If we look back, before Windows XP all users of a computer were administrators. Of course, this is something that cannot be allowed if we want to be able to use the computer safely. And this is how Microsoft introduced a permission system in its operating system. Since then, and until the new Windows 10, an account can have user permissions, more limited, or administrator, more complete. There is even a third level, guest, even more restrictive. However, what we do not know is that Windows hides a level of privileges even higher than that of the administrator: that of the super administrator.
What is and what does the super administrator account in Windows give us?
A super administrator account in Windows is more or less the same as the root account in Linux. This account is disabled by default in the systems, for security reasons, and has full privileges to do and undo at will in our operating system. In Linux, for example, the root account is invoked through “sudo”, while in Windows it is controlled by the UAC , the annoying window that appears when trying to make certain configurations or run programs that need a higher level of privileges.
Advantage
If we choose to activate this account, the benefits that we will obtain when using the operating system are:
- When activating the account, the UAC messages will no longer appear.
- We can execute all kinds of commands in CMD or PowerShell without restrictions.
- By having full control over the system, we can solve operating system problems much better.
- If we lose access to a system account, the super-administrator can access it, can reconfigure it and even access all the files stored within it, even if they are private. An excellent “back door” to consider.
Problems
Although this account may sound tempting, we must take into account a series of problems, or dangers, that we can face in case of activating this full permissions account in Windows. The first problem is that, by default, it does not have a password . This means that if we activate it and do not configure it, anyone could literally have complete and absolute control over the equipment. We will explain how to put the password by hand, but it is a key point that must be taken into account.
The second problem to be aware of is that this account obviously has many more permissions than the normal administrator account . This means that if a program runs with this level of privilege, it will have complete control over the system. And if it is malware, the repercussions can be tremendous.
How to activate the super administrator account in Windows
Activating this account is very simple, and we can do it with just one command. In addition, it should be noted that we can do it the same in all versions of Windows, such as Windows XP, Windows 7 and even Windows 10. The process is the same, and the account protection measures that we must apply (that is, change your password) are also the same.
The first thing we must do to activate this account is to have a normal Administrator account already created in Windows. The trick will not work (obviously) if we have user permissions. We will open a CMD window with administrator permissions and execute the following command:
net user administrador /active:yes
Clever. The super-administrator account is now enabled and ready to use on the PC. Of course, we can not spend another second without protecting it properly.
Alternative method
If we don’t want to use CMD, for whatever reason, Windows offers us another possibility to manually enable this full administrator account: do it from the team management tools.
To do this, the first thing we will do is right-click on the start button to execute the ” Computer Management ” option.
Next, in the new window that will appear on the PC, we will select ” Local Users and Groups “, and within it, users. Here we can see the administrator account.
We double click on it, and in the properties window that appears we uncheck the option ” This account is disabled “.
We apply changes, accept and that’s it. The process is the same as the previous one. Of course, we must bear in mind that the account is still without a password, so we cannot leave it like that.
Change password to super administrator account
As we have explained in the disadvantages of this account, by default it does not have a password . This means that anyone could log into the PC with her to take full control of the computer and have access to all the data.
That Windows does not force you to create the password when you enable this account is, of course, negligence in terms of basic system security. But luckily giving you a password is very simple. We simply have to open a CMD window, with administrator permissions anyway, and execute the following command (changing “Contr @ sena” for the password that we want to give it:
net user administrador Contr@sena
Windows will show us a message that will tell us that the password has been created correctly. Next, we run the following command again to make sure that the administrator account is correctly enabled.
net user administrador /active:yes
Disable the root account in Windows
In case, after a while, we no longer want this account to be available (for security, for example), then what we have to do is disable it. We can do this very easily also with a simple CMD command, the following:
net user administrador /active:no
Clever. The super-administrator account will no longer be available on our PC. And nothing and no one can use it without permission.
Alternative method
Just as we have activated this account from the system administration options, we will also be able to disable it from there. To do this, we will follow the same steps that we have indicated in the alternative method to activate the Windows superadmin account, but we must make sure to check the option ” The account is disabled ” to deactivate it.
