Unhide Hidden Administrator

So i feel really "smart" right now...



I was Setting up Windows 7 RC1 on my mom's PC.(id did this because of a corrupt sector on her HDD. I went into Safe mode and took all of her documents off of computer. I then installed a secondary HDD on her computer(80gb) for windows to use as the Master hard disk. then then used the Main HDD(200gb) as a place to store all of her files.

After finishing customizing windows by installing the Essential programs(Firefox,office,zune). I then made my mothers account and my sisters account. after i made their accounts i decided to find a way to hide my admin account by editing a registry key.(i followed this tutorial: here)

Right now I cannot Preform any commands the require administrator approval. when i try to run any program as an administrator it brings up the normal dialog, But the "Yes" button with the blue and yellow shield is grayed out. When i try to to to log in to the account at the log in screen i press "Control"+"ALT"+"Delete" and nothing happens. I cannot change the Registry key back with out admin access.

I am not even for sure what to search for. i have spent several hours on Google with no luck. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mwmisner
(I Just Caught My Spelling Mistake in thread Title)

The first thing I do when I install is to google "enable adminstrator account" and then run the CMD as administrator. Then log off and log back in as administrator, delete the named account and operate from there as Administrator. You will never be bugged for administrator anything, which means that you won't be asked to second guess everything you do.

There is a hidden super admin account. You have access to the computer right?

No need to google, You can have a look here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html?filter[2]=User%20Accounts

Alternative method to unhide account (if it was only one user admin account) is edit system registry from WinRE this means:

1.Boot Win 7 DVD,go to command prompt and type regedit -it open registry editor

2.Click on HKLM hive and next navigate File>>Load hive

navigate to C:\Windows\System32\config folder and choose SOFTWARE file load it and assign this hive any name for example REM_SOFTWARE

3.Open key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\REM_SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
and remove this account or better way remove the whole key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\REM_SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts

see also:Load a hive into the registry: Core Services

examples from forum (although there are completely differents threads) how to edit registry remotely

Can't Delete Registry Key - Page 2 - Vista Forums (from post 17)

Solved Vista x64 error code 80070424 - Page 2 - Vista Forums (posts 20 and 21)

thanks for all of your help, i will try using the install disk to get to the cmd, but when i tried to do this thru safe mode i got an access denied sreen. i will not be able to try this till later, but thanks again

Are you guys saying there is a SECOND administrator account along with the Administrator account that can easily be unhidden and shows up on the log in screen? So there are actually two built in administrator accounts, but one is super hidden?

When you start Win7 first time after installation, you in fact have already two accounts: The first user account created when installing, which automatically has administrative rights, and the built-in, hidden administrator account.

Kari

Yes I know that, I am wondering if there is another administrator account over and above the one that is hidden by default. People are describing a "Super secret" or "Super hidden" administrator account. If they are speaking of the default Administrator account, then this is a very poor way of describing it.

To enable the build-in Administrator account, follow these steps:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html

1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
2. In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.
3. When you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.
4. At the command prompt, type net user administrator /active:yes, and then press ENTER.
5. Type net user administrator <Password>, and then press ENTER.

Note: Please replace the <Password> tag with your password for your administrator account, removing the brackets.
6. Type exit, and then press ENTER.
7. Log off the current user account.

To revert do exactly the same thing but change
net user administrator /active:yes to
net user administrator /active:no

y0himba said:

Yes I know that, I am wondering if there is another administrator account over and above the one that is hidden by default. People are describing a "Super secret" or "Super hidden" administrator account. If they are speaking of the default Administrator account, then this is a very poor way of describing it.

To enable the build-in Administrator account, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
2. In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.
3. When you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.
4. At the command prompt, type net user administrator /active:yes, and then press ENTER.
5. Type net user administrator <Password>, and then press ENTER.

Note: Please replace the <Password> tag with your password for your administrator account, removing the brackets.
6. Type exit, and then press ENTER.
7. Log off the current user account.

To revert do exactly the same thing but change
net user administrator /active:yes to
net user administrator /active:no

Click to expand...

Y0

Of course you are right. The end all of admins is neither super secret, nor super hidden, nor more powerful than a speeding bullet. If someone describes it that way they are obviously not fully informed.

Thanks for a nice post

Ken

y0himba said:

People are describing a "Super secret" or "Super hidden" administrator account.

Click to expand...

I didn't draw that inference from anything I read in this thread?

But did noone go to Brinks tutorial which I linked in my other post? A little uneeded repetition here.

The answer to the original problem

Here is the answer to the original problem, I found it somewhere else:

User Account - Hide - Vista Forums


Indeed, the “Run as administrator” command will not work properly when all administrator accounts are hidden–there is no box to type the password in. In Windows 7 (I have not tried for Vista) you are not necessarily locked out when you hid all administrator accounts.
Instead, select the program you want to run as administrator by holding Shift and right clicking it, then select the now revealed option “Run as a different user”. You can now manually type in the username and password of any account, including hidden administrator accounts. This way you can run the program as the desired administrator, even if the administrator account is hidden.
If you run the Registry Editor following this method, you can now unhide the hidden administrator account by deleting the key named after the administrator in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList.

I tried it and it worked.
No need to reboot or do other complicated things...

y0himba said:

Yes I know that, I am wondering if there is another administrator account over and above the one that is hidden by default.

Click to expand...

There is. It is called "SYSTEM"