administrator account logon windows vista

Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

Start the system in safe mode. It will then show you Administrator on the screen. From here, you want to log in as Administrator, open up computer management by right clicking on "Computer" and selecting manage. Under computer management, select the users and groups, then users. You will need to enable the Administrator account, and I would also set a password. There is then a registry hack that needs run to add the account to the welcome screen under normal boot, but I'm not sure what exactly it is. This "hack" is the same as the one used in XP, so if you find it for XP, you've found it for Vista. ---------- Mark Dietz PROnetworks <http://www.pro-networks.org>
Tim R. wrote:

Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

1) Anytime you run into an issue that seems like it HAD to have come up before.....search these forums...A search with "administrator" as the subject comes up with...
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management. Under 'System Tools' select 'Local Users and Groups', click on users, right click on Administrator, and click on Properties. When I unchecked 'Account is Disabled', I was asked for a password. I closed everything and rebooted. At the login screen, there is an option to 'switch user'.
Selecting this shows two buttons, one for my 'current' login and another called 'other user'. When I select 'other user' the login screen changes to ask for a user name and password. If I use Administrator for the username and the password that I set when I enabled the Administrator, I login as the Administrator.
p.s. Not a personal attack..just tired of people being to lazy to search. I have seen the 'When will this expire" question 3-5 times today...
"Tim R." <Tim R.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

Uh, yeah, OK...next time I will do what you suggest -- search first for an answer. Not sure how that would have helped in this case since I actually DID do a search first but the suggestions I got did not help (admittedly, I was using a narrower search criteria). More to the point, the suggestion(s) that were posted (including the thread preceeding this reply) did not help. Thanx anyway.

-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:

1) Anytime you run into an issue that seems like it HAD to have come up before.....search these forums...A search with "administrator" as the subject comes up with...
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management. Under 'System Tools' select 'Local Users and Groups', click on users, right click on Administrator, and click on Properties. When I unchecked 'Account is Disabled', I was asked for a password. I closed everything and rebooted. At the login screen, there is an option to 'switch user'.
Selecting this shows two buttons, one for my 'current' login and another called 'other user'. When I select 'other user' the login screen changes to ask for a user name and password. If I use Administrator for the username and the password that I set when I enabled the Administrator, I login as the Administrator.
p.s. Not a personal attack..just tired of people being to lazy to search. I have seen the 'When will this expire" question 3-5 times today...
"Tim R." <Tim R.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

Ok, so what part of Uncheck "Disable Administrator account" did not work for you?

"Tim R." wrote in message

Uh, yeah, OK...next time I will do what you suggest -- search first for an answer. Not sure how that would have helped in this case since I actually DID do a search first but the suggestions I got did not help (admittedly, I was using a narrower search criteria). More to the point, the suggestion(s) that were posted (including the thread preceeding this reply) did not help. Thanx anyway.

-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
1) Anytime you run into an issue that seems like it HAD to have come up before.....search these forums...A search with "administrator" as the subject comes up with...
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management. Under 'System Tools' select 'Local Users and Groups', click on users, right click on Administrator, and click on Properties. When I unchecked 'Account is Disabled', I was asked for a password. I closed everything and rebooted. At the login screen, there is an option to 'switch user'.
Selecting this shows two buttons, one for my 'current' login and another called 'other user'. When I select 'other user' the login screen changes to ask for a user name and password. If I use Administrator for the username and the password that I set when I enabled the Administrator, I login as the Administrator.
p.s. Not a personal attack..just tired of people being to lazy to search. I have seen the 'When will this expire" question 3-5 times today...
"Tim R." <Tim R.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

Especially the questions: "what anti-virus programs work?" and "where's a driver for my device?"
"Tim R." wrote in message

Uh, yeah, OK...next time I will do what you suggest -- search first for an answer. Not sure how that would have helped in this case since I actually DID do a search first but the suggestions I got did not help (admittedly, I was using a narrower search criteria). More to the point, the suggestion(s) that were posted (including the thread preceeding this reply) did not help. Thanx anyway.

