Enable or Disable Elevated Administrator account in Windows 10  

ardj said:

adj Administrator
DefaultAccount Invité [sorry, bleeding M-s*t insists that it is in France]

Given that French connection, are you sure that every character & every space in

Code:

net user Administrator /active:yes

is being displayed correctly in your command prompt?


Denis

I need to reduce an old User Account with admin privileges to a Standard User because it is corrupt and upgrade a newly created User Account to Admin status. I am not certain of the correct order in which to do this.

Do I first enable the Builtin Administrator without password
Then reduce the old User Account to standard user from within the Builtin Admin Account
Then change the new User Account from Standard to Admin from within Builtin Admin Account
Then close the Builtin Admin Account.

I have been advised it is best not to delete the old User Account but to ignore it; I assume I can copy files I need from the old to the new though all the important stuff is backed up to another External Hard Drive so I can copy and paste from there as necessary.

Thanks for useful tutorial.

PostmanPuzzled said:

I need to reduce an old User Account with admin privileges to a Standard User because it is corrupt and upgrade a newly created User Account to Admin status. I am not certain of the correct order in which to do this.

Do I first enable the Builtin Administrator without password
Then reduce the old User Account to standard user from within the Builtin Admin Account
Then change the new User Account from Standard to Admin from within Builtin Admin Account
Then close the Builtin Admin Account.

I have been advised it is best not to delete the old User Account but to ignore it; I assume I can copy files I need from the old to the new though all the important stuff is backed up to another External Hard Drive so I can copy and paste from there as necessary.

Thanks for useful tutorial.

Hello mate,

If you don't want the old User Account, then you could do this:

1. Enable the built-in Administrator without password.
2. Sign in to this built-in Administrator.
3. Create a new User Account, and make the new account an administrator.
4. (Optional) Delete the old User Account.
5. Sign out of the built-in Administrator.
6. Sign in to the new User Account that's an administrator.
7. Disable the built-in Administrator.

PostmanPuzzled said:

I need to reduce an old User Account with admin privileges to a Standard User because it is corrupt and upgrade a newly created User Account to Admin status. I am not certain of the correct order in which to do this.

The sequence is enable the Built-in Admin then upgrade the newly created User Account to Admin status.
Change to Admin account type - TenForumsTutorials
Then log into the newly created Admin User Account to make sure it still works.
Then disable the Built-in Admin account.
Then you can do whatever you want with the unwanted account but I'd suggest leaving it there for a while in case you find something you need is buried within its folders.


Personally, I also create spare, local, password-protected Admin user accounts for which I write the passwords down somewhere secure yet accessible.
my ditty - Create two spare local, password-protected Admin accounts [post #2] in Windows 10, 11 - TenForums


All the best,
Denis

"Does this tutorial still work in 2023?"

Yes
I suspect you made an error while using Option 5.
I suggest you work through Option 5 again as a check.


I think you are trying to overcome not having an admin account available [because it was deleted or reverted to standard or because it is defective]. I would have suggested an alternative approach but I am now a bit hesitant because I do not know what you actually did when you were trying Option 5.
Fix UAC prompt has greyed out or missing Yes button - TenForumsTutorials
The name refers to the symptom that is most commonly reported for this condition, not having a functioning Admin account on the computer.


Best of luck,
Denis

bobesponja93 said:

There is a admin account available, just I don't have the password.

Understood. Then you are in the right tutorial and the Fix UAC prompt has greyed out or missing Yes button ... one I linked to is not relevant.

bobesponja93 said:

... imported the hive ...

I assume you mean Loaded the hive. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

bobesponja93 said:

I have a question. When you create the rem_sam "subfolder" from the install disk's regedit you're only doing it so that it don't clash with the existing sam subfolder from the install disk, but you are actually changing the local system's Sam subfolder, correct?
I checked by running regedit from the non admin user and there's no rem_sam subfolder, but the sam folder reflects the changes made from the install disk. e.g. the 11 was changed into a 10
This is what's supposed to happen, right?
However, when I repeat the procedure and import the sam file it appears as 11 eleven again. Is this normal?

I wonder if you are loading the right hive.
Your Windows drive will not necessarily be the C:\ drive when you boot from the installation USB. There's a note about this in Option 5 Step 5. You'll need to positively identify your normal Windows drive and make sure you load the hive from that.
- You do have to do the change in the SAM section of the loaded hive area [REM_SAM] not the main SAM section. I always use FRED as the name in Option 5 Step 7 instead of REM_SAM because it sticks out like a sore thumb so helps me avoid mistakes.
- I don't have any standard users & cannot remember what does or does not appear when RegEdit is run as a standard user. I think REM_SAM still appears then but am not sure.


Denis