question about user accounts in Vista

[Michael R]

Good afternoon all. Thanks in advance for any replies.

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium, logged in with a user account that
has Admin rights. I did a quick search of the various newsgroups but can't
seem to find a fix for the issue I am having. I need to access the real or
default Administrator account on my PC. Even though my account is set up as
an Admin, I occasionally get a message (usually when trying to run an update
from Dell or Microsoft that I need to be logged in as Admin in order to run
the update). Is there a way in Vista to access the local Admin account like
you could with Windows 2000 and XP? I am writing this message based on the
assumption that it still exists and that I need to be logged in using that
account for some of the issues I am having. I do not see the Local Admin
account listed in the user ID control panel like I did with 2000/XP.

As a test, I tried to create a new account called Administrator and was
prompted with a message that the "account already exists". Not sure what
else to do so I figured I'd throw it out to the group.

Thanks again

Mike

 

[Paul Smith]

Good afternoon all. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Good morning.

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium, logged in with a user account
that has Admin rights. I did a quick search of the various newsgroups but
can't seem to find a fix for the issue I am having. I need to access the
real or default Administrator account on my PC. Even though my account is
set up as an Admin, I occasionally get a message (usually when trying to
run an update from Dell or Microsoft that I need to be logged in as Admin
in order to run the update). Is there a way in Vista to access the local
Admin account like you could with Windows 2000 and XP? I am writing this
message based on the assumption that it still exists and that I need to be
logged in using that account for some of the issues I am having. I do not
see the Local Admin account listed in the user ID control panel like I did
with 2000/XP.

First off, things are handled a little different in Windows Vista. By
default, a feature called UAC is turned on, this essentially runs everything
on an admin's desktop as a standard user, when you get the prompts asking
you to elevate that is part of UAC.

What's probably happening with the software which is failing, is its not
triggering a UAC prompt. You can get around that by right-clicking the
setup program, or the shortcut etc and clicking 'Run as administrator'.

That'll throw up a prompt and elevate the application so it has full rights
to the box.

As a test, I tried to create a new account called Administrator and was
prompted with a message that the "account already exists". Not sure what
else to do so I figured I'd throw it out to the group.

Yeah there is an account called administrator, but it is disabled by
default, so that's why it thinks one currently exists.

It is also possible to disable UAC under Users in Control Panel, but I
highly recommend against doing that as it does turn off a lot of the
security features with it.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.windowsresource.net/

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