Built-in Administrator Account - Enable or Disable

Ah...Am I the only one with a problem:
I followed directions in Option-1; enabled Admin by unchecking the 'Admin disabled' box.
Reloaded and there is an icon created, labeled 'Administrator'...but it is NOT password protected.
Yet, when I initially loaded Win-7 it asked for a PW...which I input use gain access the OS/files.
So now I have 2-icons on start up: the one with the PW and one labeled 'Administrator' that was created after unchecking 'disable Admin'.
Q?: Is the original the icon with the PW now become my 'Admin' access... and the one that was labeled 'Administrator' after I activated (enabled) Admin, and lacks a PW yet allows acces to files, is really just for non-Admin users?
Or...where did I mess up...;-)
I hope this was clear and not too confusing.
Thx...

Brink...thank you for the quick response.

I discovered that by not entering a user name in "administrator properties', that no PW is asked upon logging on via the 'administrator' icon. Also, when a name is entered in 'admin properties', a PW is then required to access files via the 'administrator' icon, however, the PW is the _same_ as that initially required when the OS was first loaded.
Hence, the same PW is now for both regular and Admin logon. The latter is simply changed by logging onto 'administrator' then hit CNTL-ALT-DEL and change the PW for that icon.
So all is well..(at lest for the time being )....thank you!

Lastly, I must say how much I appreciate the extensive amount of user friendly info on 'sevenforums', as well as the efforts the admin and others have made to make this site so valuable. I vaguely recall (dementia? ) the lack of user info available on a single site when DOS, Win 3.1 and later OS's became available. This site is the best I've encountered for a primary OS!

As a new member (this is my first post), I have been reading through this, and similar forums about enabling the built-in (hidden) administrator account.

First, a little background in what brought me here today. I have a Dell Studio computer that I bought this past summer with Windows Vista, which I upgraded to Windows 7 a month or so ago. After doing some reading into the various features of Windows 7, I noticed one option not working, and that was to show recently used programs in popups & "jump lists". I found that in administrator mode (once I enabled it through this tutorial), I could check that feature in the "Customize Start Menu" dialog box, and it was showing these recent/frequent sites/programs, but would not display while I was logged in just as user.

But now to the current delima. I gave up on trying to make the recent items display while logged in as a user, and decided to go back to where I was, set my user account to a standard user (or maybe it was set as an administrator rights???) and disable the administrator account.

Apparently I demoted my account, it must have been set as an administrator account, not set as a standard user. Now I find that I can no longer do many things I could do before as it requires administrator rights, but I cannot turn it back on. When I go to an elevated command prompt, and enter net user administrator /active:yes, I only get "System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied." I also cannot go to user accounts and change the account to administrator - it ignores it when I click to change the account to administrator. Cannot even restore to a previous setpoint or restore an old backup image, have to be an administrator.

I've seen references to a solution at the following site
What do I do: I can no longer log in or elevate to an administrator account
but am worried this may be a little outdated (predates Windows 7). I tried the first option to boot up in safe mode and see if I can login as administrator that way, but cannot even get into safe mode, nor does msconfig mode work to get there (have to be an administrator - never ending circle!!).

Basically, I need to force the administrator account back open and return my user account to administrator privaledges, but not sure how to get back there.

Sorry to be so wordy, but thought it would save time to describe what does & doesn't work.

Thanks,
David

I was able to reboot to the Windows disk and restore an earlier set point (from about a week ago), and now all is well. Your instructions & the tutorials were a great help in accomplishing this.

Just seems strange how more recent versions of Windows have so complicated this "administrator" concept. I can see how this can be useful if you have multiple accounts, such as ones with limited access/control for kids or office workers, but for a home PC with a single full control account such as what I have, just seems more trouble than it's worth.

Have set www.sevenforums.com as a favorite so that the next time something gets screwed up like this I have a source to get me out of trouble again.

Thanks again,
David

I just bought an E-Machines sysytem running Windows 7 Home Premium. I am following the instructions here to activate the Administrator account but they are not working.

Using your procedure for "Computer Management", the Local Users and Groups icon does not appear in the left pane.

A search for secpol.msc turns up no results and running it on the command promp brings up an "unreconized" error message.

Running "net user administrator /active:yes " at the command prompt brings up "System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied. "

Going through "Local Users and Groups" via lusrmgr.msc brings up another error message - "This computer is running Windows 7 home Premium. This snapin may not be used with this version of Windows. To manage user accounts for this computer, use the User Accounts tool in the Control Panel."

The User Accounts tool does not show the Administrator account.

Are these defects standard on all Windows 7 Home editions or is this an E-Machines problem?

Thanks for your help!