On Windows 10, there are two types of user accounts: Standard User accounts and Administrator accounts. The difference between these two types of user accounts is not in how they work, but in what permissions and responsibilities they have.
Administrator accounts have full freedom and control over everything on a Windows 10 computer. They can change settings for all user accounts, install programs, and get around User Access Control (UAC). Standard User accounts, on the other hand, don’t have as much control. Standard Users can run applications, but they can’t install new ones.
They can change settings, but only if those changes don’t affect any other user accounts on the computer. On Windows 10, you need the username and password for an Administrator account to get through any UAC prompts on a Standard User account.
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How to Change the Administrator on Windows 10?
Having an administrator account lets you change security settings, install hardware and software, access all files, and make changes to other user accounts. But you won’t be able to make the changes you want if you forgot your password, got locked out of your computer, or lost your admin rights by accident. Here’s how to change the administrator on Windows 10:
Method 1: Change Administrator via Control Panel
You can change the type of user account by going to Control Panel, clicking on Change account type, and then choosing the user you want to make an administrator. Finally, confirm the change by clicking Change Account Type, and your changes will be saved.
- First, type Control Panel into the search bar in Windows.
- Click on the app in the results of the search.
- Then, click Change account type in the section called User Accounts.
- Click on the user you want to change.
- Then, choose Change the type of account.
- Use the radio button next to Administrator.
- Click on Change Type of Account. When you go back to the previous screen, the changes will be there.
Repeat these steps for each user whose information you want to change. But make sure you can always get to at least one user with Administrator rights. If you don’t, you won’t be able to make changes in the future.
Method 2: Use Windows 10’s Settings app
First of all, you can use the Settings app in Windows 10 to change an existing Standard User account into an Administrator account. Using a graphical user interface makes it easy to do this. If you’d like to do that. If the problem is with your computer or a laptop/notebook, you can try using Restoro Repair, which can scan the repositories and replace corrupted or missing files. This usually works when the problem is caused by a system corruption.
- Launch the Start Menu.
- Click on Settings to open the Settings utility in Windows 10.
- Select Accounts.
- Click on Family & other people in the left pane of the window.
- Find the Standard User account you want to make an Administrator under the “Other people” section in the right pane and click on it.
- Click on Account type change.
- Open the dropdown menu right next to “Account type” and click on “Administrator” to choose it.
- Select OK.
- Put an end to the Settings program.
As soon as you do this, the Standard User account you chose will become an Administrator account with all the same rights as any other Administrator account. The same process described above can also be used to turn an Administrator account into a Standard User account. All a user has to do is click on Standard User instead of Administrator in the dropdown menu in step 7.
Method 3: Change the Administrator using User Accounts
Another way to change the type of an account on Windows is to use the User Accounts utility. Here’s how.
- Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run menu. Type netplwiz and press Enter.
- Click on the account you want to change in the User Accounts window, and then click Properties.
- Go to the Group membership tab in the Properties window and choose Standard or Administrator as the account type.
You can also choose “Other” to change the type of account to “Event Log Reader,” “Remote Desktop User,” “Guest User,” “Power User,” etc.
Method 4: Change Administrator via Command Prompt
If you use Command Prompt to run batch files, fix errors, or fix corrupt system files, you can use a command to change the type of account. Read on to find out how.
- Open the Start menu, type cmd, and then click on Run as administrator on the right to open it with admin rights.
- Type the following command into the console and hit the Enter key. net localgroup Administrators ‘AccountName’ /add
- Change “AccountName” to the real name of the account in the above command.
- Once this is done, the account will be changed to the Admin account and given administrative rights.
- Type the following command and press Enter to change the account type to Standard. net localgroup Administrators “AccountName” /delete
Method 5: Change Administrator using Powershell
If you’d rather use the powerful PowerShell than the Command Prompt to run commands and scripts, it can also help you change the account type to Administrator with just one command. Here’s how.
- Press the Windows key + X, and then choose PowerShell from the menu that appears.
- Type the following command into the console and press Enter to make it Administrator. add-LocalGroupMember -Group “Administrators” -Member ‘AccountName’
- Change “AccountName” to the real name of the account in the above command.
- Then, administrative rights will be given to the account name you put in.
- Again, if you want to change the account type to Standard, use the command below. remove-LocalGroupMember -Group “Administrators” -Member ‘AccountName’
Conclusion
In older versions of Windows, there was a type of user account called “Guest,” but there is nothing like that in Windows 10. When you create a new user account on a Windows 10 computer, it starts out as a Standard User account, but you can change it to an Administrator account at the same time.
Standard User accounts are great when you need to make an account for a child or someone you don’t trust not to mess things up if they have too much power. But someone who needs a lot of access to and control over a computer won’t be able to use them.
If you want to give a Standard User account on a Windows 10 computer more freedom and control over the computer, you can turn it into an Administrator account. We have discussed the different ways you can turn a Windows 10 Standard User account into an Administrator account.
Even though this guide was written for Windows 10, all of the methods listed and explained above can also be used to turn Standard User accounts on older versions of the Windows Operating System into Administrator accounts. Some of the steps just need a little tweaking, like how different versions of Windows open the Control Panel.
