I have enabled the Administrator account and set a password but I cannot login as the administrator. How can this be done? Edwin

what do you mean you can not login with that account or you do not get admin Privilege are you part of a domain? can you login in with user name and password ?

You could try using the UPN. There seems to be a bit of an issue choosing between domain and local logon in Vista. The UPN will always be a domain logon.

MS has set some rather dumb permissions on certain directories in Vista (ostensibly to protect us....). For example, the Everyone group has the Deny permission set for List Folder/Read Data on the C:\Users\All Users folder. This means Everyone - including Administrators, are semi-locked out of this folder! You can, as a member of the Admin group, change the permissions, but this will become a major headache for support people. The Default User and Documents and Setting folders also have this permission set (and what other folders....?). Windows Permissions are *confusing* enough to use, but I guarantee IT people/power userswill be getting rid of these permissions - and when you start messing with permissions in system folders, you have to be careful. To change the user who can login, changea securitypolicy. Administrative Tools, Local Security Settings, Security Options, Interactive Logon: Do not display last user name. Doing this will allow you to login as the Administrator. Although, adding yourself to the Administrators group would have the same effect as logging in as Administrator.I don't know if Vista gold will have a normal login screen or if you will be forced to use the cutesy login with a flower or a dog or a litte kitty cat (barf).

In Vista, the Administrator (or an administrator) is no longer the most trusted object in the operating system. Yes this is to "ostensibly" protect the system, and is part of a general concept of protecting the integrity of the system. What change do you want to make to the root directories mentioned? Why do you need to change the permissions on the system files? I would suggest that *effective* administrators will spend their time learning and understanding the new design, rather than trying to make it act "just like the old way".

Here is what blocks me from viewing a drive content and why I would need to change permissions: http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/7272/unabletoviewowner5bt.gif Help from Microsoft Vistaindicates thatthe Administrator (or an administrator) can take ownership of objects. Obviously, this seems not true in the case permissions on a drive root were previously changed on XP.

In regards to your reply about an "effective" administrator, that is all well and good for the corporate enviornment. However, I am a the only user of my system in a "home" enviornment and I do not want/need to be locked out of directories and files. Logged in as myself today I tried to double click on "Documents and Settings" only to be told I do not have permissions. I do understand the need to lock down the OS/System in a corporate enviornment but, the present situtation is overly oppresive for a single user system.

What was the passowrd on the system that you are tring to transfer from (example I have Vista and old computer is XP, Then what was the password on the XP system.

Hi All, The "Administrator" account has been disabled by default Vista setting. To login as Administrator, you have to enable the "Administrator" account. My Computer (right click) --> [Manage] --> [Users and Groups] --> Users --> Administrator --> Properties. Then, you should use turn on Adminitrator in logon menu by this site. http://windowsxp.mvps.org/admins.htm You should can logon as "Administrator" BTW: The best way should be run APP using "Run as Administrator".

Thank you, that was helpful, but I also want to say how frustrating it is when you're the only user. I needed to uninstall a program, but then it wouldn't let me access some folders that needed deleting afterwards. For each folder I needed to change the access. When I finally got to program files\common files and the appropropriate subfolder for that program, it wouldn't let me. Turning on Administrator worked, but it shouldn't be this hard.How can individuals who have one computer at home work like this? I have 5, but I sitll don't want that much security.Ellen

I understand that with the New security model in Vista we ALL will need to get use to it, However if we look down the road, we are all better protected and as ISV (software developers) follow MS lead most of these issues will become a bad memory, for a short period of time. Programs writen for Vista will use a newer Install and Uninstall process reducing the problem you had. I taught some of the Developer Airlifts and we stress to developers the need make sure that the unistall process is clean.

Despite its still a Beta OS, as a network/Server2003 administrator and a home computer beta tester i'll don't want to get used to it right now, it's the same asif i get the keys to my home and can't open the ceiling to do maintenance! We're talking about administrators here, not regular users!(and yes, i doloved the two levels regular user accounts security idea). Since MS Windows 2.0, every new release of Microsoft's OS gave us a chance to switch back to a "classic" way to do things and slowlyget usedto the new way, why we can'tdo this with MS Vista? How we local administrators can gain full access to the system(to do whatever we want to do)?

