Can't effectively change my user account type from Administrator to Standard User

Question

Hello,

I have a problem I couldn't find an answer to.

I try to change my personal account type on my laptop from Administrator to Standard User, but it doesn't seem to work.

First, I created a new admin account, signed out from my personal account, and signed in to the new admin account.

I went to Change Account Settings > Family and other people > [Personal Account] > Change account type > Account type: Standard User. On the admin account it seems to have worked (displays the Standard User type for my personal account), but after logging in to the personal account under Change Account Settings the account type for said account is Administrator.

Then, I tried to change the type with netplwiz, to both Users and HomeUsers groups, but after logging in to the personal account - it still has administrative privileges.

Then, I tried changing the type with net localgroup users and net localgroup administrators - the results are the same.

I tried this with a built-in local Administrator account as well - no change. Tried adding my new admin account to my Microsoft Family - no change.

The problem seems the same to this one: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_7-security/changing-a-user-account-from-administrator-to/c9b52329-032f-4f8a-a84b-6bbbd3cb4f75 - it's a shame the Microsoft staff gave him a non-answer. I seem to be dealing with option #3.

Anyhoo, I tried everything I could think of or find online, but nothing worked. I need to change the account type, but I don't want to format my hard drive or re-install Windows.

I would *really* appreciate some help. Thanks in advance!

Moved from: Windows / Windows 10 / Windows settings

Answer 1

I would *really* appreciate some help. Thanks in advance!

-> Let's forget about all the GUI stuff and get straight to a set of effective administrator commands. Here you go:

1. Log on under an admin account.
2. Create a shortcut for cmd.exe.
3. Right-click it, then left-click Run as administrator.
4. Type the following commands:

net  users

(to get a list of user accounts)

net  localgroup  administrators

(to see which accounts have admin privileges)

net  localgroup   administrators  "John Doe"  /del

(to demote John  Doe)

net  localgroup   administrators  "Mary Smith"  /add

(to promote Mary Smith)

Be careful. If you have only one admin account (which is high-risk stuff) and if you demote this account then you will be in deep trouble.

You will also be in deep trouble in case something goes wrong with your one and only admin account. Happens all the time . . .

Answer 2

Hi, thanks for your reply!

Unfortunately, I already tried your idea and it didn't work...

I have two admin accounts, (1) the new one I want to use b******************.com and (2) the built-in Administrator account I activated temporarily. The account I've been using for a long time (the one I want to change to a Standard User type) is u*********.pl

Here's the cmd log for net localgroup with the commands you recommended:

C:\Users\b****>net users

User accounts for \H*****

---

Admin                    Administrator            Gość

Konto domyślne           postgres                 u*********.pl

WDAGUtilityAccount

The command completed successfully.

C:\Users\b****>net localgroup administratorzy    # (administrators)

Alias name     administratorzy

Comment        Administratorzy mają pełny i nieograniczony dostęp do komputera/domeny

Members

---

Admin

Administrator

LOCAL

MicrosoftAccount\b******************.com

NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE

The command completed successfully.

C:\Users\b****>net localgroup użytkownicy  # (users)

Alias name     użytkownicy

Comment        Użytkownicy nie mogą przeprowadzać przypadkowych ani celowych zmian na poziomie całego systemu i mogą uruchamiać większość aplikacji.

Members

---

MicrosoftAccount\u*********.pl

NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users

NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE

u*********.pl

The command completed successfully.

As you can see, everything looks as it should.

Ever since I changed the Account type in GUI, from the b******************.com's side the u*********.pl's type is Standard User:

I logged off and logged into u*********.pl

Win+R -> netplwiz:

It seems all right, doesn't it? Let's see Account Settings from u*********.pl's side:

Administrator... Plus, this account really does have administrative privileges.

So - how can I fix this? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

BM.

PS: Some things are in Polish (it was the default language, but I changed it to US English), so:

Użytkownicy is Users

Administratorzy is Administrators

Gość is Guest

Konto domyślne is Default Account.

Answer 3

It would be helpful if you could execute the instructions in my Step 4 while your language is set to English, then copy the screen output into your reply like so:

d:>net  users

User accounts for \SPRING

---

Administrator            Config                   DefaultAccount

FLong                        Guest

The command completed successfully.

d:>net localgroup administrators

Alias name     administrators

Comment        Administrators have complete and unrestricted access to the computer/domain

Members

---

Administrator

Config

FLong

The command completed successfully.

Answer 4

Hi,

the group names are set like that regardless of the language I use (and the language is already set to English) - that's because Windows was originally in Polish - I can't change them (or at least just don't know how).

BM

Answer 5

The group names are set like that regardless of the language I use (and the language is already set to English) - that's because Windows was originally in Polish - I can't change them (or at least just don't know how)

Since the stuff you posted is pure text, you could paste it into your reply while replacing the Polish text with English.