Vista how to log on as administrator

And when you're done, I strongly urge you to re-enable your user account s and promptly disable the Administrator account. If your goal in accessing the Administrator account is to ditch User Account Controls, a somewhat safer way to do that would be to stick with your account with computer-administrator privileges the one that is not named Administrator. Open the User Account Control Panel. On the subsequent screen, you'll find an easy way to turn off UAC. There is another possible wrinkle on Method 2.

It is possible to set a password for your Administrator account. But there's another way to manage user accounts: the User Accounts Control Panel. User Accounts doesn't display any settings for the Administrator account until you're booted into that account.

But once you're booted into Administrator, it lets you set a password for it without any negative effects. So this is a work-around if you'd like to leave your Administrator account enabled. It's important to protect it with a password that's not easy to guess or arrive at by trial and error. Despite what it may seem to some people, Microsoft's decision to disable and lightly hide the Administrator account in Windows was a very good one.

Millions of people have for many years been living in this account -- many without even having set a password for it. Doing so makes it easy for malware and hackers to waltz into an account that has unlimited access to the operating system. By changing the name for the account on your computer that has administrative privileges, and by setting a password for it, Windows security is raised considerably.

The user experience for dealing with User Account Control elevations, although improved in Windows Vista Post-Beta-2 Build , is still a little rough. Microsoft has designed UAC in a way that keeps you from having to reboot between changes, but there are still too many nuisance UAC prompts. There's still development time to go on Vista's User Account Controls.

Online editorial director Scot Finnie has been an editor for a variety of IT publications for more than 20 years. Are you looking for the solution to your computer problem? Join our site today to ask your question. This site is completely free -- paid for by advertisers and donations.

If you're not already familiar with forums, watch our Welcome Guide to get started. Join over , other people just like you! Forums New posts Search forums. What's new New posts Unanswered threads Latest activity. Members Current visitors. Log in Sign up. Search titles only. Search Advanced search…. New posts. Search forums. Log in. Sign up. Computer problem? Can you help us improve? Resolved my issue. Clear instructions.

Easy to follow. No jargon. Pictures helped. Didn't match my screen. Incorrect instructions. The username will be replaced with the name you want to be for your new account. Then click that user and you can login your Windows Vista without password. Turn on your Windows Vista machine and tap F8 on the keyboard repeatedly; eventually you will see a black and white boot menu screen.

Choose Windows Safe Mode from the list of options. When you next reach the logon screen the administrator account will be visible. Click Windows Vista system, click administrator, click reset password and confirm, click Reboot, unplug your USB and then confirm to reset computer.

After restarting, you can log on Windows Vista administrator without password! Anything else of the account will remain unchanged.