Bcs i.e I'd like to transfer my favourities from Vista to XP... and vice versa.

Thank you you are more usefull than microsoft it self

Hi, when I click on My Computer (right click) --> [Manage] --> There is no [Users and Groups] option. Im using Windows Vista Home Premium. When I go to Settings --> User Accounts, it says Administrator right under my name. Yet some of the system files like "Documents and Settings" are still blocked. Any suggestions?

Documents and Settings isn't a real folder, it's a junction point included only for application compatability. There are several more of these inside user profiles to allow Windows to detect when applications are making assumptions about the location of special folders and correct it for them. The equivalent of the "c:\Documents and Settings" folder is "c:\users\"

Hi, i went to my computer, i open the manage, but there is no "User and Groups", so i still can not log on as the real administrator, i need to uninstall a sotware in order to be able to install a new version, but i can not, this is ridiculous, i'm wasting time and money with this "Windows vista". Please if anyone knows how can i uninstall the software, please!!!!!, explain me how!!!!!!.

Hi Margaret, I have the same problem - I'm trying to activate Flight Simulator X. It asks for an administrator login but even though I've set one up it still rejects it. I can't get anywhere from there. And yes I have checked capslock etc... I just want control of MY computer,it's so maddening to be nannied to the point where applications become unusable. I have Vista Home Premium. Aside: (Another example of Vista nonsense: Iwas unable to access the internet in IE7until I found "protected mode: Off" where 'protection' in this case meant it was impossible to access the internet, which I suppose is pretty good protection but hey!)

Yayyy, following on from my last post, I was playing around and finally found out how to do it!! Go to Control Panel (classic view)/ User Accounts click the bottom line "turn User Account Controll On or Off" then uncheck the box! (it then asks you to restart the PC) Thanks for making me persevere, Margaret, hope you get your PC sorted too!

Well my sister is the administrator of this computer and she does not remember what the password is.I have very important things that I need to get done but I need to download things to my computer.Without the password/ permission from the administrator you cant download anything.How canwe change the password without knowing our current one?I've tried just about everything.Please help me change this password so I can be the more responsible administrator. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Amber Bean

After a month using my new computer with Vista preinstalled I nowcannot log on as the Administrator. The message I get is "The user profile service failed the logon. User profile cannot be located". I can logon using my childs account, but cannot change any settings. It's not a password issue, as I know the correct password. I tried the above solution but it didn't fit it. Computer supplier says it a Microsoft issue, Microsoft says it is the computer supplier issue. Is this a Vista glitch? Can someone help me??

I would look and see if you can if your account is still intact in the computer under users or administrators and what version of Vista are you running

After reading all of the comments to my original post I can offer this bit of advice. Go out and buy a copy of Windows XP, reformat the hard disk and install XP. This cures all of the glitches of Vista. I think Microsoft really stubbed their collective toe on Vista. It's hard to use. The UI is changed in places where there is no reason to change which makes for a greater learning curve for experienced XP users. The security model makes it incompatible with many applications such thatupwards of 40% of need to be upgraded. Even the owner/administrator cannot get into many things which they legitimately NEED to get into. And on top of all the problems, there isn't a thing in Vista Business edition that a corporate user needs so there is no reason to upgrade. I have tried to upgrade several pieces of legacy hardware to Vista and in every case there are several devices that won't function because of no driver support. Manufacturers refuse to pay Microsoft to bless their drivers so no drivers for most legacy devices will be forthcoming. So the upgrade path is effectively shut off for a lot of otherwise Vista capable hardware. Not a very good selling point. IMHO.

