adminstrator access lost

Question

I have a computer from a former employee, he was set up as administrator and no longer remembers the password. How do I change the administrator

Answer 1

I suggest to perform clean install and then setup a new account for you.

Here's a detailed community guide for this:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2338451/how-to-make-clean-install-of-windows-11-article

Answer 2

Hi! Only if you have access to another administrator account on the PC, you can sign in with that other admin account and either reset the old local account’s password through Computer Management > Local Users and Groups > Users > Set Password, or change another user to Administrator from Settings > Accounts > Other users > Change account type. Microsoft’s guidance also confirms that account-type changes are done from Accounts > Other users in Windows.

If there is no other working administrator account on the device, there is no supported shortcut to take over that admin profile directly; in that case the practical options are to recover the original account or rebuild the PC and create a new administrator account.