How to Log in As an Administrator in Windows 10

Last Updated: November 12, 2020

An administrator can make changes to a computer that will affect other users. They can change the security settings, install and uninstall software, access all the files on the computer, and even change the settings of other users. When you first start up Windows 10, you are walked through the set up of the first user account, which is set to administrator levels. But there are other accounts created by the system: Guest and Admin. To use this default-created Admin account, you will need to activate it. This wikiHow will show you how to login to the default administrator account in Windows 10.

Steps

1
Search for “cmd” in the search bar of your Start Menu. You can also pull up the search bar by pressing ⊞ Win+S. You’ll need to activate the account in command prompt to use it.
2
Right-click the search result and click “Run as Administrator”. Click “Yes” in the box that pops up to continue.

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3
Type net user administrator /active:yes and press ↵ Enter. You’ll see text confirming your entry. If you see an error, you may have mistyped the command. The default Windows 10 administrative account is active, but not password protected.
- Type net user administrator * to change the password.
4
Log out of your current session. You can access the option to “Sign out” from your profile picture in the Start Menu.
5
Click the Administrator user account.
6
Type the password for the account (optional). If you changed the password in Command Prompt, you will be prompted to enter that here. If you did not change the password, you can skip this step.
7
Click Sign in.

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