As for the error message I received when trying to logon as administrator, it read "The user profile service failed the logon. The user profile cannot be found". There is only one administrator account. The other user (my child) can logon but does not have privaledges, so this doesn't help. The good news is that I found the solution in another tech forum. The solution requires the computer to be turned off, restarted in safe mode by pressing F12 key as it begins to boot up. Select Safe Mode and follow instructions. I then was able to roll back my computer to a date on which I knew there was no issue. In this case I selected Nov. 1st. But, in the other forum the user suggested Nov. 13th was the date this occurred to him. Hefelt that the problem was caused by anautomatic Vista update, and suggested it be turned off, which I have also done. I'm inclined to believe this based on the number of similar complaints I observed by many users in various forums.Microsoft may need to work on a patch to correct this issue, and when readyI will be pleased to download it. Until them auto updates remain off. Problem is now fixed. Regards and good luck!

I am trying to install my HP Deskjet F340all-in-one.My system tells me that I do not have permission because I am not the Administrator.I need to know how to become the administrator. I am not computer savey granted, but I try. Please help me.

I recently posted the following solution in another forum. Please let me know if it helps. As for the error message I received when trying to logon as administrator, it read "The user profile service failed the logon. The user profile cannot be found". There is only one administrator account. The other user (my child) can logon but does not have privaledges, so this doesn't help. The good news is that I found the solution in another tech forum. The solution requires the computer to be turned off, restarted in safe mode by pressing F12 key as it begins to boot up. Select Safe Mode and follow instructions. I then was able to roll back my computer to a date on which I knew there was no issue. In this case I selected Nov. 1st. But, in the other forum the user suggested Nov. 13th was the date this occurred to him. Hefelt that the problem was caused by anautomatic Vista update, and suggested it be turned off, which I have also done. I'm inclined to believe this based on the number of similar complaints I observed by many users in various forums.Microsoft may need to work on a patch to correct this issue, and when readyI will be pleased to download it. Until them auto updates remain off. Problem is now fixed. It may be a good idea to post more explicitely the exact steps users should take to solve this issue. Kind Regards P. de Cleir

When I try to log on it tells me "user profile service failed login- user profile cannot be loaded"

The following was copied from: http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/43191-user-profile-service-failed-logon.html I'm new to Vista so I asked my wizz friend and then I managed to solve the problem:1. I closed down.2. Turned computer on and immediately pressed F8 repeatedly until I got "Advanced Boot Options".3. used the down arrow to select "Safe Mode" and pressed enter.4. computer then opened eventually in the funny look of safe mode, with a "Help" window.5. In the help window there is an underlined "What is System Restore?" Clicking on that gave me the answer and "Click to open System Restore"6. I clicked on that and a new window came up recommending restoring to a previous state before windows update which I had done before the fault occurred.7. I clicked OK and after a bit of whirring all came up OK. Can you imagine how pleased I felt?8. Incidentally I had also changed the display font size to the larger size just before the fault occurred so while in Safe Mode I managed to remember how I had done that and changed it back again as that may have caused the fault.

I cannot login in as an administrator. I can only log in as a guest.When Itype my password in my user account (as administrator) it shows "user profile service failed the login- user profile cannot be loaded.

Did you try and log in as administrator in safe mode?

I' running xp sp3 home ed, suddenly i can't get into m/s updates (yes, i have auto updates ON) they say I have to log on as the computer administrator. I thought i was the administrator since it's my computer in my house. I went to m/s support and got document kb 316524 and ran the 5 methods to try and correct problem with no results. So HOW do I log on as the ADMINISTRATOR ?

I am having the same problem, my daughter some how is the admin. instead of me i don't know how she did it but she can not remember her password I need help badly.

The collective should not bargain with subordinates, that is the message M.S. has taken...format the drive and re-install an "old" copy of XP. Nobody knows why yet but Vista sucks still after 1 year of "torture"

I have other computers but a friend gave my son a laptop before moving to the east coast.to login it states administrator plus we don't know the password

http://www.loginrecovery.com/ you can try this for the password recovery

To log In as ADMINISTRATOR In XP Just Press (Ctrl+Alt+Del) Two Times In The Logon Screen And Type In ADMINISTRATOR.

