Windows 10: Can I generate a Standard account that is the same as my Admin acct?

Accidentally posted this in a solved thread - sorry if you're re-seeing it.

I set up my Surface book by using the Win 10 Admin account to install programs, port my files from the old PC, change preferences (no Cortana, hover-to-select/single-click-to-open, task bar and live-tiles customized, and a lot of security settings changed). Now that all these changes have been made, some of which might have been difficult or unavailable in a Standard account, I'm ready to settle into daily use of the PC. Most articles say daily use should be done in a Standard account so I made a local one via Settings/Accounts/Family & Other People/Add Someone Else to This PC/I don't have this person's sign-in info etc. I thought the Admin account would act as a master template such that any Standard account it spawned would be the same minus the privileges that make the Admin account less safe for everyday use (and that the Standard account could be further restricted once generated). BUT...


A quick look at the new Standard account shows at least some of my customizations did not carry overy... Cortana is on; single-click/double-click is required to select/open; and my taskbar and live tile arrangements are back to default. And my files are not available (I'm guessing this could be fixed by sharing). So I'm assuming many of my other changes (including security tweaks) are off in the new Standard account too.

If I make a new Admin account (or I switch my Standard to Admin) then switch my original Admin account to Standard account as suggested in a recent thread then my daily use (Standard) account will be set up as I like it but the new Admin account won't be.

How can a generate a Standard account which is exactly like my Admin account (of course it won't have the privileges but that's the point)? I don't want to make all the changes manually again and I read about cloning via Audit Mode/Sysprep but even if this does what I want it's beyond me. Thanks.

:)

 

Can I create a new account with the same email as a deleted one?

Hi,

Glad to know the issue is fixed. I appreciate the troubleshooting you tried on the computer. Please post in case you have any further issues, We will be glad to help you.

Thank you.

 

Can I create a new account with the same email as a deleted one?

Nevermind! I have figured out that the solution was to sign completely out of my microsoft account on my computer (meaning that I was using a local account), and sign back in!

 

The Standard account is very limited. Just do not use the built-in Administrator account for your everyday work as it is a super administrator just like the "root" user in Linux. You need to create a new administrator account for everyday work, not the standard account.

 

Hmmm... I don't know man. Laptopmag.com writes "We advise all Windows users to operate their PCs primarily from regular/limited accounts" (http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/li...nts-windows-10) and many other PC-oriented web sites offer the same advice. If I can generate a Standard user account that is the same (other than having limited privileges) as the Admin account I used to set up the PC with, it seems like it would be safer to go that route. But, I did not realize there were different types of Admin accounts - I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

 

Does the lack of response mean that every time you'all want to add a standard account to an already set up PC you manually make the changes to preferences and security that you want all accounts on the PC to have? Isn't there a way to make a newly generated Standard account just like the Admin account that generated it (minus various rights) so that there is continuity from account to account?

 

From a security standpoint, I recommend using a Standard account for daily use for each user and a separate Admin account for PC maintenance. You can change the account type if you wish but always ensure you have at least one Admin account.