-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
1) Anytime you run into an issue that seems like it HAD to have come up before.....search these forums...A search with "administrator" as the subject comes up with...
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management. Under 'System Tools' select 'Local Users and Groups', click on users, right click on Administrator, and click on Properties. When I unchecked 'Account is Disabled', I was asked for a password. I closed everything and rebooted. At the login screen, there is an option to 'switch user'.
Selecting this shows two buttons, one for my 'current' login and another called 'other user'. When I select 'other user' the login screen changes to ask for a user name and password. If I use Administrator for the username and the password that I set when I enabled the Administrator, I login as the Administrator.
p.s. Not a personal attack..just tired of people being to lazy to search. I have seen the 'When will this expire" question 3-5 times today...
"Tim R." <Tim R.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

The part that didn't work was the part about "Uncheck the 'Disabling the Administrator account'"...I already have it unchecked. And even when I re-enabled (checked it) and then later, after re-boot, unchecked it, I was never prompted for a password before doing so as the threads below suggest. And at no time (with the Admin account enabled) upon reboot was I ever given an option from the Win Vista logon screen to logon as anything but the standard account (which does have admin privilege).
All that said, I did find subsequent threads on this forum and on the MSDN forum describing adding a reg-key to re-enable the option to logon as a built-in admin. I will try this later. My concern is that this reg key procedure may not work with the current (Beta 2) build of Win Vista.
Thanx in any event. I'm inching closer (I think) to an understanding if not solution...
-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:

Ok, so what part of Uncheck "Disable Administrator account" did not work for you?

"Tim R." wrote in message Uh, yeah, OK...next time I will do what you suggest -- search first for an answer. Not sure how that would have helped in this case since I actually DID do a search first but the suggestions I got did not help (admittedly, I was using a narrower search criteria). More to the point, the suggestion(s) that were posted (including the thread preceeding this reply) did not help. Thanx anyway.

-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
1) Anytime you run into an issue that seems like it HAD to have come up before.....search these forums...A search with "administrator" as the subject comes up with...
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management. Under 'System Tools' select 'Local Users and Groups', click on users, right click on Administrator, and click on Properties. When I unchecked 'Account is Disabled', I was asked for a password. I closed everything and rebooted. At the login screen, there is an option to 'switch user'.
Selecting this shows two buttons, one for my 'current' login and another called 'other user'. When I select 'other user' the login screen changes to ask for a user name and password. If I use Administrator for the username and the password that I set when I enabled the Administrator, I login as the Administrator.
p.s. Not a personal attack..just tired of people being to lazy to search. I have seen the 'When will this expire" question 3-5 times today...
"Tim R." <Tim R.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

Ok, as long as you say where you got stuck.
Make sure you re-enable the administrator account again The Administrator password is blank...do not worry about setting one...
To be able to log into the administrator password at the boot screen you can either go into safe mode(I have not done it) or you can go into Administrator Tool-Local Security Policy-Security Options- Interactive Logon:Do Not display las user name-ENABLE
You will then get a blank box when you boot. Type in Administrator, leave the password blank and you will be running Vista In administrator mode

"Tim R." wrote in message

The part that didn't work was the part about "Uncheck the 'Disabling the Administrator account'"...I already have it unchecked. And even when I re-enabled (checked it) and then later, after re-boot, unchecked it, I was never prompted for a password before doing so as the threads below suggest. And at no time (with the Admin account enabled) upon reboot was I ever given an option from the Win Vista logon screen to logon as anything but the standard account (which does have admin privilege).
All that said, I did find subsequent threads on this forum and on the MSDN forum describing adding a reg-key to re-enable the option to logon as a built-in admin. I will try this later. My concern is that this reg key procedure may not work with the current (Beta 2) build of Win Vista.
Thanx in any event. I'm inching closer (I think) to an understanding if not solution...
-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
Ok, so what part of Uncheck "Disable Administrator account" did not work for you?

"Tim R." wrote in message Uh, yeah, OK...next time I will do what you suggest -- search first for an answer. Not sure how that would have helped in this case since I actually DID do a search first but the suggestions I got did not help (admittedly, I was using a narrower search criteria). More to the point, the suggestion(s) that were posted (including the thread preceeding this reply) did not help. Thanx anyway.

-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
1) Anytime you run into an issue that seems like it HAD to have come up before.....search these forums...A search with "administrator" as the subject comes up with...
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management. Under 'System Tools' select 'Local Users and Groups', click on users, right click on Administrator, and click on Properties. When I unchecked 'Account is Disabled', I was asked for a password. I closed everything and rebooted. At the login screen, there is an option to 'switch user'.
Selecting this shows two buttons, one for my 'current' login and another called 'other user'. When I select 'other user' the login screen changes to ask for a user name and password. If I use Administrator for the username and the password that I set when I enabled the Administrator, I login as the Administrator.
p.s. Not a personal attack..just tired of people being to lazy to search. I have seen the 'When will this expire" question 3-5 times today...
"Tim R." <Tim R.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

OK, this sounds promising and I will try it when I can get back to my WinVista machine. But I am a tad confused/uncertain:
I understand the part about setting the Local Security Policy so that Windows login does NOT display the last user name. But does this work on WinVista where you only get a "graphical" login screen? I mean, unlike WinXP where the login screen is a dialog box where I can enter any username/password.
Thanx!

