Windows 10: How do you change or switch an administrator user

Whenever I try to download an app there is a pop up that tells me I need administrator access. But I do not have the password as this laptop was a gift. Whenever I try to change the password it says access is denied so how am I supposed to fix this

:)

 

How do you change a user account to an administrator account in Windows 10?

Hi Fiona,

Welcome to the Microsoft Community.

I would suggest you to go to control panel and check your user account status. Right click on the start button and select control panel in the menu. In the control panel, click on the 'view by' option in the top right and select 'large icons'. Now, click
on 'User accounts' and check if your account is listed as Administrator. If it is not displayed as Admin account, click on the option 'Change user account type' and select 'Administrator' and apply changes. Try these steps and let us know the results. If you
have already tried, please let us know what all troubleshooting steps you have tried so far, so that we can provided you suggestion accordingly.

 

Cant switch users in Windows 10

Hi Sarah,



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I apologize for the inconvenience caused. We are glad to help you.



Please share a few details:

• 
  What exactly happens when you try to switch users?
  
• 
  Do you receive any error message/code?
  
• 
  Did you make any changes to the computer prior to this issue?
  

I suggest you to follow the below steps to Switch users.

• 
  Press Ctrl + Alt + Del key altogether.
  
• 
  Click on Switch User.
  
• 
  Select the user with which you want to login.
  

If computer starts up with a user other than the one you want, login to that user account and switch user to the account that you need and check.



Hope this information helps. Do contact us for further queries. We will be happy to assist you.



Regards,

Jenith

 

User.000 issue after updating to 1909

I'm one of the many people suffering from issues with user profiles after applying Update 1909 to Windows 10. I've read all the threads I can find on the topic here and have followed the suggestions, all to no avail. Any other thoughts are appreciated.

After applying Update 1909, the ProfileImagePath was changed to c:\users\User.000
One file that was always in use and couldn't be removed was left in c:\users\User (can't recall or find the exact file now), so I could never rename or remove the c:\user\User directory.

I followed the multiple suggestions from Brink and others:

• Rebooted at least 6 times
• Enabled hidden Administrator
• Booted into Safe Mode
• Changed ProfileImagePath
• Tried to rename c:\users\User but couldn't because a file was still in use
• Copied all data from c:\users\User.000 into c:\users\User
• Rebooted and had temporary profile
• Followed steps in Brink tutorial to change ImageProfilePath; rebooted with no change
• Restored using Restore Point from before Update 1909 - returned to single profile state (User.000)
• Removed each update that was installed individually and rebooted after each update removal - profile state never changed
• After all updates were removed, repeated the steps above with hidden Administrator, changing profile, etc. - same issue with file in use in c:\users\User
• Followed all steps above with hidden Administrator but without copying files from User.000 to User - same results

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!