Activate The Hidden Administrator Account in Windows 8

During the good old days, when people used to enjoy Windows XP, the OS used to have an administrator account. The account enjoyed all the administrative rights to everything that can be possibly done with Windows. It (the admin user account) used to be there in plain sight and we could use it right form the installation as the default account without needing any special tweaks. However, with the advent of Windows Vista, came the User Account Control with better restrictions to avoid any glitches. As a result the admin account was gone. Well it was there all the time only you needed the right way (an one-liner command line execution) to unhide it. Like the previous versions it is still comes as hidden account in the newest Microsoft offering, Windows 8.

So let us see how to enable built-in administrator account in Windows 8.

1. Type lusrmgr.msc on start screen and open the app that appears as the search result. Alternatively start the Run (Windows Key + R), type lusrmgr.msc and hit enter. This will open the Local Users and Account Manager (LUSRMGR).

2. In the LUSRMGR window, double click the users folder to show the list of local user accounts.

3. Once the Administrator account is there, right-click on it and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog, uncheck the option “Account is disabled”.

4. As mentioned earlier, since the admin account enjoys all the rights and is free from UAC, it is highly recommended to maintain a strong password to ensure secured access. To change the password, right click on the Administrator user and choose Set Password.

5. You will be shown a warning stating the risks of changing the password. Read it and use the Proceed button to go to the password changing dialog.

6.  Change the password in the next window and press OK. Th password will be needed next time you want to access the administrator account from the logon screen.

Restart or log off from your current account to see the changes in action.

The administrative account is kept hidden purposefully for for making the system fool-proof against any unintended (or intended) misuse of the OS. So it is for you to safe keep the account and be extra sure while doing any configuration changes using this account. You can revert back to the default settings by disabling the the account from the properties dialog mentioned in step 3.