Cant change account to Administrator - Not Available

[Vista Advocate - Now]

Using Vista Home Premium and want to give myself Administrator privileges.
When I choose to change my account type from Standard to Administrator, the
"change account" box is greyed out.

I am the only user of the machine and the only other account set up (don't
know how) is an account called ASP.NET Machine Account.

I want to control my system.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

When Vista is installed the first user account you set up is automatically
given administrator privileges. What happened to this account? Did you
demote this account to a Standard User?

 

[Vista Advocate - Now]

When Vista is installed the first user account you set up is automatically
given administrator privileges. What happened to this account? Did you
demote this account to a Standard User?

I didn't do a thing. It says it's an administrator account when I see the
icon in the User Accounts section of Control Panel, but when I open the
"Change your account type," the "standard" button is selected. I select the
"administrator" button, but the "change account type" selection box
immediately greys out.

All rather odd and not a little annoying.

 

[Guest]

I inadvertedly changed the "original"account to a standard user and now I'm
locked out without any control or access. How can I get back to the original
settings?

 

[Guest]

If you think about it what you are seeing makes sense. The account is already
an administrator account. If you click a choice indicating that you wish to
change the account type, the alternative is chosen automatically for you. If
you select the Administrator type then the ability to change is grayed out
because -- you are already and administrator.

 

[Guest]

If you boot to Safe Mode (Hit F8 key repeatedly after restarting the system)
are you able to log in as Administrator? If so, go into User Accounts in the
Control Panel and change your personal account back to the Administrator type.

 

[Guest]

Many thanks for this and in fact I managed to get the problem resolved using
this approach afetr scouring several different threads.

 

[Guest]

I'm happy to hear that you got things straightened out.

 

[Guest]

If you boot to Safe Mode (Hit F8 key repeatedly after restarting the system)
are you able to log in as Administrator? If so, go into User Accounts in the
Control Panel and change your personal account back to the Administrator type.

I have myself set up as the Administrator but there are still some things
you cannot do even if you are the Administrator. Some things still require
you to be logged in as the Administrator. However, my Administrator Account
is not activated. I know there's a configuration file somewhere where I can
activate the Administrator but I can't remember what it is. Once activated,
I can log on either as myself, the Administrator, or as the computer
Administrator. Any idea what the configuration file is? It's not MSCONFIG,
but........

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

I have myself set up as the Administrator but there are still some things
you cannot do even if you are the Administrator. Some things still
require
you to be logged in as the Administrator. However, my Administrator
Account
is not activated. I know there's a configuration file somewhere where I
can
activate the Administrator but I can't remember what it is. Once
activated,
I can log on either as myself, the Administrator, or as the computer
Administrator. Any idea what the configuration file is? It's not
MSCONFIG,
but........

David

The only difference between the built-in administrator account and a
standard administrator account is that the built-in account does not get a
prompt to elevate for a procedure that requires admin privileges, this
elevation is automatic.

You should not need to use the built-in account, a normal admin account is
just as powerful, you just need to give permission for a procedure that
requires elevation. It's best to leave the built-in admin account hidden,
this is the safety net that you may need someday.