Enable Built-in Administrator account in Windows 10

As you know, during Windows 10 installation the system prompts creating a user account and gives local administrator privileges to this account. However, during the installation another built-in (hidden) administrator account is created, which is disabled for security reasons. In this article we’ll tell about the built-in Windows 10 administrator account, what it is used for, how to enable and block it.

Still in Windows XP, an administrator account was hidden from the logon screen, and starting from Windows Vista to Windows 10 it also gets blocked. A built-in administrator account has full unlimited privileges on a computer, the UAC (User Account Control) has no influence on it, and all apps run without UAC permission. (This is what is its difference from user accounts with the administrator privileges.)

We have considered several ways to enable the built-in administrator account in Windows 10.

• Command Prompt
• Local Users and Groups Snap-In
• Local Policy Editor

Command Prompt

It is faster and easier to enable the administrator account from the elevated command prompt.

To do it, run this command:

net user administrator /active:yes

By default, this account doesn’t have a password (empty password), so it is highly recommended to change it to a stronger one. You can set the password using the following command (you will have to enter it twice):
net user administrator *

Local Users and Groups Snap-In

Open the MMC snap-in Local Users and Groups  by entering lusrmgr.msc in the search bar or in the command prompt. In the console window, expand Users section. Find the account named Administrator and double-click it, then uncheck Account is Disabled. Save the changes. 

The administrator account is now enabled. You can change its password in this console having selected Set Password option in the context menu.

Local Policy Editor

Open the Local Group Policy Editor gpedit.msc (or Local Security Policy Editor — secpol.msc). Go to Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options. Find Accounts: Administrator account status policy and edit it by checking Enable.

After the administrator account is enabled by any of the ways described above, it will be available on the logon screen.

You can disable the administrator account doing the same in the reverse order. It is easier to do it from the command prompt:
net user administrator /active:no