At the time of installation, Windows 10 automatically creates a local administrator account and names it ‘Administrator’. This account has complete unrestricted privileges on your PC, and doesn’t even get User Account Control (UAC) prompts while performing any administrative tasks. Due to these unparalleled rights, the account makes your Windows vulnerable to intrusions and hacks, and that’s the reason it is kept disabled by default.
Although there’s absolutely no need enable this built-in Administrator account, you may want to do so for testing purposes, or merely out of curiosity.
In any case, here’s how you can enable and password protect the built-in Administrator account on your Windows 10 computer:
Step 1
Open the elevated Command Prompt window
Type CMD in the Cortana search box, click Run as administrator from the right pane of the menu, and click Yes on the User Account Control confirmation box. This opens the elevated Command Prompt. This window has complete and unrestricted rights on your Windows, and you can perform any administrative task by executing a command in here.
Step 2
Enable the built-in Administrator account
Type NET USER ADMINISTRATOR /ACTIVE:YES in the Command Prompt window and press Enter. This enables the built-in administrator account on your computer. Even though the account is now enabled, it is still unprotected as you haven’t set its password yet. Microsoft highly recommends to protect the account with a strong password before you log in and start using it.
Step 3
Set password for the Administrator account
Type NET USER ADMINISTRATOR *, press Enter, type a strong password when prompted, press Enter, retype the password when prompted again, and press Enter one more time. This sets the password for the Administrator account you just enabled. Once done, you can safely close the Command Prompt window, click Start, click your profile icon from the left pane of the Start menu, and confirm if the Administrator account is present in the list. At this point, you can click Administrator, and enter the password you defied earlier to log in to the account.
Although there’s absolutely no need enable this built-in Administrator account, you may want to do so for testing purposes, or merely out of curiosity.
In any case, here’s how you can enable and password protect the built-in Administrator account on your Windows 10 computer:
Step 1
Open the elevated Command Prompt window
Type CMD in the Cortana search box, click Run as administrator from the right pane of the menu, and click Yes on the User Account Control confirmation box. This opens the elevated Command Prompt. This window has complete and unrestricted rights on your Windows, and you can perform any administrative task by executing a command in here.
Step 2
Enable the built-in Administrator account
Type NET USER ADMINISTRATOR /ACTIVE:YES in the Command Prompt window and press Enter. This enables the built-in administrator account on your computer. Even though the account is now enabled, it is still unprotected as you haven’t set its password yet. Microsoft highly recommends to protect the account with a strong password before you log in and start using it.
Step 3
Set password for the Administrator account
Type NET USER ADMINISTRATOR *, press Enter, type a strong password when prompted, press Enter, retype the password when prompted again, and press Enter one more time. This sets the password for the Administrator account you just enabled. Once done, you can safely close the Command Prompt window, click Start, click your profile icon from the left pane of the Start menu, and confirm if the Administrator account is present in the list. At this point, you can click Administrator, and enter the password you defied earlier to log in to the account.