EdwinSmith wrote: I have enabled the Administrator account and set a password but I cannot login as the administrator. How can this be done? Edwin

When I select the icon for administrator it wont load. It just sits there.

i cannot download programs because my windows keep saying i need to sign in as an administrator,i have set up an admistraror password but i get the same results.please help.thank you

Oh Good! But....what is theUPN?????? Please! Thanks, Sue

There is no [Users and Groups] option under [Manage]. Are you sure you are referring to Windows Vista?

What a BS answer! MS has failed the people by not allowing a TRUE administrator! I can't even run chkdsk on MY system because I'm not the "Administrator". It is not up to MS to decide who has the power to do what on MY machine. That's MY business and should be set the way that I want it! I'm getting sick and tired of trying to do something only to be told I'm not authorized! I bought this machine, not Bill Gates! I want access to all areas of MY computer to do what I want with MY computer! You people at MS need to fix this ASAP!

With Windows Home Premium, there is not Users and Groups under Manage! So how else can this hidden admin be activated so I can be that person? With this being a home computer, you would think I would have full rights to my computer and the ability to setup any other users and restrict them, such as kids. I was told if I want this, I have to spend MORE money to get Vista Ultimate. This is just wrong! If MS isn't going to give us our right to full access to the system we bought then it's time for some class action to get a fix in place to give us that right. This is rediculous! Absurd!

Try this I found it on the google search once After experimentation with both Home Basic and Home Premium, only two steps are necessary to unhide the administrator account, no registry changes are required.Step 1: Open a command window by going to all programs -> accessories and choosing the dos box, right click and RUN AS ADMINISTRATORStep 2: type the following: net user Administrator /active:yes and hit enterStep 3: type the following: net user Administrator Password (where Password is whatever you want the admin password to be) and hit enterType exit to close the dos box, reboot and your computer should present you with the option to login to your own account or the administrator account. That administrator password will be the one you set in the net user command above.Use at own risk both my copy's are Ultimate and Business and I have always used the hidden account from day one on my 3 systems less problems just have to run good security.

Sandman, if you were here I would order you a beer! Thank you! That worked out just fine for me. Now all I have to do is do that on 2 more laptops and I think we will be good to go. I still can't believe I can't set my own admin ID to do any and every thing. That's just plain crazy. Maybe MS will realize not everyone is a neophyte user and some may even want to have more control over children's accounts. Thanks again Sandman. Your google search worked just fine on a Vista Home Premium edition.

your very welcome and I did beta testing on Vista way back in November and i found out the hard way about the full Admin account and when i started using the full Admin acccount from the start I elimated a lot of my problem and softwarte that would not run or give me all kinds of problims with the regular admin account worked great like a diffeerent computer but. I fell for people who say vista did this and vista did that when it is usually the software or hardware or the user that is the vista problem i have 3 systems running from day one and they have reliability rating of 98.0 or better most of the time so that tell you they are not having problems I run Symantic corparate adtivirus and Zlone Alarm Pro for protection and i built all my systems myself buying most of the parts fro Newegg and also built one for my brother in law wwho has no problems with Vista either. The systems run 24-7 only shut down to unload the ram from time to time or clean fans and sorry for the spelling and typing have cateracts in both eys. Glad I could help

Mr. Sandman51; and Mr. Wael_e; I have to tell you, you are the man, I tried your advice it worked very well, now I'm able to do more things than ever, I even install QuickBooks 2005 in vista, can you imagine that?. Thanks a lot

Thanks you save my time. I finally log in as administrator

I don't have a [Users and Groups] option under [Manage] so now what?

Hi Elizabeth, HP F340 Driver printer called the printer drivers without any permission from the address link for download. I hope I could help.

i think he has the same problem as me i personally am trying to use a security program to fix problems on my computer and it says i need an administrator to activate it and the account i'm using is an administrator but it still says that, so any ideas on what to do?

Well, I would suggest that ITS MY COMPUTER and if I want to access the system file permissions I will do so.

I hate windows 7, I hate windows 7 I hate windows 7 Why is this thing so difficult, I cannot even log in as asministrator, how do you even get to the administrator account. This thing is awful. It says I'm an administrator yet I cannot change attributes on a file, it says there is an administrator account yet you can't get to it. MS has created a monster here. Windows 7 64 pro os is terrible