Windows 10 has two types of user accounts: the Standard one and the Administrator.
When you install Windows 10, the account created initially is the standard one, which allows you to perform all daily activities without problems such as running programs, browsing the Web, streaming movies and games.
in Windows 10 the administrator account, however, remains hidden, even disabled by default, so that those who use the computer have no possibility of damaging the PC and above all to prevent malware and viruses from taking control of it.
However, when you want to install a program or change a system setting, you need to get administrator privileges and there are two ways to do it : give permissions to the standard account or create a new administrator account to use when necessary.
READ ALSO: Access Denied in Windows: change permissions on files and folders
Preliminary notes
When installing Windows 10 from scratch, the account is already administrator of the computer and, in case of problems with permissions, it is sufficient to run the files or programs with administrator rights, without having to re-enter the access password.
If instead we are on a standard account, it means there is an administrator account that has configured our account as standard and limited.
In this case it is necessary to have the administrator password to perform the blocked operations.
If you activate the administrator account, it becomes possible to change the type of account to the one we always use, making it become standard, without however suffering from limitations since the administrator has activated it.
But be careful not to deactivate the administrator account if we have set ours as standard, otherwise you will lose possession of the PC and you will no longer be able to activate the administrator account.
The only way, if you forget your password or lose your administrator account, becomes to use the trick seen in the guide to access any Windows 10, 7 and 8 PC with a new administrator user.
Activate the administrator account
As explained in another article, there are several ways to activate the administrator in Windows 10.
If we have installed the PC, then we have an acocunt that can activate the administrator.
To do this, the easiest way is to open an elevated command prompt and run the command:
Net user administrator / active: yes
To open the promtp of commands with elevated privileges, search for cmd on the Start menu and then right-click on Command Prompt and click on " Run as administrator ".
READ ALSO: Create and manage user accounts on Windows
Get administrator privileges on the current account
It is not necessary, therefore, to activate the hidden administrator account to manage the Windows 10 PC, you just need to get the permissions when you need it, when you run an installation file, modify a system file or change a particular internal setting.
Windows 10 files and settings that can only be opened as an administrator are recognizable by the figure of a small shield in the icon.
These programs and settings files are protected by the internal security component of Windows 10 called User Account Control or UAC which we have already explained on another occasion.
UAC protection prevents changes to the system that may come from viruses and protects your PC from installing unauthorized software.
When a UAC warning appears, only the account with administrator rights can authorize it.
In the event that UAC always requests the administrator password and you want to make sure that you do not enter the password every time in the user account control, you can change a registry key.
Look for regedit in the Start menu and run it as administrator.
go to the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ System
Change the ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin value by changing 5 which is the default value and putting 0.
You must never disable UAC, which as seen can be limited in its warnings.
To run programs and files as an administrator using the normal account and having the administrator password (or having the account as an administrator), simply press the right mouse button on that file or program and then use the Run as option. administrator .
To change the type of account for a standard user to become an administrator, go to the Control Panel and then to User Accounts and press Change account type .
You can also change the type of account using the command prompt (as administrator), using the command:
net localgroup Administrators account-name / add
READ ALSO: Always run programs as administrator
When you install Windows 10, the account created initially is the standard one, which allows you to perform all daily activities without problems such as running programs, browsing the Web, streaming movies and games.
in Windows 10 the administrator account, however, remains hidden, even disabled by default, so that those who use the computer have no possibility of damaging the PC and above all to prevent malware and viruses from taking control of it.
However, when you want to install a program or change a system setting, you need to get administrator privileges and there are two ways to do it : give permissions to the standard account or create a new administrator account to use when necessary.
READ ALSO: Access Denied in Windows: change permissions on files and folders
Preliminary notes
When installing Windows 10 from scratch, the account is already administrator of the computer and, in case of problems with permissions, it is sufficient to run the files or programs with administrator rights, without having to re-enter the access password.
If instead we are on a standard account, it means there is an administrator account that has configured our account as standard and limited.
In this case it is necessary to have the administrator password to perform the blocked operations.
If you activate the administrator account, it becomes possible to change the type of account to the one we always use, making it become standard, without however suffering from limitations since the administrator has activated it.
But be careful not to deactivate the administrator account if we have set ours as standard, otherwise you will lose possession of the PC and you will no longer be able to activate the administrator account.
The only way, if you forget your password or lose your administrator account, becomes to use the trick seen in the guide to access any Windows 10, 7 and 8 PC with a new administrator user.
Activate the administrator account
As explained in another article, there are several ways to activate the administrator in Windows 10.
If we have installed the PC, then we have an acocunt that can activate the administrator.
To do this, the easiest way is to open an elevated command prompt and run the command:
Net user administrator / active: yes
To open the promtp of commands with elevated privileges, search for cmd on the Start menu and then right-click on Command Prompt and click on " Run as administrator ".
READ ALSO: Create and manage user accounts on Windows
Get administrator privileges on the current account
It is not necessary, therefore, to activate the hidden administrator account to manage the Windows 10 PC, you just need to get the permissions when you need it, when you run an installation file, modify a system file or change a particular internal setting.
Windows 10 files and settings that can only be opened as an administrator are recognizable by the figure of a small shield in the icon.
These programs and settings files are protected by the internal security component of Windows 10 called User Account Control or UAC which we have already explained on another occasion.
UAC protection prevents changes to the system that may come from viruses and protects your PC from installing unauthorized software.
When a UAC warning appears, only the account with administrator rights can authorize it.
In the event that UAC always requests the administrator password and you want to make sure that you do not enter the password every time in the user account control, you can change a registry key.
Look for regedit in the Start menu and run it as administrator.
go to the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ System
Change the ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin value by changing 5 which is the default value and putting 0.
You must never disable UAC, which as seen can be limited in its warnings.
To run programs and files as an administrator using the normal account and having the administrator password (or having the account as an administrator), simply press the right mouse button on that file or program and then use the Run as option. administrator .
To change the type of account for a standard user to become an administrator, go to the Control Panel and then to User Accounts and press Change account type .
You can also change the type of account using the command prompt (as administrator), using the command:
net localgroup Administrators account-name / add
READ ALSO: Always run programs as administrator
