How to recover accidentally deleted Admin user account in Windows 10?

midibear · 01 Oct 2020

Help! I think I'm in big trouble.

I was trying to tweak my Windows 10 so that it won't ask me for password or passcode. So I did some research online (google) and learned that the "Windows + R" key with "netplwiz" command (and uncheck the "users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" checkbox would do the trick.

Somehow during this process, I think I accidentally delete (Removed) my own admin user account (username johndoe@hotmail.com, and the Group was Administrators) which I used to login to Windows 10. Luckily, I didn't turn off or reboot the PC right away, so I'm still logged in under the johndoe@hotmail.com as Administrator on this PC. I also have a 2nd account (wife's) which used to be "Standard User" Group. I then upgraded that account to be "Administrator" group (just in case). I also learned that I might be able to do "net user administrator /active:yes" so I did that, so now without reboot, I have two "Administrators" accounts (one with User Name "marylee@hotmail.com" and the other with User Name "Administrator")..

Without rebooting, I'm able to switch to my wife's marylee@hotmail.com account under Windows 10, but I don't know how I can restore my own original Windows 10 "admin" account (associated with johndoe@hotmail.com as user name). I also tried to restore my Windows 10 to a previous "restore point" but that didn't work - as I don't have a working restore point. Any thoughts about how I may be able to restore my previous admin account associated with johndoe@hotmail.com? Thanks!

I'm using Windows 10 Home, with 10.0.19041 N/A Build 19041.

dalchina · 01 Oct 2020

Hi, you could try this:
Enable or Disable Elevated Administrator account in Windows 10

Thanks for the guide! it worked for me after i deleted my home user administrator account and could no longer log in during the log in screen. Thank you so much!

This is why tenforums members so often recommend the routine and regular use of disk imaging. E.g. Macrium Reflect (free).

There are also tutorials on scheduling restore point creation.

midibear · 01 Oct 2020

Hi dalchina,

Thanks for your help. It does seem that I had enabled the Elevated Admin account in Windows 10 by performing this command under command line (without setting password):

net user Administrator /active:yes

So now my question is, can I login to that elevated "Administrator" account, and save or restore my deleted johndoe@hotmail "admin" user account?? I think I tried to login into that Elevated Admin account then "create" another user account (admin) using my original johndoe@hotmail.com as the username, but that didn't work...

Would I run into any issues to use the elevated Admin account (and/or my wife's marylee@hotmail.com 'admin' account) to run any of the apps that I previously installed using my johndoe@hotmail.com "admin" account?

Also, what's the best practice moving forward? Should I only login as a "standard user" to run programs (Adobe Creative Suite, Office, etc.), and only "switch" to "admin" user when I need to install new software, etc.? Thoughts? Thanks again!

dalchina · 01 Oct 2020

Unfortunately I don't think it's possible to recover your own account once you've deleted it, except by restoring a previously created disk image created prior to its deletion.

A System Restore point would not be applicable- in deleting an account you also delete the associated data, and that's never protected by System Restore.

If you have backups of the data (e.g. Documents, Videos etc..) then you can create a new account and restore that data of course.

Conventional wisdom is that it's best to run as a standard user for normal use.. in practice this becomes somewhat frustrating if you do more than basic Office/browsing/email etc etc.

Where programs were installed as 'for all users' these should be available in a newly created user account. Anything that was installed solely under the deleted account will not be.

An extended review of the issue:
User Profile Recovery: Recover Deleted User Profile in Windows 10 – EaseUS

Try3 · 01 Oct 2020

midibear said:

... I'm still logged in under the johndoe@hotmail.com as Administrator on this PC ...

If you are still logged in to that account, it still exists.

What makes you think you have done something to it?

You can check it.
1 In File explorer, go to C:\Users and check that the folder C:\Users\johnd {or whatever} still exists
2 Enter this in a cmd or powershell window

Code:

net user

3 Check that johnd {or whatever} is still listed
4 Enter this in a cmd or powershell window

Code:

net user johnd {or whatever}

5 In the response, check that johnd {or whatever} still has this entry in the Group memberships line
Local Group Memberships *Administrators
{it might also show Users on that line but that is not significant}

If you post your answers to these questions and the results of your checks, you might be able to get back to where you want to be.

When the problems are resolved -
- I will suggest creating an additional local Admin account as a spare for use in emergencies such as user profile corruption.
- I will suggest disabling the Built-In Admin account, UserName "Administrator" {and will explain why}.

Best of luck,
Denis