-- -Tim R.
"Zapper" wrote:

Ok, as long as you say where you got stuck.
Make sure you re-enable the administrator account again The Administrator password is blank...do not worry about setting one...
To be able to log into the administrator password at the boot screen you can either go into safe mode(I have not done it) or you can go into Administrator Tool-Local Security Policy-Security Options- Interactive Logon:Do Not display las user name-ENABLE
You will then get a blank box when you boot. Type in Administrator, leave the password blank and you will be running Vista In administrator mode

"Tim R." wrote in message The part that didn't work was the part about "Uncheck the 'Disabling the Administrator account'"...I already have it unchecked. And even when I re-enabled (checked it) and then later, after re-boot, unchecked it, I was never prompted for a password before doing so as the threads below suggest. And at no time (with the Admin account enabled) upon reboot was I ever given an option from the Win Vista logon screen to logon as anything but the standard account (which does have admin privilege).
All that said, I did find subsequent threads on this forum and on the MSDN forum describing adding a reg-key to re-enable the option to logon as a built-in admin. I will try this later. My concern is that this reg key procedure may not work with the current (Beta 2) build of Win Vista.
Thanx in any event. I'm inching closer (I think) to an understanding if not solution...
-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
Ok, so what part of Uncheck "Disable Administrator account" did not work for you?

"Tim R." wrote in message Uh, yeah, OK...next time I will do what you suggest -- search first for an answer. Not sure how that would have helped in this case since I actually DID do a search first but the suggestions I got did not help (admittedly, I was using a narrower search criteria). More to the point, the suggestion(s) that were posted (including the thread preceeding this reply) did not help. Thanx anyway.

-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
1) Anytime you run into an issue that seems like it HAD to have come up before.....search these forums...A search with "administrator" as the subject comes up with...
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management. Under 'System Tools' select 'Local Users and Groups', click on users, right click on Administrator, and click on Properties. When I unchecked 'Account is Disabled', I was asked for a password. I closed everything and rebooted. At the login screen, there is an option to 'switch user'.
Selecting this shows two buttons, one for my 'current' login and another called 'other user'. When I select 'other user' the login screen changes to ask for a user name and password. If I use Administrator for the username and the password that I set when I enabled the Administrator, I login as the Administrator.
p.s. Not a personal attack..just tired of people being to lazy to search. I have seen the 'When will this expire" question 3-5 times today...
"Tim R." <Tim R.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

yes, it works in winvista... You will get a blank icon, and blank user name and blank password field...enter which user you want(current, or Administrator)
"Tim R." wrote in message

OK, this sounds promising and I will try it when I can get back to my WinVista machine. But I am a tad confused/uncertain:
I understand the part about setting the Local Security Policy so that Windows login does NOT display the last user name. But does this work on WinVista where you only get a "graphical" login screen? I mean, unlike WinXP where the login screen is a dialog box where I can enter any username/password.
Thanx!

-- -Tim R.
"Zapper" wrote:
Ok, as long as you say where you got stuck.
Make sure you re-enable the administrator account again The Administrator password is blank...do not worry about setting one...
To be able to log into the administrator password at the boot screen you can either go into safe mode(I have not done it) or you can go into Administrator Tool-Local Security Policy-Security Options- Interactive Logon:Do Not display las user name-ENABLE
You will then get a blank box when you boot. Type in Administrator, leave the password blank and you will be running Vista In administrator mode

"Tim R." wrote in message The part that didn't work was the part about "Uncheck the 'Disabling the Administrator account'"...I already have it unchecked. And even when I re-enabled (checked it) and then later, after re-boot, unchecked it, I was never prompted for a password before doing so as the threads below suggest. And at no time (with the Admin account enabled) upon reboot was I ever given an option from the Win Vista logon screen to logon as anything but the standard account (which does have admin privilege).
All that said, I did find subsequent threads on this forum and on the MSDN forum describing adding a reg-key to re-enable the option to logon as a built-in admin. I will try this later. My concern is that this reg key procedure may not work with the current (Beta 2) build of Win Vista.
Thanx in any event. I'm inching closer (I think) to an understanding if not solution...
-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
Ok, so what part of Uncheck "Disable Administrator account" did not work for you?

