Enable or Disable Built-in Administrator Account in Windows Vista

Unlike Windows XP where the built-in Administrator user account is created with blank password (no password) during Out-of-Box-Experience (OOBE) and simply hidden from the view of users, Windows Vista also by default will create a built-in Administrator account with empty password, but this Administrator account is disabled by default in all clean installations and upgrades of Windows Vista, including factory pre-installed Windows Vista from Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system builders. The admin account is disabled in order to enhance the security protection of the system.

How to Enable Windows Vista Administrator Account

Method 1

Under the command prompt shell window, run the following command:

net user administrator /active:yes

Note that you may need to disable UAC or open elevated command prompt.

Method 2

Enable the built-in Administrator account by using the Local Users and Groups MMC console to change the properties of the Administrator account:

  1. Open the MMC console and select Local Users and Groups.
  2. Right-click the Administrator account and select Properties. The Administrator Properties window appears.
  3. On the General tab, clear the Account is Disabled box.
  4. Close the MMC console.
  5. Administrator access is now enabled.

Method 3

You can enable the Administrator login access automatically during the unattended setup and installation of Windows Vista, by using the AutoLogon unattended Setup setting. To do so, set the AutoLogon setting to Administrator in the Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup component. This option will enable the built-in Administrator account in Windows Vista, even if a password is not specified in the AdministratorPassword setting.

For fully automated procedure, system administrators can create an answer file by using Windows System Image Manager (Windows SIM), as shown in the sample below that will enable the Administrator account, specify an Administrator password, and automatically log onto the system.

<component name=”Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup” processorArchitecture=”x86″ publicKeyToken=”31bf3856ad364e35″ language=”neutral” versionScope=”nonSxS” xmlns:wcm=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State” xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance”>
<AutoLogon>
<Password>
<Value>SecurePasswd123</Value>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
</Password>
<Username>Administrator</Username>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<LogonCount>5</LogonCount>
</AutoLogon>
<UserAccounts>
<AdministratorPassword>
<Value> SecurePasswd123</Value>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
</AdministratorPassword>
</UserAccounts>
</component>

How to Disable Administrator Account Logon Access

Method 1

Under the command prompt shell window, run the following command:

net user administrator /active:no

Note that you may need to disable UAC or open elevated command prompt.

Method 2

Reset and remove all unique and customized account information including product activation status to return to end users first-run out-of-box experience (OOBE) by using sysprep.exe /generalize command. Sysprep (System Preparation Utility) is an integral part of the operating system and is always present in the C:\Windows\system32 directory, and thus can be invoked from the command line as shown below or via a GUI dialog box. To run it, execute any of the following command in command prompt or Run box.

sysprep /generalize

or

c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /generalize

The next time the computer starts, the built-in Administrator account will be disabled.


3 Responses to “Enable or Disable Built-in Administrator Account in Windows Vista”

  1. Emmanuel Goldstein
    September 5th, 2009 07:51
    3

    Green Airplane: hold down shift when right-clicking C:\Windows\regedit.exe. You now have a context entry with the option of running the program as another user. Manually enter in the admin details and you will be able to run Regedit with admin privileges.

  2. Vista SP1 Multilingual User Interface (MUI) Language Pack Install Tool for Business, Home Premium and Basic Edition » My Digital Life
    May 4th, 2009 02:28
    2

    [...] that in order for the Vista Multilingual User Interface Langauage Packs Installer to work properly, enable the Administrator account in Vista (version 2.5 onwards), or click on “Operation” then select “Enable the Windows [...]

  3. joeben
    February 2nd, 2009 06:20
    1

    hi i’m new to this vista thing. i eant to access my administrator in vista using the mmc console but when i enable the administrator it a pop up message show: the following error occured while attempting to save properties for user administrator:

    access denied.

    then i used the coomand prompt using the “run as administrator”
    a pop up message sade to enter the password of administrator but the ok botton wont work

    can you help me…plz i need to install some application that i used but i connot install it because of this administrator thing..

    please email me…joebenantonio@hotmail.com

Leave a Reply

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Subscribe to comments feature has been disabled. To receive notification of latest comments posted, subscribe to My Digital Life Comments RSS feed or register to receive new comments in daily email digest.
Custom Search

New Articles

Incoming Search Terms for the Article

how to turn on administrator account in vista - turn on administrator account in vista - how to turn on administrator in vista - vista administrator account disabled - enable administrator vista - disable administrator account vista - turn on administrator vista - hide administrator account vista - turn on administrator account - hide admin vista - how to turn off administrator in vista - how to remove administrator account in vista - disable administrator account vista home premium - disable administrator in vista - disable administrator vista - disable admin vista - how to disable administrator account in vista - switch off administrator password in vista - vista account disabled - Vista system administrator was disabled - how to turn administrator off in vista - vista disable account - enable administrator in vista - enable administrator account on vista home - how to turn off password for windows administrator - how to turn an account to administrator - how to remove administrator account vista - remove adminstrator from vista - sysprep enable administrator account - turn on defalt vista administrator - turning off admin account - windows vista disable administrator account - diable user accounts Windows Vista Home Premium - disable vista administrator - how to remove administrator account - how to disable admin account on vista - turning off administrator in vista - disable account in Vista Premium Home - how to hide admin vista - how to disable admni vista - how to enable administrator in vista - TURN ON ADMIN ACCOUNT VISTA - vista cant disable account user - admin account disabled vista - vista administrator is disabled - vista administrator account disable - "disable administrator account" vista - +"windows vista" hide administrator account - delete original "administrator" account - disabling administrator account vista -