Many individuals who are familiar with previous versions of Windows are wondering what happened to the built-in Administrator account, which was always established by default. Is this account still active, and if so, how do you gain access to it?
The account is established on Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Vista, but it cannot be used since it is not enabled. If you need to execute something as an administrator while troubleshooting, you may do it with a simple command.
Warning: The built-in Administrator account has far greater powers than a typical administrator account—privileges that, if used often, might easily lead you into trouble. We recommend using the built-in Administrator account only when you are confident you need it to fix a specific problem and then removing it once you are finished. If you’re not sure if you need it, you shouldn’t use it at all.
Enable the built-in administrator account in Windows
To begin, launch a command prompt in administrator mode by right-clicking and selecting “Run as administrator” (or use the Ctrl+Shift+Enter keyboard shortcut from the search box).
It should be noted that this works in all versions of Windows. Simply type cmd into the Start menu or Start screen and then right-click on the command prompt icon.
If you’re using Windows 10, 11, or 8.1, you may start a command prompt by right-clicking on the Start button.
Enter the following command:
net user administrator /active:yes
You should get a notification indicating that the command was successful. After you log out, you’ll see the Administrator account as an option. (The screenshot below is from Windows Vista, although it is equally applicable to Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 7, and Windows 8.)
You’ll see that this account has no password, therefore if you wish to keep it enabled, you need to update the password.
Disable the built-in Administrator Account
Assuming you are logged in as your regular user account, start an administrator mode command prompt as described above. Enter the following code:
net user administrator /active:no
The administrator account has now been deactivated and removed from the login screen.