"Tim R." wrote in message Uh, yeah, OK...next time I will do what you suggest -- search first for an answer. Not sure how that would have helped in this case since I actually DID do a search first but the suggestions I got did not help (admittedly, I was using a narrower search criteria). More to the point, the suggestion(s) that were posted (including the thread preceeding this reply) did not help. Thanx anyway.

-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
1) Anytime you run into an issue that seems like it HAD to have come up before.....search these forums...A search with "administrator" as the subject comes up with...
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management. Under 'System Tools' select 'Local Users and Groups', click on users, right click on Administrator, and click on Properties. When I unchecked 'Account is Disabled', I was asked for a password. I closed everything and rebooted. At the login screen, there is an option to 'switch user'.
Selecting this shows two buttons, one for my 'current' login and another called 'other user'. When I select 'other user' the login screen changes to ask for a user name and password. If I use Administrator for the username and the password that I set when I enabled the Administrator, I login as the Administrator.
p.s. Not a personal attack..just tired of people being to lazy to search. I have seen the 'When will this expire" question 3-5 times today...
"Tim R." <Tim R.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??

Thank you very much. I will try this as soon.
-Tim
-- -Tim R.
"Zapper" wrote:

yes, it works in winvista... You will get a blank icon, and blank user name and blank password field...enter which user you want(current, or Administrator)
"Tim R." wrote in message OK, this sounds promising and I will try it when I can get back to my WinVista machine. But I am a tad confused/uncertain:
I understand the part about setting the Local Security Policy so that Windows login does NOT display the last user name. But does this work on WinVista where you only get a "graphical" login screen? I mean, unlike WinXP where the login screen is a dialog box where I can enter any username/password.
Thanx!

-- -Tim R.
"Zapper" wrote:
Ok, as long as you say where you got stuck.
Make sure you re-enable the administrator account again The Administrator password is blank...do not worry about setting one...
To be able to log into the administrator password at the boot screen you can either go into safe mode(I have not done it) or you can go into Administrator Tool-Local Security Policy-Security Options- Interactive Logon:Do Not display las user name-ENABLE
You will then get a blank box when you boot. Type in Administrator, leave the password blank and you will be running Vista In administrator mode

"Tim R." wrote in message The part that didn't work was the part about "Uncheck the 'Disabling the Administrator account'"...I already have it unchecked. And even when I re-enabled (checked it) and then later, after re-boot, unchecked it, I was never prompted for a password before doing so as the threads below suggest. And at no time (with the Admin account enabled) upon reboot was I ever given an option from the Win Vista logon screen to logon as anything but the standard account (which does have admin privilege).
All that said, I did find subsequent threads on this forum and on the MSDN forum describing adding a reg-key to re-enable the option to logon as a built-in admin. I will try this later. My concern is that this reg key procedure may not work with the current (Beta 2) build of Win Vista.
Thanx in any event. I'm inching closer (I think) to an understanding if not solution...
-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
Ok, so what part of Uncheck "Disable Administrator account" did not work for you?

"Tim R." wrote in message Uh, yeah, OK...next time I will do what you suggest -- search first for an answer. Not sure how that would have helped in this case since I actually DID do a search first but the suggestions I got did not help (admittedly, I was using a narrower search criteria). More to the point, the suggestion(s) that were posted (including the thread preceeding this reply) did not help. Thanx anyway.

-- -Tim R.
"Zack Uribe" wrote:
1) Anytime you run into an issue that seems like it HAD to have come up before.....search these forums...A search with "administrator" as the subject comes up with...
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management. Under 'System Tools' select 'Local Users and Groups', click on users, right click on Administrator, and click on Properties. When I unchecked 'Account is Disabled', I was asked for a password. I closed everything and rebooted. At the login screen, there is an option to 'switch user'.
Selecting this shows two buttons, one for my 'current' login and another called 'other user'. When I select 'other user' the login screen changes to ask for a user name and password. If I use Administrator for the username and the password that I set when I enabled the Administrator, I login as the Administrator.
p.s. Not a personal attack..just tired of people being to lazy to search. I have seen the 'When will this expire" question 3-5 times today...
"Tim R." <Tim R.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message Any idea how one logs on as *the* administrator under WinVista Beta 2?
As part of the installation I did create a password for the built-in adminstrator account and afterwards I created a user account with admin privilege. I now use this user account for my work but I want to logon as the built-in administrator. The problem is that I can't seem to get WinVista to even give me a login screen that allows me to specify the username ("administrator"). Help??