How to handle Admin user and password prompt and disable that on my small business laptop?

Question

Hello I just purchased a DELL laptop 3190 with Windows 10 Pro Education for my small business. When setting up the laptop, it asked whether I wanted to login with Personal or Business profile. I clicked Business and entered my Business email and password which is an admin account with Business Basic subscription. Once logged in however, I am unable to download any software or make system changes through settings such as renaming PC or doing a factory reset as a window pops up asking for admin user and password. I have tried to enter the admin user and password for the business based on my admin profile from admin.microsoft.com but it does not accept it and the window keeps popping up asking for the admin user and password again and I am unable to proceed with any software installations or system settings changes. I am at a loss of how to proceed. Even if I want to reset the laptop so that I can re-start the process again, I am unable to do so as it continues to ask for admin user and password.

Can someone help? I have tried contacting microsoft but not getting any support

Answer 1

Hello, Bizuser

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

Thank you for reaching out. I completely understand how frustrating and confusing this situation can be. You’ve purchased a laptop for your business, you’re the administrator of your business account, yet the laptop itself won’t let you do anything. It feels like you’re locked out of your own device.

When you set up the laptop and chose “For work or school,” you did something very specific: you joined the laptop to your Microsoft 365/Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) organization.

You can think of your Microsoft 365 admin account as being the administrator of your company’s “cloud office building.” You can add or remove tenants (users), manage mailboxes, and more.

The local administrator of the laptop is the person who holds the “master key” to the device itself.

For security reasons, when users join a device to an organization, Windows does not automatically grant them local admin privileges on the PC. They are treated as standard users. This is designed to prevent employees in large organizations from installing unauthorized software or making critical changes.

The pop-up you’re seeing is Windows’ User Account Control (UAC) asking for a local administrator password. But because the device was joined to the organization, no local administrator account was created for you, and your cloud admin password doesn’t work here—it’s part of a different system.

You’re stuck in a loop: you can’t make changes without local admin rights, and you can’t grant local admin rights without making changes.

You have two main paths you can try:

Path 1: The Proper Business Approach

This involves using your cloud admin role to grant your user account local admin rights on this laptop.

1. Go to admin.microsoft.com and sign in using your business admin email and password.
2. In the left navigation pane, click “Show all”, then select “Entra ID”. This will take you to the Microsoft Entra admin center.
3. In Entra, navigate to Devices > Device Settings.
4. Find the setting called “Additional local administrators on all Microsoft Entra joined devices” and click it.
5. On the new page, you can add users or groups who will automatically become local administrators on all devices joined to your organization.
6. Click “No members selected”, then search and select your own user account. Click “Select”, then “Save”.

Important: This change is not immediate. It can take some time to sync with your laptop. Once done, restart your Dell laptop (you may need to force shutdown by holding the power button). After rebooting and connecting to the internet, your account should now have local administrator rights, and the admin prompt should either accept your credentials or disappear altogether.

Path 2: The Escape Hatch (Simplest Way for One User/Device)

This involves resetting the laptop and setting it up as a standalone PC, bypassing the business management features.

1. At the Windows login screen (where you’re asked to enter a password), find the Power icon in the lower right corner.
2. Hold the SHIFT key on your keyboard, then click the Power icon and select Restart.
3. Keep holding SHIFT until the blue options screen appears. You are now in Windows Recovery Environment.
4. Select Troubleshoot.
5. Select Reset this PC.
6. Choose Remove everything. This will wipe the laptop and take you through the setup process from scratch.

The PC will restart and begin the Windows setup process (Out-of-Box Experience, or OOBE).

Here’s the critical part:

• Follow the setup steps (language, keyboard, etc.).
• When you reach “How would you like to set up this device?”, choose “For personal use”. Do NOT select “For work or school” again.

After selecting “For personal use,” Windows will prompt you to create a local user account or sign in with a personal Microsoft account.

This account will become the default local administrator, giving you full control over the laptop.

You can still install Office and use your business email afterward.

If It Still Asks for an Admin Password…

You may need to perform a custom/clean installation of Windows.

1. Download the ISO from Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO Follow the instructions there.
2. As long as you don’t format the C: drive, your data won’t be lost—they’ll be moved to C:\Windows.old.
3. Be aware: This only preserves personal files, not apps. You will need to reinstall all software.

Steps:

1. Create a bootable USB using the Windows ISO.
2. Enter BIOS/UEFI and change the boot order to boot from the USB.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Enter your product key, or click “I don’t have one” to skip (Windows will auto-activate later).
5. Choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
6. Select the C: drive and click Next to install.

This second path is the most straightforward way to regain full control of your new laptop and get a clean setup.

Best wishes

Kai Ho | Microsoft Q&A Support Specialist