How to Log in As Administrator in Windows 10

What is administrator account and why do you need it?

In Windows 10, the administrator account is a user account that has full control over the operating system and all its settings. It has the highest level of privileges, allowing it to perform various system-related tasks such as installing or uninstalling software, changing system settings, modifying files in protected system directories, and managing other user accounts.

The administrator account can help users in several ways:

1. Installation of Software: Users may need administrative privileges to install certain software applications or drivers that make changes to the system configuration.

2. System Configuration: Making changes to system settings such as network configuration, firewall settings, or system updates typically requires administrative privileges.

3. File Management: Accessing and modifying files and folders in system directories or protected areas may require admin rights.

4. User Management: Creating, modifying, or deleting user accounts on the system requires administrative access.

5. Troubleshooting: Performing advanced troubleshooting steps, such as accessing system logs or running diagnostic tools, often necessitates administrative privileges.

Following a successful installation, Windows 10 prompts users to create an administrator account. Following this, an administrator account can establish additional "administrator" or "standard" accounts. If you're using Windows 10 and need to log in as an administrator to make changes, you've come to the correct place. This article explains how to log in as an administrator on Windows 10.

How to log in as administrator in the OS

You can directly change to admin account in the system. In this part, we’ll show the steps of how to log in as administrator.

Way 1. Login as an administrator from Control Panel

You can log in as an administrator for Control Panel after you enter the system.

Step 1. Open Control Panel by typing "Control Panel" in the Windows 10 search bar.

Step 2. Click on the "User Accounts".

Step 3. Once again, select the "User Accounts" option. Here, you may confirm that you are already logged in as an administrator. If you are logged in as an administrator, it will appear under your account name and type.

Step 4. Check the status of other accounts by choosing "Manage another account".

If you are not an administrator, you can modify your account's status. Remember, you'll need the administrator's account credentials.

Step 1. Click on your current profile

Step 2. Select "Change the account type"

Step 3. Click the "Administrator option"

Step 4. Enter the admin password when prompted

Way 2. Login as an administrator from Command Prompt

The second way to log in as an administrator is using the command prompt.

Step 1. Type "cmd" in the search bar, then right-click the result and select "Run as Administrator". Also, let this program make modifications to your system.

Step 2. Enter net user administrator /active:yes into the cmd interface and click Enter.

You will notice the message "The command was completed successfully". This will successfully activate the basic Windows 10 administrative account without password protection. You may also use net user administrator * to change your password.

Step 3. Now, log out of your current session. To do so, click on the Windows icon and then your profile picture icon. Here, click on the "Sign out" option.

Step 4. After the sign-out, click the Administrator user account.

Step 5. Type the password for the account (if you set up any) to log in as an administrator.

How to log in as administrator before entering Windows 10

In some situations, users may need to log as administrator or enter an admin password to change some settings before getting into the system. If you are in this situation, then, you’ll need some help from a third-party tool.

In this case, we recommend you to AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, a powerful password reset tool, that can meet all your needs to reset your password for various reasons. It is compatible with all versions of Windows 11/10/8/7. You can directly manage all accounts on your computer without logging into the system.

AOMEI Partition Assistant

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Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

Step 1. Download AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional on a working Windows computer and connect a prepared USB drive to it. At the top pane, select “Tools” > “Reset Windows Password”.

Step 2. Click "Next" to agree to create a WinPE bootable media.

Step 3. Then, choose the target USB drive and click "Proceed".

Step 4. You will note that your USB drive will be formatted during the process of creating the password reset USB. If there is no important data on it or you have made a backup of it, click "Yes" to go on.

Step 5. When the bootable media is created successfully, insert the USB drive into the Windows computer that you want to reset adminitrator password for and change the boot order to boot your PC from the USB.

Step 6. When boot into your PC, AOMEI Partition Assistant will open automatically. Click "Reset Password" again and select the Windows system. Then click "Next".

Step 7. Select the administrator account and decide which one you want to perform: Remove Account Password or Reset Account Password. Here we choose "Reset Account Password" and click "Next".

Step 8. In "Reset Password" window, type the new password in the new window and click "Yes" to confirm.

Step 9. Restart your computer and now you have known your administrator password and can use it.

Conclusion

This is how to log in as administrator in Windows 10. You can not only log into admin account in the system, when some urgent cases happen, you can also use AOMEI Partition Assistant to quickly manage all accounts without entering system.

And as you can see, AOMEI Partition Assistant also has various tools for you to manage your PC. You can extend partition without limits, clone disk when you wish to upgrade to new disk, or get rid of the old one but you don't want to reinstall system and lose everything, also you can move installed apps, clean junk files, fix errors, and so on. What's more, it has the Server edition and other advanced editions for business users.