This article mentions various methods to fix your disabled administrator account on Windows 11/10. To access most of the features, you need administrator privilege on your PC. And, if you are not able to access the administrator account for some reason, it can prevent you from doing a lot of things on your computer. If you are facing a disabled administrator account problem, look no further. Here, I will be discussing some solutions to resolve this issue.
Administrator Account has been disabled on Windows 11/10
Here are the methods that you can try if you are unable to access the administrator account on Windows 11/10:
- Restart Windows in Safe Mode
- Activate Administrator account through Command Prompt
- Use Registry Editor
- Fix it through Group Policy Editor
- Create a new Administrator Account
- Use PowerShell to Enable Hidden Administrator Account
Let’s discuss these solutions in detail!
1] Restart Windows in Safe Mode
Check if you can log on to Windows as an administrator in Safe Mode even when your administrator account is disabled. To boot Windows in Safe mode:
- Open the Settings app by pressing Windows + I shortcut key and then go to Updates & Security > Recovery tab.
- Go to the Advanced Setup section and click on the Restart now button.
- As Windows attempts to restart your system, you will see some options on the screen including Troubleshoot; click on it.
- Then, click on Advanced options > Startup Settings and you will see an option called Enable Safe Mode.
- Press the key assigned for Enable Safe Mode option and then Windows will start in safe mode.
Once there, see if you can log in. One in, do the following:
- Open Computer Management
- Expand Local Users and Groups
- Click Users, right-click Administrator in the right pane
- Click Properties.
- Click to clear the Account is disabled check box, and then click OK.
2] Activate Administrator account through Command Prompt
Try activating the administrator account using the command prompt and see if it is able to fix the problem. You can follow the below steps for that:
- First, press and hold the Shift key and then tap on the Restart option on your login screen. This will take you to Advanced Boot Options.
- Now, click on the Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt option
- Choose a user account and enter the password to it.
- When the Command Prompt opens up, execute this command in it:
net user administrator /active:yes - Reboot your PC and check.
The above suggestions will help you if it is your admin account that has disabled.
The following suggestions will require you to be signed in as an administrator. So if it is someone else’s Admin account that has been disabled, you can try to re-enable it using the usual method or try these suggestions.
3] Use Registry Editor
Open Command Prompt using steps mentioned in method (2). Now, type regedit in CMD and press Enter button. Doing so will open up Registry Editor.
In Registry Editor, select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE present in the left panel and then click File > Load Hive option.
Next, browse the following location on your PC: C:\Windows\System32\config.
Here, you will see a file named SAM; click and open it.
Now, you need to go to the following path in Registry Editor:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\Domains\Account\Users
In this location, you will see a 000001F4 key which you need to select. And then, double-click on the F binary value present on the right side.
Now, check for 0038 entry and see the first column showing 11. Replace this value with 11/10.
Finally, press the OK button and then close both Registry Editor and CMD to reboot your PC.
This should fix the disabled administrator account issue on Windows 11/10.
Related: How to Enable or Disable built-in Administrator account in Windows 11/10.
4] Fix it through Group Policy Editor
Group Policy Editor allows you to configure several policies and can be used to control user accounts. You can use it to fix disabled administrator account on Windows 10 PC by following below steps:
Open Run app using Windows Key + R hotkey. Type gpedit.msc and then click on OK to open Group Policy Editor.
In the Group Policy Editor, go to the following option:
Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options
You will now see an Accounts: Administrator account status option in the right panel. Double click this option and a Properties window will open up.
Make sure the Enabled option is selected. If not, click on it and then press Apply > OK button.
5] Create a new Administrator Account
Try creating a new admin account on your PC if you still get a disabled administrator account problem. You can create a user account and then convert it to an Administrator account. Use the Settings app to create a new administrator account by following the below instructions:
- Open the Settings app and go to Accounts > Family & other users option.
- Now, select Add someone else to this PC option from the right panel.
- On the next prompt, select I don’t have this person’s sign-in information option.
- Next, select Add a user without a Microsoft account, then enter the preferred name and password for your account, and then press the Next button.
- You will now see the newly added account on the Accounts page. To make it an Administrator account, click on it and then select the Account Type option under it.
- Set the Account Type to Administrator and press the OK button.
This will create an administrator account that you can start using.
6] Use PowerShell to Enable Hidden Administrator Account
Another trick to fix the disabled administrator account issue is to try enabling the hidden administrator account using Powershell.
Press Windows + X key to open up the shortcut menu and select Windows Powershell (Admin) option from it.
Alternately, go to the search box and type PowerShell and then open the Powershell app using the Run as administrator option.
Next, type and execute this command in Powershell:
Enable-LocalUser -Name "Administrator"
Doing so should enable you to access your administrator account on Windows 11/10.
Hopefully, this guide was helpful in case you were unable to access your administrator account on Windows 11/10.
Now read: Your IT administrator has disabled Windows Security
