Administrator privileges in new W11

Hi Greg Lyon,

I hope everything is going well. Have you managed to fix the problem on your side or anythings else I can help with? If the solution worked for you, please consider selecting “Accept Answer” to help others find it more easily. Much appreciated!

If you run:

net user administrator

this should display information about the local, built-in Administrator user account.

You will need to log in by using this account

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin

Hi Greg Lyon,

On a brand new Windows 11 device, especially one provided by an OEM like Dell, the built-in Administrator account is disabled by default and cannot be activated without existing administrative rights. The net user administrator /active:yes command requires elevated privileges to succeed, so if you are running it from a standard account, the change will not persist after reboot. This is expected behavior and not a bug.

To resolve this, you will need to sign in with an account that already has administrative rights, or contact your IT administrator if the device is domain-joined. If this is a personal machine, you should use the account created during the initial Windows setup, which is typically granted admin privileges. From there, you can enable the built-in Administrator account if needed, or create a new local administrator account.

You can try and let me know the result. If this explanation helps clarify the situation, please hit “Accept Answer” so I know your issue is resolved.

Jason.