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    "Super Administrator" in Windows 7?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by alaptopdummy, Dec 7, 2011.

  1. alaptopdummy

    alaptopdummy Notebook Guru

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    I thought all administrators in Windows are equivalent but a coworker said in Windows 7 there is a special user "super administrator" that has more power than other administrators. True?
     
    alaptopdummy, Dec 7, 2011
    #1
  2. S.SubZero

    S.SubZero Notebook Deity

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    Regular accounts that are Administrator level have all admin rights and can do all admin things. However, they will get UAC prompts.

    The actual account named "Administrator" can do all of the same things, but there's no UAC prompts.

    The user "Administrator" is intentionally hidden and not intended to be accessed by users in any kind of interactive way.
     
    S.SubZero, Dec 7, 2011
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  3. KCETech1

    KCETech1 Notebook Prophet

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    the " super admin" can also disable driver verification ( for installing 845gm video drivers from xp ) and allows more access to some special commandline abilties.
     
    KCETech1, Dec 7, 2011
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  4. alaptopdummy

    alaptopdummy Notebook Guru

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    Thanks! That does bring up the question that is it possible to log in as the hidden user "Administrator"? What's the default password? Don't we want to at least log in once and change the password from default before somebody else sneaks in and does something bad?
     
    alaptopdummy, Dec 7, 2011
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  5. S.SubZero

    S.SubZero Notebook Deity

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    The Administrator account by default cannot be logged in to.
     
    S.SubZero, Dec 7, 2011
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  6. booboo12

    booboo12 Notebook Prophet

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    You don't have to do that in windows 7, its disabled by default.
     
    booboo12, Dec 7, 2011
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  7. metril

    metril Notebook Deity

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    The hidden Administrator account is what is used to provide admin access to admin marked regular accounts. In Windows, file permissions and OS security privileges depend on inheritance. Though the real Administrator account is disabled, you can potentially give a regular account all the Administrator account privileges.

    If you screw up the real Administrator account, you'll find that you'll have issues with admin marked user accounts.

    This system is used to separate System privileges, Network privileges, and Administrator privileges, and Local User privileges. It works kind of like a the U.S. system of government with checks and balances.
     
    metril, Dec 7, 2011
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  8. JOSEA

    JOSEA NONE

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    If you decide to enable it see this How do I access the Administrator account?
    There is no compelling reason to do this, I do when I setup machines so I have an alternative login for troubleshooting. I think the default password is blank
     
    JOSEA, Dec 7, 2011
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  9. alaptopdummy

    alaptopdummy Notebook Guru

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    Thanks everyone!
     
    alaptopdummy, Dec 8, 2011
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