Administrator account in Vista Business

Just rec'd a Dell PC with Vista Business, which I read was comparable to XP
Pro. Here's a couple of observations/questions:

a) In XP Pro, you set the Administrator password during initial set-up; that
step was not in Vista Business set-up. Formerly I could logon to the XP
local PC (not the domain) as Administrator, and install/uninstall programs,
as the users have restricted rights. Now, since I haven't set the
Administrator password, I'm not able to logon to the local box as admin
(Vista says I can't because I'm part of a domain and the account is
disabled). Luckily my initial account had administrator rights, but I've got
50 PCs set-up identically with Administrator, and this capability is not
readily apparent in Vista.

b) My company has a domain (something.local). I found it rather difficult to
to join the domain (finally had to right-mouse click on My Computer >
Properties, and initiate the old wizard). Network Connections in Vista is
competely different and poorer for the changes.

Please advise, and Thanks.

Hello,

a) The built-in "administrator" account has been depreciated in Windows
Vista. The intial account created by setup is an administrator account and
is intended to be used as the sole (or first) administrator account.

The built-in "administrator" account is disabled by default, and can only be
used in thgis disabled state in safe mode iff 1) the computer is NOT part of
a domain and 2) all other admin accounts on the computer have been deleted
or disabled


--
- JB
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Windows Vista Support Faq
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/

"Jimmy Brush" wrote:

> Hello,
>
> a) The built-in "administrator" account has been depreciated in Windows
> Vista. The intial account created by setup is an administrator account and
> is intended to be used as the sole (or first) administrator account.
>
> The built-in "administrator" account is disabled by default, and can only be
> used in thgis disabled state in safe mode iff 1) the computer is NOT part of
> a domain and 2) all other admin accounts on the computer have been deleted
> or disabled
>
>
> --
> - JB
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User
>
> Windows Vista Support Faq
> http://www.jimmah.com/vista/
>

Thanks Jimmy - I found a link that gave me an idea of what you're referring
to...

http://blog.jonudell.net/2007/03/08/...hink-it-means/

However, in safe mode, and when you have to use 'Administrator', what is the
default password (because I never set it)? I had this same problem when
trying to do a Win2K recovery way back when, being asked for password, and
never having set it. Never worked, and I'd always end up slaving the drive to
a working system, copying pertinent files, wiping the box, and starting over.

After figuring out admin privileges on Vista, I found my biggest issue is
switching between a domain and a dhcp connection. The whole network
connections interface has changed, and so far I've found it not very
intuitive or user-friendly.... but, I felt the same way about XP when it came
out, so I'll keep an open mind and keep pluggin away at learning the OS.
Thanks for the help.

Hello,

There is no password for the built-in "administrator" account.

I know for sure that the system will let you log in with this account (in
its default disabled and unpassworded state) in safe mode under the
conditions I listed previously.

I'm not sure what other scenarios it would work with given that it has a
blank password, even if you manually enabled this account.

I would recommend not using it at all and not relying on it being there.
Otherwise, enable it and put a strong password on it and only use it in case
of a dire emergency.

As far as privilege changes and the document you referenced, an easy way to
think about it is this:

Administrator accounts:

At an abstract level, The administrative user (referring here to the actual
physical person) HAS administrator privileges (should be able to perform
admin actions without authorization from anyone else), but must choose WHICH
programs can use these privileges that he possesses, using the prompt.

Programs he runs that either do not prompt ("Windows needs your permission
to continue") or he does not allow to run with admin privileges cannot use
his administrator privileges.

So technically, the administrative user is really a standard user, and is
only an administrator in the context of a program that he runs that prompts
for his permission.

It is important to note here that an administrator ONLY has ONE actual
account on the computer, even though some programs that he runs have admin
privs and some don't.

When he accepts a prompt, he is allowing that program to use the full
privileges assigned to his user account (AS OPPOSED TO the privielges
assigned to some other account on the computer); programs that do not prompt
receive a subset of the privileges assigned to his account).

Standard user:

At an abstract level, DOES NOT have admin privileges, and so cannot use such
privilege without the permission of an administrator.

If the standard user attempts to perform an admin action, by default the
system will prompt for an admin user/password. This is to allow an
administrator to allow the user to perform that action by physically walking
to the user's computer and entering their credentials.

This behavior can be turned off, so that standard users are not prompted for
admin user/password and are simply denied access.

So, an admin is still an admin and a standard user is still a standard user.
The difference now is that admin users only have admin power when they need
it, and standard users can get permission to do admin tasks much easier.

As far as networking goes, yes, there have been many, many changes in this
regard. Lots of new features with identifying networks, remembering the
properties of each, and being able to roam between different networks
without (much) user interaction.

The UI focus has shifted up an abstraction level - from the hardware used to
connect to the network to what network you are connected to (regardless of
the hardware being used) and the proprties of said network.

You can get back to the familiar hardware-based networking UI by clicking
"Manage network connections" from the network and sharing center.


--
- JB
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

Windows Vista Support Faq
http://www.jimmah.com/vista/