Cannot change account to administrator!

Anonymous
2012-11-03T17:01:26+00:00

Hi. I need to change my account to administrator so I can make changes to my internet accounts but my internet provider told me that I am just a standard user in Windows 8 and I need to change it to administrator. When I try to change my user profile from standard to administrator, Windows 8 won't let me, even though I am logged in under my Microsoft account. How can I change this? It's pretty frustrating!!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Accounts, profiles, and login

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Anonymous
2012-11-03T22:53:02+00:00

Hi. I need to change my account to administrator so I can make changes to my internet accounts but my internet provider told me that I am just a standard user in Windows 8 and I need to change it to administrator. When I try to change my user profile from standard to administrator, Windows 8 won't let me, even though I am logged in under my Microsoft account. How can I change this? It's pretty frustrating!!

Hi

You cannot use a Standard (Local) account to change the account to Administrator. You can only use an existing Administrator account to do this.

Open Control Panel (Move the cursor to the lower/left corner of the screen and Right Click, select Control Panel on the menu.

In Control Panel, select User Accounts.

Select Manage another account.

This will show all of the user accounts on the computer. If there is an Administrator account it will show that designation.

Sign Out and log on with any Administrator Account.

Go back to Control Panel/User Accounts.

Select Manage another account and then select the Standard account you wish to change.

Select the Change Account Type option.

Select the Administrator option to change the account and click the Change Account Type button.

If there are no other Administrator Accounts, let us know and we can try another recovery method.

Let us know what you find.

Regards

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-03-21T23:04:19+00:00

    what if the computer wont let me select change account type botton, even on safe mode.

    Hi Bryan

    Are you logging on with the account named Administrator in Safe Mode?

    If you are, there should be no problem changing another account to an Administrator account.

    Let us know.

    Regards

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-03-23T18:45:03+00:00

    thank you sir i followed the steps as you mentioned and able to make my account to admin from standard account...

    but when i want to update my window 8 to 8.1 there is always a error displaying still as before

    that is

    you need to use an account with admin privileges to install windows 8.1......like this

    kindly give reply regarding this

    how can i use my account with admin privileges??

    so that i install windows 8.1 easily

    Thanks again

    Regards

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-17T09:29:21+00:00

    Hi ,

    I am also having this problem on windows 8 ,I am trying to help my dad with his computer , every time I try to download anything or change anything i get the uac popup telling me  i need administrator privileges and to enter an administrator password then click on yes ...

    1. There are no admin accounts on my dads  pc
    2. His user account is just a standard one 
    3. when the uac pops up there is no place to enter a admin password and the yes tab is grayed out
    4. I followed the steps to boot in safe mode and use the built in admin, but there is no built in admin when it starts in safe mode it goes directly to login with his standard account and there is no option to choose another account. 
    5. My father seems to think the issue started with a program called pctechhotline , I'm not sure how or if that could have changed his admin ability . He is new to computers so I am at my wits end trying to help him. 
    6. when the safe mode didn't work I then tried to do a system restore but that didn't work either because that requires the password for the homegroupuser$ account and I have no idea what that is nor does my dad. 

    any help would be greatly appreciated

    Jason

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-05-10T19:06:53+00:00

    I tried everything until i read your thread....it changed everything!!!!!

    I did this without trouble and was able to get my administator back, I cannot thank you enough, it has been bothering me for sooooooo long...Please reshare ths thread again so new users can find it on google, it is so very helpful

    Thank you again,

    Jill

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