How do I Log in as Administrator ?

J

James Long

In XP, one could hit ctl-alt-del at the login screen
and get a login prompt, then log in as Administrator there.

How is this done in Vista?

Thank you,

James
 
J

john doe jr

The whole story is like this:
right click on "computer" and click on manage.
click on "local users and groups", click on "users", click on
"administrator" and right click, click on properties. toggle the box marked
"account is disabled". this should clear this box. now close all windows.
in control panel click on "administrative tools", now click on "local
security policy". with :interactive logon:" enable "Do not display last
last user name", and disable "do not require CTRL+ALT+DEL". now logoff and
you are set. when you are in the administrator box you should set a
password of your choosing.
 
G

Guest

john doe jr - I followed the first half of your post and made the changes in
my system. However, I got lost at the instruction "with :interactive logon:"
enable". Would you please review your post and help clarify the second half?
Thank you...Vaughn !:)

PS - After clicking on "local security policy", I am unable to locate your
following instructions!
 
G

Guest

I got this from another post, can't remember were but it worked for me...

1) Click the Start orb and click on Run (or press the Windows key + R)
2) Type in regedit and press OK. If it asks you to open this via UAP, then
click Allow.
3) In the Registry Editor, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
4) In the right hand pane, right click the mouse and select New then Key. A
new folder should appear in the left hand pane.
5) Name this new key SpecialAccounts and press Enter.
6) Right click the mouse on the new SpecialAccounts key in the left hand
pane, select New then Key again to make a "sub-key".
7) Name this new key UserList and then press Enter. In this new UserList
key, right click in the right hand pane and select New then DWORD (32-bit)
and name this Administrator then press Enter.
8) Double click on the new DWORD you just made, and set the value to 1 then
press OK.
9) Restart the computer to see the effects - from the Welcome screen you
should be able to login as the administrator any time you wish.

Before you restart make sure you check this setting, click Start, Run, type
in compmgmt.msc, hit OK. Under "Local Users and Groups", select Users, double
click on the Administrator then make sure "account is disabled" is unchecked.

--
Dell Precision 670
Intel Xeon 3.6G X2
SCSI hard drive 15k X2
Adaptec Perc 320 controller
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3400
 
C

Colin Barnhorst

Just a tip. Try typing regedit directly into the Start Search box instead
of calling up Run. Give it a try.
 
R

Robert Robinson

Thank you very much for the wonderful suggestion. There were no apparent
problems with the registry change.
I haven't checked all the functionality, but, hopefully, Administrator
is now the real Administrator and directory and file access will work
without all of the annoying limitations.

Robbie
 
R

Robert Robinson

I have been able to do limited testing of "Real Administrator".
Using Windows Explorer, you can remove the read only setting from a
directory (as was previously true with a regular user with Administrator
privileges) but, as before, when you exit Explorer read only is
re-enabled. You can now, however, successfully write into the "read
only" directory with no warnings or error messages.
This is a major improvement over the impaired functionality of a user
with supposed administrator capability.

Robbie
 
G

Guest

Thanks for the tip!
--
Dell Precision 670
Intel Xeon 3.6G X2
SCSI hard drive 15k X2
Adaptec Perc 320 controller
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3400
 
G

Guest

The reason I needed to login as administrator, I was unable to change my icon
for quickbooks 2006 that I installed on my vista 64 bit OS. The icon wasnt
showing up as a quickbooks icon. Now I can just switch users when I need
administrator rights instead of rebooting into safe mode. Its the little
things that can drive you crazy.
--
Dell Precision 670
Intel Xeon 3.6G X2
SCSI hard drive 15k X2
Adaptec Perc 320 controller
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3400
 
I

Ian M. Walker

Why on earth do we have to go through all of this trouble just to logon as
the administrator? This is ridiculous.



--
Ian M. Walker

http://www.IanMWalker.com

~ Look to your own life before worrying how others are living theirs ~
 
G

Guest

All that trouble?? It will probably take you less then 2 minutes to tweak the
registry as noted and then every time you boot up the administrator option to
log on will be a choice in your welcome screen. I thought it was rather easy,
just mu opinion of course....
--
Vista 64 bit OS
Dell Precision 670
Intel Xeon 3.6G X2
SCSI hard drive 15k X2
Adaptec Perc 320 controller
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3400
 
I

Ian M. Walker

*sigh*

A person should not have to ask a newsgroup and then "tweak the registry" to
get to the bloody administrator account? We never used to have to before.
Can't you see that?

--
Ian M. Walker

http://www.IanMWalker.com

~ Look to your own life before worrying how others are living theirs ~
 
R

Robert Robinson

The restrictions that Microsoft has imposed are ridiculous and probably
do nothing to improve real security.
It is, however, easy to correct this particular limitation at least
until Microsoft adds another "feature".
I do have to say that having removed a number of unfortunate limitations
that Vista is running smoothly. The only remaining problems are the lack
of some drivers, obtaining an alternative to Windows Explorer and
correcting a few programs incompatibilities including ACDSee, Dragon
NaturallySpeaking SDK 8, and VNC Server.
We are using Firefox and Thunderbird as alternatives to Internet
Explorer 7 and Outlook.
Robbie
 
G

Guest

ZenFire - It was not even necessary to 'tweak the registry' in my case. I
just enabled the Administrator account. 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.

I know that you may not need this recipe, however others may try it to logon
as Administrator...Vaughn !:)
 
G

Guest

ZenFire - It was not even necessary to 'tweak the registry' in my case. I
just enabled the Administrator account. 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.

I know that you may not need this recipe, however others may try it to logon
as Administrator...Vaughn !:)
 
G

Guest

ZenFire - It was not even necessary to 'tweak the registry' in my case. I
just enabled the Administrator account. 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.

I know that you may not need this recipe, however others may try it to logon
as Administrator...Vaughn !:)
 
G

Guest

The following link suggests that because I am on a Domain, the logon as
Administrator is simpler (i.e. no registry change required):

By Jerry Ham - Windows Connected:
http://windowsconnected.com/blogs/jerry/archive/2006/06/08/3007.aspx

I have not tried installing Vista, other than on my Domain...Vaughn !:)

PS - The 'double posts' arise when I check the "Notify me of replies". In
this case I receive an error message that the post 'did not work' - when I do
not check "Notify me of replies", I do not receive the error message, but
confirmation that the post 'is OK'...go figure!
 

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