Are all Administrator accounts on Windows equal?

Question

I set up a new Windows 7 machine with a username and password during the initial setup. This username/password combination is used to log in to a Linux Samba server. What I didn't consider at the time was the fact that this account was initially an Administrator account but has now been downgraded to a normal user account.

I would like to know if any new Administrator accounts that I create have the same privileges as the one created during the initial OS setup.

I have the feeling that the initial Administrator account used to set up Windows is somehow 'special' and needed for certain tasks which can't be executed by any other admin users created later on.

Can someone kindly clarify this?

Answer 1

Any additional administrator accounts that you create will all have the same privileges as the first administrator account you create during setup.

You may be thinking of the built-in administrator account, named Administrator by default. This account has a lot more privileges than a regular administrator account.

Generally if you don't need it to troubleshoot, don't use it.

You may disable this account using the following in a command prompt:

net user administrator /active:no

To re-enable, type:

net user administrator /active:yes

If you would like more information, this link from 'how to geek' will help.

Answer 2

Maybe in the days of Windows XP, as there was a main Administrator account which was called Administrator. However, after the introduction of Windows Vista and UAC the main Administrator user is hidden, as it’s controlled in the background by UAC.

So in Windows 7, creating an account at setup time and after setup will result in the save privileges as they are simply normal users that are a member of the Administrators group.