How to Gain Administrative Privileges on Windows Vista Home Edition

If you purchase a new computer or upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista Home Premium version, there may be times when you will need to have administrative privileges on your computer. One would think that since you’re the only person using the computer and the only user listed at the logon screen that, by default, you have administrative privileges in Windows Vista. That’s not always the case. You actually have to configure the system to create an administrative account to allow you to have administrative privileges.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Find the command line. You can access the command line via the Vista “Start” menu. It’s found under the “Accessories” option. Click on run to open gain access to the command line.

2. Type “cmd” into the command line (omit the quotation marks) and press “Enter”. This will open a DOS window.

3. Type the following text at the prompt in the DOS window: “net user administrator /active:yes” and press “Enter”.

4. Close out all open windows and log off of your computer. Once you log back on, you’ll have access to the administrator account. The administrator account is the one you’ll need in order to access all of the administrative privileges.

5. To remove the administrator account, go back to the DOS window and type “net user administrator /active:no” and press “Enter.” Log off of your computer and log back on. Your administrator account will be gone.

Tips & Warnings

• It’s best to set up the administrative account after a fresh install of Windows Vista. That way you won’t have to copy all of your settings from an existing user into an administrative user account.

Resources

• Sprucing Up Writing Tools