How do I know if I am logged in as the system administrator

[Guest]

I am running 4 machines on a network - 2 are Windows XP Home and 2 are
Windows XP Professional.

When the machines were new I set up an account for myself with my first name
Bill. I thought that was also the administrator account because it is the
only account on the machine. Yesterday I started two of the machines in Safe
Mode and I found there was an account called Administrator and my account
called Bill.

When I boot into regular mode (not Safe Mode) the Administrator account is
not shown in User Accounts only my Bill account which says administrator next
to it.

Sometimes software instructions tell you to log on as the Administrator.
How can I tell if I am logged on as the Administrator?

Thanks for your help!

-- -
Regards,

Bill Artman

 

[Rock]

I am running 4 machines on a network - 2 are Windows XP Home and 2 are
Windows XP Professional.

When the machines were new I set up an account for myself with my first
name
Bill. I thought that was also the administrator account because it is the
only account on the machine. Yesterday I started two of the machines in
Safe
Mode and I found there was an account called Administrator and my account
called Bill.

When I boot into regular mode (not Safe Mode) the Administrator account is
not shown in User Accounts only my Bill account which says administrator
next
to it.

Sometimes software instructions tell you to log on as the Administrator.
How can I tell if I am logged on as the Administrator?

When XP is installed, the built in Administrator account is created. When
another account with admin privileges is created the built in Administrator
account is hidden from the Welcome Screen. This is for security reasons.
You should not use the built in Administrator account as the day to day
working account. Put a strong password on it (it is blank by default in XP
Home. In XP Pro you are prompted to assign a password to it at the time of
installation). Then keep that account on the side. Use it only when
something damages the normal working admin account. Have at least one other
account with admin privileges and then as many limited user accounts as
needed.

To logon to the Administrator account for XP Pro at the Welcome screen do
Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic login dialog box. Enter Administrator
for the user name and the password assigned to it. For XP Home you can only
login to that account in Safe Mode and as you found out it appears on the
Welcome Screen.

How to tell? Well you should know what account you logged on as. But click
on Start and it will display the account name at the top right.

 

[dobey]

I am running 4 machines on a network - 2 are Windows XP Home and 2 are
Windows XP Professional.

When the machines were new I set up an account for myself with my first
name
Bill. I thought that was also the administrator account because it is the
only account on the machine. Yesterday I started two of the machines in
Safe
Mode and I found there was an account called Administrator and my account
called Bill.

When I boot into regular mode (not Safe Mode) the Administrator account is
not shown in User Accounts only my Bill account which says administrator
next
to it.

Sometimes software instructions tell you to log on as the Administrator.
How can I tell if I am logged on as the Administrator?

Thanks for your help!

-- -
Regards,

Bill Artman

In addition to Rocks post, when a program tells you it needs to run as
administrator, you can right-click on the exe file as choose "run as", you
will then be prompted to lag in as another user, in this case Administrator.

Also, you don't specifically need to log in under the Administrator account,
but you do need a user who is in the Administrators group. You can change
this through Control Panel > User Accounts, and change it back when you are
done.

Ideally you should use a limited account for day to day usage.

 

[Guest]

Rock;

Thank you for your quick answer and your help. You say "Have at least one
other
account with admin privileges ... " - how to create an account with admin
privileges compared to one without?

Thanks again - have a great day!

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Open User Accounts...
Start | Run | Type: control userpasswords | Click OK

If Bill is an administrator it will say Computer Administrator under Bill.

The Administrator account exists in Windows XP Home Edition, but it does not
usually appear on the Welcome logon screen. In Windows XP Home Edition
the Administrator account is not displayed in User Accounts unless the
computer is in Safe mode. You have to boot into Safe Mode to access the
Administrator account in User Accounts.

To open the User Accounts tool, open Control Panel from the Start menu, and
then double click User Accounts.

To Create a New User Account
1. Click Create a new account in the Pick a task list box.
2. Type the name that you want to use for the account, and then click Next.
3. Select the desired account type, select Limited and then click Create
Account.

How To Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279783

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In