Windows 10: New Laptop do I need another User Account as well as Admin thats on it

I am puzzled. The user account that has the username Administrator is not supposed to be able to access Settings at all let alone the Settings, Accounts, Family & other people entry that you need to use.

Please clarify this. Click on the Start menu, hover your cursor over the user icon on its left. The username appears. This really says Administrator?

Denis

 

To add accounts, use this procedure. I recommend creating two Admin accounts and then creating the account you want for day-to-day use.

• All of them must be password-protected but I can then explain how to set the computer up so that you log in automatically when you restart the computer.
• The spare Admin accounts are for #1 Troubleshooting, #2 An unused fallback in case of user profile corruption afflicting the accounts that get used. We can discuss this afterwards.
• We will also need to discuss what to do with that account you found on your computer.

• Start button,
• Settings,
• Accounts,
• Family & other users,
• [Other users section],
• Add someone else to this PC,
• I don't have this person's sign-in information,
• Add a user without a Microsoft account,
• Write down the username and password that you are about to use [somewhere readily accessible yet secure from loss],
• Enter a username, password & password hint,
• Back in the list of other accounts you can now see in Family & other users, [Other users section],
• Click on the new account,
• Click on Change account type,
• Select the Administrator account type,
• OK.

Note 1 - Just in case you have heard of Password reset disks for local user accounts, note that they achieve nothing more than writing the password down achieves
Note 2 - Microsoft's recommended procedure is at Create a local user or administrator account - Windows 10 Help but it skips several of the stages that I have included.


Denis

 

This is what I would do, if I were you. Open a Command Prompt (Admin) (or "Run as administrator" Command Prompt). Run:

C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep

Then just click OK on the Window that pops up which should have the following options set/not checked:




That will take you to the factory fresh, first start window just like the computer came out of the box - because that is what OOBE stands for - out of box experience. You will have to create a new account when you get to that screen that does not yet exist on the computer, it will not let you create a repeat of an already existing account. Once you establish that brand new user account from OOBE - then you can log into it, and delete any user accounts the previous "owners" of the computer created on it.

If you want to (and I suggest) that new account to be a local account v. a Microsoft account, then on the account creation screens look carefully for a way to skip that screen. Keep skipping the screens until you get to one that you cannot skip that is asking for a username, password, and password hint. That will create a local account.

 

Hi Makes sense to do that but never been on that screen before, or know how to open it even though had a computer for 17 years lol

I've done so well Don't want to mess up at the end

 

I did all you said and it took ages to do it.
Then it installed updates
But no change at all
It led me through the accept conditions screen But now I am back to spotlight and Adin sign in screen...Plus it takes ages to get rid of the sign in spotlight screen too
Want to scream! lol

 

Most universal way to open the command prompt is to click on the Start (Windows) icon and just start typing command. Command prompt will appear at the top of the list. Right click on it and select "Run as administrator". Then run the command in the window that opens:
C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep

The screens that should show up after you select OOBE in the sysprep menu and reboot (depending on which build of Windows 10 you have) should start at step 15 here:
Clean Install Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

Scroll down to step 15, you don't need to be concerned with anything before that. This will also show you what a brand new computer out of the box should have looked like - and if the store you bought your computer did "set it up" for you, they should have known how to use Audit Mode to do it - so you would still have gotten this series of screens when you first turned the computer on. They were either incompetent or just feeding you a line of bull and sold you a used computer.

 

Why not just backup what you have and clean install?

You can re-install apps and copy back from the back-up...

 

Jo,

I suggest that your recent Reset is all that you need to do before creating the user accounts that you actually want. I posted the procedure earlier.

Do respond to my question about the precise name of that Admin account put on there by PCWorld because it might, or might not, be significant. The situation ought to be resolved so that you can proceed confidently.

Denis

 

Depends what you mean by a clean install? Do you mean use the usb recovery stick?
Should I have told it to delete my files instead of saving them in the reset? Would that have caused the Admin account to go?

 

Windows is activated "with a digital licence" The account is called Admin.
I just added myself as another Administrator But on the sign in spotlight page laptop just wouldn't let me click on anything. Had to re boot a few times to get to the start page So deleted my new account.

 

It really sounds like the computer needs a complete new install of Windows which means erasing the entire hard drive and installing to the completely empty drive. The store either sold you a messed up (software, not hardware) used computer, or messed up a new computer when they "set it up" for you. They should not done anything to a new computer unless you asked them to.

 

Since the Admin user account set up by PCWorld is called Admin [rather than Administrator] it has no particular significance other than that they should only have done that if requested.

Whilst I have seen proposed solutions to problems with the sign-in screen [by the way "spotlight" is merely the name of the background picture you might see on that screen], I agree with NavyLtCdr that you might as well go ahead with a reinstallation of Windows 10 so you are starting from a known & reliable basis. The Reset must have gone wrong in some way [this is not unheard of].

You could try using that Recovery USB they gave you or you could you could make an installation USB using http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...n-tool-install

• Making your own installation USB would be good practice for the future because you are likely to make one later on for various purposes [it is also a useful repair tool].
• Using that link to make an installation USB goes in stages. The first stage is that it downloads the Media creation tool itself which you then install.
• You then use the Media creation tool to create the installation USB - see Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10
• You then boot from the installation USB to achieve a "clean install" - see Clean Install Windows 10 - TenForums
• During the clean install the whole disk is overwritten so make sure you have backed up anything you want to keep.
• During the clean install you will be asked to enter a product key but you must skip that [there is a bypass button labelled I am reinstalling or similar]. Entering anything at this stage would mess up your reactivation.
• You can then go online to [automatically] reactivate & to run Windows update.
• You should then also go to the Asus website to download & install their latest hardware drivers. Whilst Windows update tries to include hardware drivers it often gets this wrong.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Later on, you might decide, as many of us do, to make a new installation USB when Ver 1709 is released [expected Tuesday 17th October] in order to update to the new version yourself rather than leave the job to Windows update. That's why I said doing it now would be good practice.

• If you do so then start from scratch by downloading & installing the Media creation tool again.
• Each Media creation tool contains fixed references to its Windows 10 version so if you kept today's Media creation tool & used it again in a few months, you would actually be needlessly recreating the same Ver 1703 installation USB you are making now rather then the new Ver 1709 that you would want.
• The procedure for using it to update is not the same as using it to install. You boot Windows normally then connect the installation USB & run its setup.exe file from within Windows. The procedure is given in Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - TenForums
• Using the Repair install procedure should always be prepared for by making a full backup & a system image. I have never had a Repair install go wrong on me but I always prepare fully just in case.

Denis

 

Thanks for the advice.
Did the reset go wrong because I told it to save my files?
Should I say delete them next time?
Should I recovering or resetting ?
If I use pc worlds stick is it the same as doing it in windows?
Last question when do I insert the usb stick if I use it and will it lead me through resetting or recovering?
I dont feel well at the minute so this is very stressful. Thanks all of you for helping me so far.

 

Resets can just go wrong even though the user has done everything correctly.

• There is certainly no reason for your save my files option to have caused any problems.
• The Reset procedure needs various bits of Windows 10 to be operating correctly so, since it has gone wrong once, there is every reason to think it would go wrong again.
• I have no reason to believe that you did anything wrong at all but you can look through the procedure at Reset Windows 10 - TenForums if you want.

I do not know what is on that Recovery stick.

• There is a defined thing in Windows 10 called a Recovery drive [Recover Windows 10 from a Recovery Drive - TenForums]
• Before Windows 10 the term Recovery disk was used very loosely and could mean anything from a reinstallation disk to a disk just containing hardware drivers.
• I suspect that the PCWorld stick is a Recovery drive but I have never found any way of finding out.
• If it is a Recovery drive then the TenForums tutorial linked to above will guide you through using it - TenForums tutorials are invariably both correct & decently explained.

The most straightforward thing to do would be to make an installation disk as mentioned before and then to run a clean install with it.

• Is there some particular reason you are hesitating?
• What you decide to do is a matter for you alone but if you explain the reason for any hesitation then we could give you appropriate advice.
• Before my last post, I reviewed the whole of this thread and I think a clean install is your best course of action.

Denis

 

Great news I am finally the User of my new clean laptop.
Since I didnt have a clue how to boot up my pcworld stick I decided to Reset through Windows again & chose delete everything this time.
It took over 4 hours but now everything is all new again.

Am very happy to have lost Admin lol.
Thanks very much all of you for the good advice.
I know so much more now.