BTW, when I performed my installations of Vista RTM I enabled the
Administrator account and gave it a password, then disabled it again -- under
the assumption that this would still require entry of a password in case of
an emergency logon in Safe Mode. Is that assumption correct?

""Darrell Gorter[MSFT]"" wrote:

> Hello,
> By default the administrator account is disabled, even in Safe Mode.
> In Windows XP, even a disabled Administrator account was available for
> Logon in Safe Mode.
> In Windows Vista, Safe Mode only allows a logon with a disabled
> Administrator Account if that is the only remaining administrator account
> left on the machine.
> If other administrator accounts exist, then you cannot log onto the machine
> using the disabled adminstrator account even in Safe Mode.
> If you would remove all the administrator accounts on a machine, before
> enabling the local administartor account, you would not be able to create
> an administrator account on that machine, You would probably need to
> reinstall.
> To logon locally in Safe Mode as the disabled administrator you would need
> physical access to the machine.
> Thanks,
> Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
> --------------------
> |>Thread-Topic: Delete Administrator Account?
> |>thread-index: AcdXcRV2F5CdptPPQBqAQC8H5COEjw==
> |>X-WBNR-Posting-Host: 65.167.125.1
> |>From: =?Utf-8?B?amltbXVo?= <jimmuh@discussions.microsoft.com>
> |>References: <BEECF5C0-B4EA-4965-9292-70A1CFF88CE1@microsoft.com>
> <0ACE14AF-CB7C-433A-8F11-8FEA3BD408D5@microsoft.com>
> |>Subject: Re: Delete Administrator Account?
> |>Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 09:36:00 -0800
> |>Lines: 37
> |>Message-ID: <757897F8-E48E-4EBF-BC81-EBA239E575A8@microsoft.com>
> |>MIME-Version: 1.0
> |>Content-Type: text/plain;
> |> charset="Utf-8"
> |>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> |>X-Newsreader: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000
> |>Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message
> |>Importance: normal
> |>Priority: normal
> |>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.2757
> |>Newsgroups:
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.administration_accounts_passwords
> |>Path: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
> |>Xref: TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.administration_accounts_passwords:1032
> |>NNTP-Posting-Host: tk2msftsbfm01.phx.gbl 10.40.244.148
> |>X-Tomcat-NG:
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.administration_accounts_passwords
> |>
> |>In what kind of system configuration is this possible? Because I've never
> |>seen Vista act this way. Normally, the Administrator account is disabled
> |>regardless of whether or not you're in Safe Mode -- AFAIK. WinXP would
> behave
> |>this way, if you left the password for the Administrator blank during
> |>installation. Vista wouldn't be very secure at all if all anyone had to
> do
> |>was to boot into Safe Mode to get into a passwordless Administrator
> account.
> |>
> |>If what you describe is, indeed, possible in Vista (and I suspect that
> the
> |>only way to get that result would be to ENABLE the Administrator account
> |>while leaving it without a password), but I still wouldn't expect that to
> |>come up as a "default" user account in Safe Mode. On the Vista systems
> I'm
> |>using you get all of the accounts displayed on the Safe Mode logon screen
> --
> |>EXCEPT for Administrator.
> |>
> |>"Robert Firth" wrote:
> |>
> |>> If you want to ensure the administrator's account is still there, boot
> in
> |>> safe mode. The administrator account should be default and there is not
> a
> |>> password. Simply press enter. The adminstrator account is disabled by
> |>> default and only can be used through safe mode.
> |>>
> |>> Robert Firth
> |>> http://www.winvistainfo.org
> |>>
> |>>
> |>> "McGuywer" <McGuywer@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> |>> news:BEECF5C0-B4EA-4965-9292-70A1CFF88CE1@microsoft.com...
> |>> > Hi,
> |>> >
> |>> > Is it possible to delete the Administrator Account?
> |>> > I cannot login using the Administrator Account and I fear that I may
> have
> |>> > deleted it.
> |>> > My PC is on a domain using Windows Vista Business.
> |>> >
> |>> > Thank you
> |>> >
> |>>
> |>
>
>

Fri, 02 Mar Darrellg@online.microsoft.com ("Darrell Gorter[MSFT]")

>In Windows Vista, Safe Mode only allows a logon with a disabled
>Administrator Account if that is the only remaining administrator account
>left on the machine.

When testing Vista64 RTM last year, I found that whereas most of the
HKLM...SafeBoot is protected from casual editing, the alternate shell
could be edited. If this was set to something invalid, then Safe Mode
Command Prompt Only would boot into Windows Explorer as shell, but
with a different user account in effect.

This may have been the boilerplate hidden admin account, in that files
created in the desktop showed up in the system desktop.

Is that what is happening here?



>--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -
Saws are too hard to use.
Be easier to use!
>--------------- ---- --- -- - - - -