3 replies to this topic

[hedley93]

Hi everyone, in a way this relates back to a post back in 2020, where I thought I was having trouble with the Administrator account then, but as it turned out, or so the story goes, it was due to 'non-use of the system for a sustained length of time'. Due to my partner's untimely death in 2018, and the pc not being used for 6-8 months previous at their request. Then health concerns of my own followed, etc, etc, etc.
Anyhow, in 2021, my desktop was taken to an outside repair company who were asked to check into the problem. Still being Windows 7, my friends were told that Windows 7 was not any longer in the picture, and that the pc would have to be updated to Windows 10. H'mm. Not wanting to disappoint, my friends agreed. Now, when I'm able to get back to it again, I find that, on a computer that only I use, there is an Administrator account, then there is my account (Restricted Administrator, Standard account), can't do a thing, and there's my question.

Can I change/delete that Administrator account, and create a new one for myself since I don't have any idea of what those restrictions might be. The password, apparently will never lapse, but I don't know what it is. Can it be changed?

Sorry for the history lesson, but thought it might be useful.

Thanks for reading and in advance for any help received.
hedley.

[Ztruker]

Can you login to the Administrator account? If so then you can change the type of your account from Standard to Administrator by logging into the Administrator account, opening Control Panel, clicking on User Accounts then Change account type. Click on your account then click on Change the Account type. Select Administrator then click on the Change account type button.

 

That should do it.

 

Once that's working to your satisfaction you can delete the other Administrator account as long as it's not named Administrator. If it is named Administrator open a elevated Command Prompt, type net user administrator /active:no and press Enter to hide it.

[hedley93]

Hi Struker, thanks for the reply. Followed your instructions, couldn't login to the Administrator account though. I continued on to the Control Panel anyway and found that there doesn't seem to be a password set for the Administrator a/c; or the Standard user a/c; or any other account. The Standard a/c was set as disabled. There is also a Default User a/c whose password never expires, and whose a/c has been disabled. 'Account locked out' is greyed out at the bottom on all of the accounts.
On the Groups Section there are 2 users: NTAUTHORITY Authenticated User S-1-5-11
NTAUTHORITY INTERACTIVE S-1-5-4
I don't have any idea what any of this is/means. As I said, I'm the only one who uses the pc. Maybe these should all be here, maybe not? Either way, maybe you could enlighten me as to whether they can be deleted or not, including the Administrator a/c, and then change my Standard a/c to an Administrator a/c. Thank you. Appreciate the help.
hedley.

[Ztruker]

You need an Administrator account to be able to change your current Standard user account to an Administrator account.

 

Don't worry about the other account, they are normal.

 

You can try the following:

 

1. Create a bootable recent Windows 10 flash drive using Media Creation Tool.
2. Boot the flash drive.
3. At the first screen, press Shift+F10 to open a Command Prompt.
4. Locate your Windows 10 boot drive (probably C: by doing DIR x:
where x: is c: d: e: f: etc. until you find one that has the
Users directory.
5. Change to that drive, I.E. C:
6. Next, cd \windows\system32
7. ren Utilman.exe Utilman.exe.sav
8. copy cmd.exe utilman.exe
9. exit to close Command Prompt window.
10. Exit install window.

11. When the computer reboots and you get to the login screen, press Enter once.
On the lower right corner of the screen you'll see three icons. The center
one is Accessibility. Click on it and a Command Prompt will open.
12. Type net user administrator /active:yes and press Enter.
When the computer reboots, login as Administrator instead of your normal
account.
13. Click on Start, type control and press Enter to open
the Control Panel.
14. Click on User Accounts.
15. Click on Manage another account.
16. Select the account you want to change or remove the password for, then
either enter a new password and hint if you want or leave all fields blank
to create a blank password.
17. Open a Elevated Command Prompt
18. cd \windows\system32
19. del utilman.exe
20. ren Utilman.exe.sav Utilman.exe
21. exit
22. Sign out from Administrator and sign in as the account you changed the password for.

That's it. Sounds like a lot but it's really not.