How to enable the built-in Administrator account so that LAPS can managed it on computers that have the Administrator account disabled?

Question

Hello MS Q&A! I hope you guys can help. We are deploying LAPS and I am running into a problem with computers that do not have the built-in Administrator account enabled. We already have a GPO that will enable LAPS to all computers but it will not work if the built-in Administrator account is disabled. I know to enable it we also need to apply a password to the account. Below is a list of what I want to do...

1. Enable the built-in administrator account
2. Change built-in Administrator account
3. Have LAPS take over its password management (we already have LAPS GPO, but any suggestions are welcome)

The idea is to enable the built-in Administrator account, change its name, and then have LAPS manage the account. I am testing a GPO we created and it is not enabling the account on some computers that do not have this account already enabled.

Your support is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

To enable the local admin account via GP see the following link http://woshub.com/enable-built-in-administrator-account-in-windows-10/#:~:text=Go%20to%20Computer%20Configuration%20%2D%3E%20Windows,or%20just%20reboot%20your%20computer.

How to rename the admin / guest accounts: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/windows-security/rename-administrator-and-guest-account