Windows 10: Is it possible that all local Windows 10 Administrator accounts have been deleted?

Looking for some help for my aged father's computer. He was trying to "tidy" things up and I think may have inadvertently removed all the local Administrator accounts. He can now only log in with a standard user credential. All signs of Admin accounts are gone.

Before I dive too deep into reinstalling Windows I was just curious if anyone knows if it's even possible to have done that.

I've found lots of help solutions like:

https://www.isumsoft.com/windows-10/lost-administrator-rights-in-windows-10.html#:~:text=Option%201%3A%20Get%20back%20lost,someone%20else%20to%20this%20PC.

(but this requires you first log in as an Admin)

Or this:

https://www.top-password.com/blog/uac-yes-button-gone-or-grayed-out-in-windows-10/

(but I get an access denied error on the first net user... line)

Thanks.

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:)

 

Deleting an Local Administrator Account

Hello Thanks for your reply, I red the article and followed the steps within my capacity, however still having the same problem technically I do not see the delete link at the Administrator Account like it is at the other one...So confusing pls check the image - Thanks

 

Strange Windows 10 User Account issue.

Unfortunately I had done those steps numerous reboots, it just, reappears for no good reason. The base account isn't even a Microsoft account, it's a local account.

I haven't quite tried the built in administrator account on W10, but so far in my experience on my own computer, the built in account seemed to have absolutely no more control than I did on my own.

It's just strange, I go in, it warns me twice about deleting the account, then it's gone. Reboot, and it's back?

EDIT: Just to specify, both command line and Netplwiz both say only HIS account exists on the computer, it doesn't list this rogue account. This is what I meant in my first post about the fact that even Windows doesn't seem to believe it exists, HALF the time. *Frown

 

Deleting an Local Administrator Account

Welcom to TenForums @Shahjahan

OK, let's get this problem clearly defined.

You say you created a local administrator account, you also talk about your 'original' account. Can you tell us which is which in the images you posted? You also say you followed the steps in the article. That would have enabled the built-in Administrator account.

Your first screenshot shows a gmail account with the name obscured. This would be a Microsoft account as it has an email address as its name. I assume this is the one you call 'original'.

The second screenshot shows the built-in Administrator account. This is a system account, it cannot ever be deleted as is a necessary part of Windows. You cannot create an account named 'Administrator' either, this is a reserved name, along with others like 'Guest', so that is NOT the account you think you created.

It would appear you have just the two active accounts, your original one with the gmail name and the built-in Administrator. What was the name of the local account you thought you had created?

To see a full list of all the accounts on your system, whether enabled for log in or not, open a Command Prompt (Admin) and type the command net users

You will see your user accounts, along with a number of other accounts used by the system. Administrator, DefaultAccount and Guest are built-in accounts, WDAGUtilityAccount is used by Windows Defender in version 1803, but may not exist in earlier versions. Any other names are your user accounts.

For each user account, type the command net user accountname (using each actual name instead of 'accountname'). Only accounts that say 'Account active Yes' will be visible in the screenshots you posted.

It may be that the account you tried to create is not active/enabled, if so, you need to make it active (as you did for Administartor) before you can manage it in Settings.