The following post gives details on activating and deactivating the built-in main Administrator account in Vista. Please note that I recommend that you only activate and use this account if you have problems which cannot be solved by using your other accounts and that when you have finished using it you should deactivate it again. Please also note that this method works for activating the hidden Administrator account in Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) and should work for all other 32-bit versions. This may also work for the 64-bit versions, but as I do not have a 64-bit version, I cannot say one way or the other.
Procedure for adding and removing the Administrator account.
Step 1. Bring up the start menu by clicking the logo button on the taskbar or by pressing the 'Windows Start' key on the keyboard.
Step 2. In the search box, type 'cmd'. Do not press 'Enter/Return'.
Step 3. Instead, press and hold down 'Ctrl', 'Shift' and 'Enter/Return'.
Step 4. In the user accounts dialog box that appears, select the name and enter the password of the administrator account that you created when first installing Vista and click 'OK'.
Step 5. You should now be at the command prompt. Note that if you do not follow Steps 2 and 3 as above, you will arrive at the command prompt but it will be the incorrect one. The prompt should be 'C:\Windows\System32>'. If not, Steps 6 and 7 will give you these error messages: 'System error 5 has occurred' and 'Access is denied'.
Step 6. To turn on the account, type 'net user administrator /active:yes'. Continue on to Step 8.
Step 7. To turn off the account, type 'net user administrator /active:no'.
Step 8. Close the command console.
Step 9. Open the Control Panel.
Step 10. Click 'User Accounts and Family Safety' then 'User Accounts' then 'Manage another account'.
Step 11. In the user accounts dialog box that appears, select the name and enter the password of the administrator account that you created when first installing Vista and click 'OK'.
Step 12. If the Administrator account is currently active, you should see the account displayed. If not, and you wish to make the account active, then repeat this procedure from Step 1, making sure to use Step 6 and not Step 7.
Step 13. Select the Administrator account by clicking on it.
Step 14. The account will be password protected, so in the list of options that appears click 'Remove the password'.
Step 15. After accepting the warning and removing the password, you will be returned to the list of options.
Step 16. Select 'Create a password' and follow the instructions to create a new Administrator password.
Step 17. Close the Control Panel.
Step 18. You will now be able to select the Administrator on startup. Note that if the password has expired, you may reset it by beginning at Step 9.
Step 19. If you wish to remove the Administrator account, the repeat the procedure from Step 1, omitting Step 6 and finishing at Step 8.
