Vista - Activating the built-in main Administrator Account

The following post gives details on activating and deactivating the built-in
main Administrator account in Vista. Please note that I recommend that you
only activate and use this account if you have problems which cannot be
solved by using your other accounts and that when you have finished using it
you should deactivate it again. Please also note that this method works for
activating the hidden Administrator account in Windows Vista Home Premium
(32-bit) and should work for all other 32-bit versions. This may also work
for the 64-bit versions, but as I do not have a 64-bit version, I cannot say
one way or the other.

Procedure for adding and removing the Administrator account.

Step 1. Bring up the start menu by clicking the logo button on the taskbar
or by pressing the 'Windows Start' key on the keyboard.

Step 2. In the search box, type 'cmd'. Do not press 'Enter/Return'.

Step 3. Instead, press and hold down 'Ctrl', 'Shift' and 'Enter/Return'.

Step 4. In the user accounts dialog box that appears, select the name and
enter the password of the administrator account that you created when first
installing Vista and click 'OK'.

Step 5. You should now be at the command prompt. Note that if you do not
follow Steps 2 and 3 as above, you will arrive at the command prompt but it
will be the incorrect one. The prompt should be 'C:\Windows\System32>'. If
not, Steps 6 and 7 will give you these error messages: 'System error 5 has
occurred' and 'Access is denied'.

Step 6. To turn on the account, type 'net user administrator /active:yes'.
Continue on to Step 8.

Step 7. To turn off the account, type 'net user administrator /active:no'.

Step 8. Close the command console.

Step 9. Open the Control Panel.

Step 10. Click 'User Accounts and Family Safety' then 'User Accounts' then
'Manage another account'.

Step 11. In the user accounts dialog box that appears, select the name and
enter the password of the administrator account that you created when first
installing Vista and click 'OK'.

Step 12. If the Administrator account is currently active, you should see
the account displayed. If not, and you wish to make the account active, then
repeat this procedure from Step 1, making sure to use Step 6 and not Step 7.

Step 13. Select the Administrator account by clicking on it.

Step 14. The account will be password protected, so in the list of options
that appears click 'Remove the password'.

Step 15. After accepting the warning and removing the password, you will be
returned to the list of options.

Step 16. Select 'Create a password' and follow the instructions to create a
new Administrator password.

Step 17. Close the Control Panel.

Step 18. You will now be able to select the Administrator on startup. Note
that if the password has expired, you may reset it by beginning at Step 9.

Step 19. If you wish to remove the Administrator account, the repeat the
procedure from Step 1, omitting Step 6 and finishing at Step 8.

Hi Dwarf,

This will work on the 64 bit Vista as well.

Administrator Account

Shawn

Hey thanks for the quick response. I tried that and I get this error message
"C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe. The parameter is incorrect." Tried it several
times and this kept happening.

Alan

"Dwarf" wrote:

Alan,

See if this tutorial will help any on this.

Activating the built-in main Administrator Account

Shawn

Thanks Drarf,

This post was really easy and it solved my problem right at the press of the
enter.
Thanks again, and keep writing more....

"Dwarf" wrote: