How do I enable the built-in administrator when locked out of the Windows 10 computer?As we know, once the built-in administrator is enabled, all of us can use it as another local administrator account to log in to the locked out computer.
Of course, you can enable the built-in administrator even when you're locked out of your Windows 10 computer. All you need is a Windows 10 system installation CD, which not only enables the built-in administrator, but also helps reset the Windows 10 password or create a new administrator account.
Both will help you log in to your locked Windows 10 computer again. Here you can learn how to enable Windows 10 Built-in Administrator using the installation disc.
Enable Windows 10 Built-in Administrator via the installation media
1. Prepare Windows 10 installation media and boot the locked computer from it.
If the installation media is a CD, simply plug it into your locked Windows 10 computer and boot the computer from it.
2. Press the "Shift+F10" key to run the command prompt on the system installation interface.
When the system installation process starts, and you see the Windows installer, press Shift+F10 and the command prompt will open.
3. Replace utilman.exe with cmd.exe.
If you want to eventually restore back to utilman.exe, it is recommended that you copy it first. Then type the command below in the command prompt to replace it with cmd.exe. As a result, instead of utilman.exe, you can open the cmd.exe later when you click the Utility Manager icon on the sign-in screen.
move d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe d:\
copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe
(d:\ is system disk) 4. Exit the installation media and restart the locked Windows 10.
Once that you have removed the installation media from your Windows 10 computer, go ahead and type the command "wpeutil reboot" in the command prompt. You'll then be able to restart your locked computer and successfully get to the sign-in screen.
5. Run the Command Prompt on the Windows 10 login screen.
At the bottom right of the Windows 10 sign-in screen, I believe you can see an icon called "Ease of Access". Just click on it and the command prompt will run, and you can enable the built-in administrator via the command line.
6. Use the command line on the Windows 10 login screen to enable the built-in administrator.
Please type the following command in the Command Prompt window, and then press Enter. The next time you boot Windows 10 from your hard drive, the built-in administrator will be enabled immediately on the login screen.
net user administrator /active:yes Tip: In addition to enabling built-in administrators, in this way, you can also reset your Windows 10 administrator password or create a new administrator using the command below.
Now as soon as you restart your computer, you will be able to find the enabled built-in administrator on the login screen of your Windows 10 login.
Note: If you want to undo the changes you made on your computer above, you will need to boot your computer again from the installation media in order to restore the utilman.exe using the command prompt.
move d:\utilman.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe