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
    2013-08-19T15:06:14+00:00

    Hello,

    I´ve got a problem, I´ve changed my administrator account to standard and now I can not take it back.

    I cannot acces to do any changes in Win8, I cannot install-uninstall nothing. I ´ve got registered Microsoft account, is it possible to make any changes via online Microsoft system, to avoid format and reinstall everythin again?

    I setup starting WIN8 without logging with password before, than I made changes on my admin account.

    I´m not able even do any changes in system as reinstall Win8, format, setup default factory settings.

    Can you help, please?

    Thank you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-09-22T11:48:45+00:00

    I am having the same problem. My account type states "Administrator", but when you look at the account type, it says "Standard"

    I click on "Administrator" and it dims out and will not let me change.

    I have tried doing this from my account, as well as the Administrator Account as you suggested, and I get the same thing. When I check the Administrator box, it dims out an will not let me change from a Standard account.

    I am about ready to throw my XP backup back on my computer.

    YES! My option to change dims out and will not let me change! Why?! Then I tried this.

    1. Press WinKey+I to display Settings.
    2. Click the Power Options icon.
    3. Hold down the ShiftKey while you click the Restart option.
    4. On the first screen, select Troubleshoot.
    5. On the next screen, select Advanced Options.
    6. On the next screen, select Startup Settings. Click the Restart Button.
    7. Press the Number4 Key.

    The computer will start in Safe Mode.

    Click the Arrow Icon.

    Select the Administrator account.

    A horrible experience, luckily I took a photo of the instructions beforehand (ha) But the dimming out still stopped me from changing to administrator.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-09-30T04:36:27+00:00

    I tried the above suggestions and I don't have any other administrator accounts.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-12T18:09:26+00:00

    The trick to boot up in safe mode to access the local administrator account didn't work for me. I had to run CMD as administrator and use: net user Administrator /active:yes

    This allowed me to logon as the local Administrator but:

    Even when I'm signed in with the local administrator account I can't change a user from Standard to Administrator. The option is always grayed out. 

    This is infuriating. Why won't Win 8 let me have an administrator account?!

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