Hi, I have a Windows 2008 computer that was in a domain. While it was in the domain, the Administrator account was disabled. We removed it from the domain, but now it is outside of the domain with the only Administrator account disabled. This was done by accident, but it was after we had asked a hypothetical question about the policy of renaming and disabling the local Administrator account while servers are in the domain. Our concern was that exactly what has happened would be possible. The computer has lost it's connection to the domain, and the administrator account is disabled. I have looked at the RE, and there does not seem to be anything in the environment to allow me to re-enable the account. I would like to resolve the issue in a Windows way, rather than resorting to something like Windows NT Offline Password Editor http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/ or a blanket replacement of the SAM database.Any help would be appreciated. Cheers,-edt

hi there,what is the error message you get when you try to re-enable the account ?please do find the below articlehttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766343.aspxalso check the below linkhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709691.aspx sainath Windows Driver Development

Well it is quite humorous, as the situation that I am in leave me with two account on my server, Administrator and Guest. When the computer was removed from the domain (where they had been renamed), both accounts were set back to proper; but it would have been nice, if during that process, they check to see if the Administrator account was actually enabled. So I now have only the Administrator and Guest accounts that I can logon with, and they are both disabled. I know that I have the correct username and password, as when I use the wrong one, I get the standard Windows "You have the wrong username or password" error. When I use the correct combination, I get a message like, "Your account has been disabled. Contact your Administrator." I paraphase a bit, as I am not at the computer right now. The links that you have given me talk about enabling the account if I have access to the system (with another administrative account) or during setup. Unfortunatly I only have the option of the Recovery Environment, or re-running setup. The second option might work if I am able to just do an upgrade install, and leave everything else intact.Any other suggestions would be great.

Hello Ed-T,Boot to Safe Mode and attempt to logon as administrator. If there is only one administrator account left on a machine, you should be able to boot to safe mode and logon as that account.It's a safety precaution for just such an occurance. If an another administrator account is on the machine, the option doesn't work, but if the only one left is the "Administrator" account and it is disabled, you are supposed to be able to logon on Safe Mode. Only Safe Mode, not in Safe Mode with Networking.You can enable the account while in Safe mode, bott normally and make any needed changes.Thanks, Darrell Gorter[MSFT] This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

Well, well, well. You are correct. Booting into Safe Mode, unlike Windows RE, you are able to then use the commandNet User Administrator /active:yesto activate the account and access the local accounts database from the command line. So that is great!Thanks for your help. I am kind of shocked, that this solution is not documented anywhere that I can find at Microsoft; I have double checked and found that this works with or applies to 2003 as well, so it has been a solution that should have been known for quite a while.Cheers,-edt

Hello Ed-T,I found this documented in a few blogs and mentioned in several other places:This is an article for Windows Server 2003http://support.microsoft.com/kb/814777How to access the computer after you disable the administrator accountAlso this MSDN link which references Vista:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb756993.aspx Built-in Administrator Account Is Disabled by Default on New Installations The built-in administrator account is disabled by default in Windows Vista. If Windows Vista determines during an upgrade from Windows XP that the built-in administrator account is the only active local administrator account, Windows Vista will leave the account enabled and place the account in Admin Approval Mode (UAC enabled). In addition, the built-in administrator account, by default, cannot log on to the computer in safe mode. Please see the following sections for more information.Thanks, Darrell Gorter[MSFT] This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights