On 1/28/2023 11:07 PM, Lars Anders wrote:
C:\Windows\system32>su administrator
'su' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
I am the only one who uses my laptop and I set it up normally (as I recall) something like five or more years ago, and I've never logged into the administrator account explicitly.
When I right click to run as admin on an executable it doesn't ask for the password when the User Account Control box comes up.
When I want to open an admin command prompt, I use the search to find the "Run as administrator" shortcut which doesn't ask me for a password when
the User Account Control box comes up.
Or I just type Win+R > cmd {ctrl+shft+enter} which does the same thing.
Then in the command prompt I ask "whoami" and it says "you/you" and not "admin/admin" which works for me because I have admin permissions.
But how would I even know what the admin password is that I set years ago? Obviously I'll have to use trial and error (I have ideas what it could be).
But is there a way from my user account to "log into" the admin?
Sort of like how Linux has the switch user "su" command?
C:\Windows\system32>su administrator
If you look in Control Panels (Start : Run : control),
User Accounts (then Manage Another Account), there is no
Administrator account. Instead, there is the "Lars" account
which belongs to the "administrator group". Using the UAC prompt,
the Lars account has just as much power as the Real Administrator
account.
*******
As a member of the Administrator group, you can do this
in an Administrator terminal window of some sort.
net user administrator /active:yes
Now, go back to the User Accounts panel again and then the
Manage Another Account section. Now you will see a new
account called Administrator. You have activated the
"real administrator" account.
Don't forget to set the password on the Administrator account.
Running all the time as Administrator is "Not Recommended".
For example, running Firefox as Administrator, means
if the browser is exploited, the elevation makes
changing files on the machine easier.
There is a utility called DropMyRights and using it,
you can do this.
DropMyRights firefox
Running all the time as Administrator, does not turn the
computer into Windows 98. You will find that Microsoft has
arranged things in a particular way, such that direct action
from Administrator, isn't actually that useful. It always
takes "two steps" to do anything. Microsoft has set things
up this way, to discourage running as administrator like that.
The thing of value in the Administrator capability ?
Impersonation Privilege. The ability to become TrustedInstaller
for example. Or to become SYSTEM account.
Paul
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