Enable/ Disable the Hidden Administrator User Account (Windows 8.1 / 8 / 7 / Vista)




Enable/ Disable the built-in Hidden Administrator User Account
Windows 8.1, 8, 7 & Vista


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WARNING: Do not use the "Administrator" user account itself when deactivating the account

Bring up an elevated admin CMD prompt -
- Windows 7 & Vista - START | type cmd.exe into the start search box | right-click on cmd.exe | select "Run as Administrator"
- Windows 8.1 & 8 - Press WIN +X keys | select "Command Prompt (Admin)"

Type or paste the contents of the code box into the CMD screen:

Activate the Hidden Administrator account
Code: 
net user administrator /active:yes
​


Log off your user account and an account named Administrator will be waiting for you at the log on screen.



Deactivate the Hidden Administrator account
Code: 
net user administrator /active:no
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Last edited:
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re: Enable/ Disable the Hidden Administrator User Account (Windows 8.1 / 8 / 7 / Vista)

Just a quick edit to the code snippet in the second box and it'll be perfect.
And then maybe delete this post as well to clean things up.
Thanks
Randy
 
re: Enable/ Disable the Hidden Administrator User Account (Windows 8.1 / 8 / 7 / Vista)

Trouble said:
Just a quick edit to the code snippet in the second box and it'll be perfect.
And then maybe delete this post as well to clean things up.
Thanks
Randy
Click to expand...

Thank you, Randy -- typo fixed.

A few others sent me PMs -- seems I may have been the only one to have missed that rather very obvious typo.

The old saying "... a second pair of eyes. .. ." certainly is alive & well.

THANK YOU !

John
 
re: Enable/ Disable the Hidden Administrator User Account (Windows 8.1 / 8 / 7 / Vista)

Option 2: DEACTIVATE the hidden administrator account.
... Then what?
I have done as demonstrated, restarted and am now locked out completely with the start up screen displaying not one account, as it used to, but TWO! The main is still called Administrator and wants me to reset a password, but I can't. The second is a guest account and also wants me to input password even though I had no passwords active before I tried to remove the hidden admin account.
Please advise.
 
re: Enable/ Disable the Hidden Administrator User Account (Windows 8.1 / 8 / 7 / Vista)

Boot into Recovery using your Windows DVD or the HDD recovery partition and run "Windows System Restore".

Regards. . .

jcgriff2
 
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