administrative access & initial screen

[Candace]

I just bought a new computer that is running Vista Ultimate. I am the only
person using this machine and no one else had access to it. I need to know
three (3) things:

(1) How do I log in as "admin" on the machine? The initial screen that comes
up only shows my name as a user, it does not show a button for "admin" or
"administrator"?

(2) How can I verify that my user name (the only user that I set up) has
administrative privileges to the machine?

(3) How can I set up Vista so that when I turn on the PC it goes directly to
my desktop and does not require me to log in?

 

[Malke]

I just bought a new computer that is running Vista Ultimate. I am the only
person using this machine and no one else had access to it. I need to know
three (3) things:

(1) How do I log in as "admin" on the machine? The initial screen that
comes up only shows my name as a user, it does not show a button for
"admin" or "administrator"?

(2) How can I verify that my user name (the only user that I set up) has
administrative privileges to the machine?

(3) How can I set up Vista so that when I turn on the PC it goes directly
to my desktop and does not require me to log in?

1. Unlike XP, the built-in Administrator account is disabled by default.
There really is no need to enable it, but if you really feel you must
circumvent this security feature you can. This designed behavior is in line
with other operating systems such as OS X and some Linux distros, BTW.

a. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
b. In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt, and then click
Run as Administrator.
c. When you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.
d. At the command prompt, type net user administrator /active:yes, and then
press ENTER.
e. Type: net user administrator <Password>, and then press ENTER.
Note: Please replace the <Password> tag with your passwords which you want
to set to administrator account.
f. Type exit, and then press ENTER.
g. Log off the current user account. You will now see an icon for
Administrator on the Welcome Screen.

2. Go to Control Panel>User Accounts and look at the description of your
user account. Unlike XP, it is not necessary to run as Administrator in
Vista and is, in fact, not desirable. For security purposes, you should
always run as Standard user in Vista. Do not neglect to create an extra
user account with administrative privileges for emergencies.

3. To log on automatically, do the same thing you would do in XP:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

To recap, ideally you would not enable the built-in Administrator account;
you would create at least one extra administrative account that is never
logged into but only used for elevation (I call mine "Tech" or
"CompAdmin"); and you would use a Standard user account for your daily
work.

Malke

 

[Gordon]

(3) How can I set up Vista so that when I turn on the PC it goes directly
to
my desktop and does not require me to log in?

You may be the only USER, but are you the only person who has ACCESS to this
machine? If not then you really need to think through the security
implication of this before you do it.

 

[FromTheRafters]

I just bought a new computer that is running Vista Ultimate. I am the only
person using this machine and no one else had access to it. I need to know
three (3) things:

(1) How do I log in as "admin" on the machine? The initial screen that
comes
up only shows my name as a user, it does not show a button for "admin" or
"administrator"?

The default behavior of the installation of Vista is to have
you create at least one account for administrative use. It
then hides the bare bones admin account. If you are logged
on and try to do something requiring privilege elevation you
will be given an Admin Approval Mode consent prompt,
i. e. one that doesn't ask for credentials - only an aproval
to use the ones for the user account you logged in with.

(2) How can I verify that my user name (the only user that I set up) has
administrative privileges to the machine?

The Standard User account's behavior for the above action
includes prompting you for your credentials - you will have
to supply the credentials of the administrative account to
continue the action. If your experience matches this behavior
rather than the one outlined above, your in a Standard User
account.

(3) How can I set up Vista so that when I turn on the PC it goes directly
to
my desktop and does not require me to log in?

Others have answered - so I'll just say it is not recommended
to do this, especially if you are running the bare bones admin
account. I guess it isn't too bad to do this with a Standard User
account - but I wouldn't do it.