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Windows Administrator Account: A Guide to Its Features, Benefits, and Risks



Note: If your account is a domain account there are several additional account types. You may need to contact the network administrator to change your permissions.To determine your current user account type, follow the steps below for your version of Windows:




Useful Informations about Windows Administrator Account




An administrator is someone who can make changes on a computer that will affect other users of the computer. Administrators can change security settings, install software and hardware, access all files on the computer, and make changes to other user accounts. To log on as an administrator, you need to have a user account on the computer with an Administrator account type.


If you are not sure if the account that you have on the computer is an administrator account, you can check the account type after you have logged on. The steps that you should follow will vary, depending on whether your computer is on a domain or a workgroup.


Open User Accounts by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking User Accounts, clicking User Accounts, and then clicking Manage User Accounts . If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.Your user name is highlighted and your account type is shown in the Group column.


Open User Accounts by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking User Accounts and Family Safety, clicking User Accounts, and then clicking Manage another account . If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.Your account type is displayed below your user name. If your account type is Administrator, then you are currently logged on as an administrator.


If your account type is not Administrator, then you cannot log on as an administrator unless you know the user name password for another account on the computer that is an administrator. If you are not an administrator, you can ask an administrator to change your account type.


When you sign up for Microsoft 365 and enter your information, you automatically become the Global Administrator (also referred to as the Global admin). A Global admin has the ultimate control of user accounts and all the other settings in the Microsoft admin center ( ), but there are many different kinds of admin accounts with varying degrees of access. See about admin roles for information about the different access levels for each kind of admin role.


You'll want to set up at least one other Global admin account to give admin access to another trusted employee. You can also create separate admin accounts for user management (this role is called User management administrator). For more information, see about admin roles.


Although we recommend setting up a set of admin accounts, you'll want to limit the number of global admins for your organization. In addition, we recommend adhering to the concept of least-privilege access, which means you grant access to only the data and operations needed to perform their jobs. Learn more about the principle of least privilege.


Require all admin accounts to use passwordless authentication (such as Windows Hello or an authenticator app), or MFA. To learn more about why passwordless authentication is important, see the Microsoft Security whitepaper: Passwordless protection.


You can rename the Administrator account. However, a renamed Administrator account continues to use the same automatically assigned security identifier (SID), which can be discovered by malicious users. For more information about how to rename or disable a user account, see Disable or activate a local user account and Rename a local user account.


As a security best practice, use your local (non-Administrator) account to sign in and then use Run as administrator to accomplish tasks that require a higher level of rights than a standard user account. Don't use the Administrator account to sign in to your computer unless it's entirely necessary. For more information, see Run a program with administrative credentials.


The default local user accounts, and the local user accounts you create, are located in the Users folder. The Users folder is located in Local Users and Groups. For more information about creating and managing local user accounts, see Manage Local Users.


An administrator can use many approaches to prevent malicious users from using stolen credentials such as a stolen password or password hash, for a local account on one computer from being used to authenticate on another computer with administrative rights. This is also called "lateral movement".


The simplest approach is to sign in to your computer with a standard user account, instead of using the Administrator account for tasks. For example, use a standard account to browse the Internet, send email, or use a word processor. When you want to perform administrative tasks such as installing a new program or changing a setting that affects other users, you don't have to switch to an Administrator account. You can use User Account Control (UAC) to prompt you for permission or an administrator password before performing the task, as described in the next section.


UAC makes it possible for an account with administrative rights to be treated as a standard user non-administrator account until full rights, also called elevation, is requested and approved. For example, UAC lets an administrator enter credentials during a non-administrator's user session to perform occasional administrative tasks without having to switch users, sign out, or use the Run as command.


For these purposes, we combine data we collect from different contexts (for example, from your use of two Microsoft products). For example, Cortana may use information from your calendar to suggest action items in a heads-up email, and Microsoft Store uses information about the apps and services you use to make personalized app recommendations. However, we have built in technological and procedural safeguards designed to prevent certain data combinations where required by law. For example, where required by law, we store data we collect from you when you are unauthenticated (not signed in) separately from any account information that directly identifies you, such as your name, email address, or phone number.


You can choose whether you wish to receive promotional communications from Microsoft by email, SMS, physical mail, and telephone. If you receive promotional email or SMS messages from us and would like to opt out, you can do so by following the directions in that message. You can also make choices about the receipt of promotional email, telephone calls, and postal mail by signing in with your personal Microsoft account, and viewing your communication permissions where you can update contact information, manage Microsoft-wide contact preferences, opt out of email subscriptions, and choose whether to share your contact information with Microsoft partners. If you do not have a personal Microsoft account, you can manage your Microsoft email contact preferences by using this web form. These choices do not apply to mandatory service communications that are part of certain Microsoft products, programs, activities, or to surveys or other informational communications that have their own unsubscribe method.


With a Microsoft account, you can sign in to Microsoft products, as well as those of select Microsoft partners. Personal data associated with your Microsoft account includes credentials, name and contact data, payment data, device and usage data, your contacts, information about your activities, and your interests and favorites. Signing in to your Microsoft account enables personalization and consistent experiences across products and devices, permits you to use cloud data storage, allows you to make payments using payment instruments stored in your Microsoft account, and enables other features.


With a Microsoft account, you can sign into Microsoft products, as well as those of select Microsoft partners. Personal data associated with your Microsoft account includes credentials, name and contact data, payment data, device and usage data, your contacts, information about your activities, and your interests and favorites. Signing into your Microsoft account enables personalization, consistent experiences across products and devices, permits you to use cloud data storage, allows you to make payments using payment instruments stored in your Microsoft account, and enables other features. There are three types of Microsoft account:


Once parental consent or authorization is granted, the child's account is treated much like any other account. The child can access communication services, like Outlook and Skype, and can freely communicate and share data with other users of all ages. Learn more about parental consent and Microsoft child accounts.


We may use information about you to serve you with personalized advertising when you use Microsoft services. If you are logged in with your Microsoft account and have consented to allow Microsoft Edge to use your online activity for personalized advertising, you will see offers for products and services based on your online activity while using Microsoft Edge. To configure your privacy settings for Edge, go to Microsoft Edge > Settings > Privacy and Services. To configure your privacy and ad settings for your Microsoft account with respect to your online activity across browsers, including Microsoft Edge, or when visiting third-party websites or apps, go to your dashboard at privacy.microsoft.com.


If you have a technical or support question, please visit Microsoft Support to learn more about Microsoft Support offerings. If you have a personal Microsoft account password question, please visit Microsoft account support. 2ff7e9595c


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