Help: What is the administrator password? What if I've never set i

  • Thread starter Thread starter john ha
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J

john ha

I have heard of the "administrator password" for a super-administrator.

But I have never "set" the "administrator password" or "super admin password".

I do, however, have a user account with admin privileges that I set a
password to.

Is that the same thing? Does my creating a user account with admin
privileges and password make the password for the super-admin the same, or
will the vista admin password still remain blank?

I'm wondering if this is the case, if a hacker tried to break into my system
to grab files, if I never set the administrator/super-admin password, does
that mean there is none, and they just walk right in,

or does it default to the password I have on my user account with admin
privileges?

Thank you again for your help!
 
john said:
I have heard of the "administrator password" for a super-administrator.

But I have never "set" the "administrator password" or "super admin password".

I do, however, have a user account with admin privileges that I set a
password to.

Is that the same thing? Does my creating a user account with admin
privileges and password make the password for the super-admin the same, or
will the vista admin password still remain blank?

I'm wondering if this is the case, if a hacker tried to break into my system
to grab files, if I never set the administrator/super-admin password, does
that mean there is none, and they just walk right in,

or does it default to the password I have on my user account with admin
privileges?

Thank you again for your help!
Click to expand...

They are two different user accounts and passwords are not shared
between the two, just like any other user accounts on the machine don't
share psws with other user accounts.

But there is nothing stopping you in setting the password for both
accounts to be the same, to make it easy on you. It's been times I had
to sit there and think about what is the psw to the super-admin-account,
since I seldom use the account.

And the super-admin-account should be psw protected, not left blank.
 
I have heard of the "administrator password" for a super-administrator.

But I have never "set" the "administrator password" or "super admin password".
Click to expand...

Wow, you're getting answers that are all over the map. Let me try to
clarify here.

1. There is no such thing as a "super-administrator. There is an account
named Administrator and you can add additional accounts that are members of
the Administrators group.
2. The difference between the account named Administrator and an account
that is a member of the Administrators group, is that the account named
Administrator, if used, will always have an administrative level access
token and will not be required to elevate by UAC when attempting to perform
a privileged operation.
3. Safe mode does not automatically "boot" into any particular account, be
it the Administrator account, an account that is a member of the
Administrators group, or a standard user account. Assuming you have a
password set on the account you need to logon after you've booted to Safe
mode.
4. In Vista and Windows 7, the account named Administrator is disabled by
default, so although you don't set a password on the account named
Administrator during setup, the account simply can't be used on a default
system regardless of what mode you're booting into.
5. From a security perspective there's really no reason to set a password
on the account named Administrator because of the previous point. In order
to be able to use the Administrator account, a hacker would first have to
crack the password of an existing account on your computer that is a member
of the Administrators group. If they were able to do so, they'd already
have administrative access to your computer and would have no need to use
the account named Administrator.
6. Finally, in order to take advantage of Safe mode in the first place, an
attacker would need to have physical possession of your computer, in which
case, the computer is no longer yours, and it belongs to the hacker any
way.
 
niemiro said:
If it *CAN*, then when does it? I am completely confused now!
Click to expand...

Vista (and I assume Windows 7) is designed to activate the Administrator
account in safe mode if the last administrator level account is demoted
or removed. This was done so that an accidental demotion of the only
admin account still gives the user a way back in.

If you want security for your data even when the "attacker" has physical
access to your machine, you need to encrypt and manage the key properly.
Vista has support for TPM, which can safeguard your encryption key in
hardware so that if the attacker uses an alternate boot the key is not
released.
 
'john ha[_3_ said:
;905929']I have heard of the "administrator password" for
super-administrator.

But I have never "set" the "administrator password" or "super admi
password".

I do, however, have a user account with admin privileges that I set a
password to.

Is that the same thing? Does my creating a user account with admin
privileges and password make the password for the super-admin the same
or
will the vista admin password still remain blank?

I'm wondering if this is the case, if a hacker tried to break into m
system
to grab files, if I never set the administrator/super-admin password
does
that mean there is none, and they just walk right in,

or does it default to the password I have on my user account with admi

privileges?

Thank you again for your help!
Click to expand...



When you have installed Windows Vista first time, how long did it tak
you to realize that you lost the administrator’s password? With me i
was about a week before I needed to make some changes in the fil
system. It suddenly occurred to me that being logged in a
administrator might make the User Account Control dialog box go away
but I didn’t know the administrator’s password! What the heck is th
Vista administrator’s default password?

Unlike the previous releases of Windows, Windows Vista does no
automatically create an Administrator account during installation. Th
theory is that the typical Windows user does not need to run wit
administrator privileges. Using a non-administrator account wil
prevent a Windows user from accidentally deleting operating syste
folder, files, and registry information, and prevent any Malwar
infecting the computer from doing the same. However, if you really nee
to run as an Administrator, you can easily activate the built-i
Administrator account yourself.

Here are the basic steps to activate Vista’s Administrator account an
assign it a password:

Logon to Vista using a standard user account
From the Start menu, navigate to the Command Prompt menu item in th
Accessories menu
Right-click on the Command Prompt menu item and select Run a
Administrator
Click the Continue button on the User Account Control dialog box
At the command prompt, enter net user administrator password, and hi
Enter
At the command prompt, enter net user administrator activate:yes, an
hit Enter
At the command prompt, enter exit and hit Enter to close the comman
window
Log off and logon as Administrator using the password you selected
This procedure activates a user account named Administrator and assign
it Full Control security privileges. The user name “Administrator” i
reserved, so you cannot create a user account with this name even i
you haven’t activated the built-in Administrator account. Depending o
the local password policy of the computer, you might be required t
enter a password of a minimum length or complexity, and not be allowe
to use a blank password.

I Forgot my Vista Administrator Password!
The User Accounts applet in Control Panel features the Create
password reset disk wizard. Using this wizard, a floppy disk or US
flash drive can be created that allows the password of a specific use
account on a specific Windows Vista computer to be reset by the user
Possession of the reset disk is considered to be authorization to rese
the account’s password. The reset disk can also be reused to reset th
account’s password multiple times. However, you need to know th
password of the account you want to create the reset disk for, and yo
must create the reset disk before you forget the account’s password.

To use the Vista password reset disk:

Insert the floppy or USB reset disk in the computer
Click the Reset password… item on the Vista logon screen to start th
Password Reset Wizard
Click the Next button
Enter a new password
Reenter the new password
If prompted, enter a password hint
Click the Next and Finished buttons
Enter your new password to logon to the user accoun
 
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