Viewing and Creating Windows Administrators

Logins to most computers within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are restricted to NetID logins.

When a computer is set up, ordinarily one more specific users are added as an administrator account. Administrator accounts have the ability to install software, access the files of other users, modify system settings, and set other users as administrators. If your account is not designated as an administrator then it is a user access level account then your account is restricted and you only have access to files within your own account and you cannot modify the system.

Any user can view the current user list. The steps for doing so are below.

Viewing Existing Windows Administrative Accounts

Right click on “Computer” (sometimes called “This PC” or “My Computer” on different versions Windows) from within the Start Menu or from the desktop.

Note: On some newer versions of Windows or in some configurations the Computer option will not be shown. You can right click on the desktop and use the “Personalize” option to enter into “Change desktop icons” to add the Computer option to the desktop.

screen shot of Windows operating system dialogue box

Select the option for “Manage” from the list to open the “Computer Management” console.

From within the “Computer Management” console browse in the navigation tree, found on the left window pane, to Computer Management (Local) \ System Tools \ Local Users and Groups \ Groups.

In the right window pane double click on “Administrators” to open the properties for that group.

A list of users and groups that have administrator access to the computer are listed within the “Administrators Properties” window dialog. The ones that will be of interest to you will most likely be listed by their NetIDs.

And administrator account can modify the administrators list. You can use this access to set other users as administrator. Please be careful though because you also have the ability to remove administrator access from your account, which would provide you with a User level account with restricted access.

Creating New Windows Administrative Accounts

Right click on “Computer” (sometimes called “This PC” or “My Computer” on different versions Windows) from within the Start Menu or from the desktop.

Select the option for “Manage” from the list to open the “Computer Management” console.

From within the “Computer Management” console browse in the navigation tree, found on the left window pane, to Computer Management (Local) \ System Tools \ Local Users and Groups \ Groups.

In the right window pane double click on “Administrators” to open the properties for that group.

Use the Add button to add additional accounts to the list that should have administrator access. It is recommended you add them by their associated NetIDs, although you can often add them as “last_name, first_name” as well, but that often can result in adding a similarly named person to the list rather than the person you desire to have admin access.

Note: You can also select accounts listed in the “members” section and use the Remove button to delete them from the access list.