When you first set up your Windows computer, the first user account you create will be an administrator account by default, and all additional accounts created will be standard accounts. However, there is also a built-in administrator account called “Administrator” in Windows, but it is disabled by default for the security reason. If for some reason you would like to enable this built-in administrator account (even though it is not recommended to enable this account), you will need to manually execute the following command from a Command Prompt with admin privilege:

net user administrator /active:yes

After the account is enabled, the Administrator account will appear on the Windows logon screen, with an empty password. So you should definitely create a secure password after you enable this account.

Notice that the above command must be executed with the administrator privilege, but what if you don’t have the administrator privilege yet you still need to enable the built-in Administrator account? For example, the administrator account you created when you set up your computer has been downgraded to a standard account for whatever reason, or you just lost the password to the administrator account, then you will find yourself in a dead cycle: you try to execute the aforementioned command to enable the built-in Administrator account so that you can do some administrative tasks, but the command will be denied because you don’t have administrative privilege. A huge bummer!

Fortunately, there is a way to enable the built-in administrator account from a standard account, but I have to warn you it is for advanced users only who have experience in editing the Windows Registry or executing commands. If you think you are knowledgeable enough or you are an experienced user, then you can follow the instructions in this article by Michael Pietroforte to enable the Windows 8 built-in administrator account when you don’t have administrative privilege.