Unable to access admin account

[Vonny735]

Hi
The admin account is deactivated in Windows 10 pro. I have 2 standard accounts and now cannot access the admin account. Any ideas more than welcome. Thanks Yvonne

 

[TerryNet]

What do you mean by "the admin account"?

If you mean the built-in Administrator account you can activate it.

If you mean that you haven't activated the above and do not have access to a User Account with Administrative privileges you can "recover/reset/restore to factory defaults" or install a fresh copy of Windows 10 Pro (or another operating system).

 

[Vonny735]

Hi. Thank you for your reply.
To be honest, I’m not sure if I activated the built in administrator account or not.
If I have, it’s disabled.
I do not have access to a user account with administrative privileges.
Which of the options do you recommend I do ? The PC is only 2 weeks old so doesn’t have much stuff on there anyway. Thanks Yvonne

 

[Couriant]

If you have nothing, then I guess to a complete reset will be the next step.

To confirm, the first account that is made is usually the one with admin credentials. Do you know if you made a Microsoft account or a local account when you set up Windows?

 

[TerryNet]

Which of the options do you recommend I do ?

I assume that there is a usable Recovery partition. For a 2-week old PC using that should be the easiest and most convenient for you.

I do wonder how you ended up with no account with Administrative privileges? At one time that was pretty hard to do, but that was before Windows 10.

 

[Vonny735]

The first 2 accounts I made were Microsoft accounts.
I definitely have an admin account but I’m not sure if it’s one I created or whether I enabled the built in one and then disabled it again thinking that if the default setting was “disabled” then it should be disabled.

 

[TerryNet]

I do not have access to a user account with administrative privileges.

I definitely have an admin account

Those quotes are from posts # 3 and 6, respectively. I am confused.

And you haven't answered my earlier question about what you mean by "the admin account."

 

[Vonny735]

Im sorry, didn’t mean to confuse you. I’m new to all this.
When I first set up the PC, the account I set up was a Microsoft account. I’m guessing it was an account with administrator privilege.
I then set up another user account - again a Microsoft account. I can’t recall if it was Standard account or not. Sorry.
I then did some reading about the different accounts Admin v Standard. I read that it wasn’t a good idea to have admin accounts in use permanently as it could cause vulnerabilities. I then changed both of the user accounts to Standard.
I did create an admin account too but I cannot be sure if it was the Built in one I enabled or whether I create a third account, at that point I didn’t know about the “hidden” built in one.
I‘ve ended up with the built in admin account disabled and the 2 user accounts Standard.
I dont see an Admin account on the log in page.
When I try to change the Standard accounts to Admin accounts, I get an error message that says access is denied. It asks if I want to enter Admin details but there is only a NO box visible.
Ive also tried enabling the Built in admin account but the same thing happens.
Sorry for the long winded reply. Just trying to explain the best I can. Thank you

 

[TerryNet]

Sounds like you'll need to "recover/reset/restore to factory defaults" or do a fresh install of Windows. Make sure any data you want to keep is backed up.

Some people do like the extra pain of using a standard account for their everyday work or play, but there still needs to be an active administrative user account. So, the next time you set up Windows keep your first account (and safeguard your password). And if you are not going to use it then add a standard account. But make sure you always have an active administrative account.

 

[managed]

You could try to enable the built-in Administrator account using the methods here :- https://pureinfotech.com/enable-administrator-account-windows-10/

 

[Vonny735]

Thanks for your help, I’ll let you know how it goes