And since Vista's clean-install setup program forces you to create a new user account with computer administrator privileges, everyone has to cross this hurdle in finding the built-in Administrator.īefore you take any steps to reveal Administrator on your computer, please be aware that there's a bug in Vista Beta 2 that can cause you serious woe if you create a password for your Administrator account in Computer Management. There's an added step that Microsoft hasn't documented and that isn't all that intuitive: Not only do you have to enable the Administrator account, you also have to disable all other accounts with computer-administrator privileges.
Your obvious conclusion might be that all you need to do is enable the Administrator account, restart Windows and then log into the Administrator account. By default, the account is disabled, but you can enable it there. But the MMC-based Computer Management section of the Administrative Tools Control Panel does give you access to the Administrator account. You won't find the Administrator account in the User Accounts Control Panel. It's even possible to create an 'administrator' account, with a lowercase 'A.' But that won't be the full-fledged Administrator account, it's just another account with computer administrator privileges.
