Here is some interesting information if you did not know it already. If you have signed in to your Windows PC with the built-in administrator account, you cannot open Microsoft Edge browser or several other Windows apps. If you try to do it, you will receive the following message:
This app can’t open. Microsoft Edge can’t be opened using the Built-in Administrator account. Sign in with a different account and try again.
Microsoft Edge can’t be opened using the Built-in Administrator account
This is a security feature. But if you need to open Edge when signed in with the built-in admin account for whatever reason, here is what you need to do. This works everywhere except for Windows 10 Home.
- Open Run Prompt, type secpol.msc, press Enter, and navigate to the following security setting:
Secuirty Settings > Local Policies > Security Options
- Here double-click on User Account Control Admin Approval Mode for the Built-in Administrator account to open its Properties box and set the policy to Enabled.
The explanation of this policy is as follows:
This policy setting controls the behavior of Admin Approval Mode for the built-in Administrator account. The options are (1) Enabled: The built-in Administrator account uses Admin Approval Mode. By default, any operation that requires elevation of privilege will prompt the user to approve the operation. (2) Disabled: (Default) The built-in Administrator account runs all applications with full administrative privilege.
- Click Apply and exit.
Read: How to find the Registry key for the corresponding Group Policy setting?
If you are using Windows 10 Home, do the following:
- Create a system restore point and then Run regedit to open the Registry Editor.
- Navigate to the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies \System
- In the right pane, create a new DWORD value named FilterAdministratorToken and set it to 0.
- Also, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Policies \System \UIPI
- Once here, change the default REG_SZ string key from Value not set to 0x00000001(1) and exit.
Change UAC setting
- Open Control Panel > User Accounts. Select Change User Account Control settings.
- The Slider should be set to the 3rd option from the bottom.
- Click the OK button, restart your computer, and check.
I hope this works for you.
Now look at this Group Policy Settings Reference Guide for a wealth of information about Group Policy settings.
How to disable the built-in administrator account in Windows?
You can use the Local Users and Groups under MMC, and disable the administrator account using its properties. You can also run the command net user administrator /active:no to disable from the console.
