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User management in Windows

In this tutorial: How to create and delete users and how to run programs with administrative rights in Windows XP, Vista or 7

Last modified: 2012-03-04 01:16:20 EET

If you are not the only user of your Windows computer, it is best to create a separate account for each user (family members, for example). This keeps each user's documents and settings, as well as Internet browsing history, entered searches and user names private. There will be much less clutter in private folders, such as My Documents, My Pictures, etc.

To share documents, pictures, videos and other files between users, use the Shared Documents (in Windows XP) or Public Documents (Windows Vista and 7) folder as all users have access to the folder and its subfolders.

There are generally three types of user account in Windows:

Administrators - full access to everything. Administrators can install and uninstall programs, change system settings, add, manage and remove other user accounts and manage security policies.
Limited or Standard users - limited access. Users can manage their documents and program settings, but they cannot add or remove programs or other users, change system files and settings or manage security. If you need to perform an administrative task without logging off the current user, select the Run As (in Windows XP) or Run as administrator (Windows Vista and 7) from right-click menu, or in Windows Vista and 7, rely on User Account Control that asks for administrator's password for performing administrative tasks.
Guests - limited access. Guest account is for people who do not really need a personal user account, such as your friends or visitors who need to check their webmail or social network account quickly. Guests have no access to files and folders of password-protected users, and are unable to install or uninstall programs, manage user accounts, or perform any administrative tasks. The account still has read and write access to Shared Folders / Public Folders, so do not keep sensitive files in these folders!
Guest account is turned off by default.

There should be only one administrator account on a computer. This administrator is fully responsible for computer configuration and all software on it. All other users should have limited access to system settings.
For example, in a family father or mother (whoever knows more about computers) should be the administrator and all other family members (especially kids!) should have standard user accounts. Children tend to be overly curious and they often forget about essential security while downloading programs, visiting potentially malicious web sites and changing system settings - so keep their accounts limited. Sorry, kids...

If you are planning to run scheduled tasks (such as backups) and you change your password regularily, you may want to create a special administrator account without password expiration. Select a cunning name for the account: Admin, Root, Backup, Boss or anything similar is not good as these are the names that attackers always try to find and break first; try something completely irrelevant instead, such as Lemonade, MathChick, Earphones.

Keep administrator's password private, never share it with other family members or other people - sharing a password would ruin all security efforts! Read this article to learn how to create and remember a strong password.

The built-in Administrator account in Windows

To make things a little fuzzier, there is already an account named "Administrator" on every Windows computer - so you cannot create an account with name "Administrator", just use your name instead.
The account is disabled in Windows Vista and 7 and you cannot use it for anything. In Windows XP it is enabled, but does not show up on Welcome Screen. In all cases, the Administrator account has a blank password by default. Luckily, Windows does not allow remote logins or using the Run as / Run as administrator command with blank passwords, so your computer cannot be hijacked with the account.

You should leave the built-in Administrator account as it is. Do not try to enable or start using it, or change its password. In Windows XP, the account only appears while starting Windows in Safe Mode.
If you do forget the password of your own administrator account and you have no other administrators on the PC, try using the Offline Password & Registry Editor on www.winhelp.us Data Recovery CD.

Creating new users in Windows

To add a user account, open Start menu by pressing Ctrl+Esc or Windows Key on your keyboard or by clicking the Start button.

In Windows XP, open Control Panel.
In Windows Vista and 7, type "user" into Start menu Search box and click User accounts.
Windows XP, Start menu, Control Panel selected Windows Vista, Start menu. To manage user accounts, type "user" into Start menu Search box. Then click User Accounts.

In Windows XP, click User Accounts.
In Windows Vista and 7, Make changes to your user account window opens. Click Manage another account.
Windows XP, Control Panel. Click User Accounts to manage users. Windows 7, Manage Accounts. Click Manage another account to add a user.

Windows Vista will, of course, greet your action with User Account Control. Click Continue.

Click Create a new account.
Windows XP, User Accounts. Click Create a new account. Windows Vista, Manage Accounts. Click Create a new account.

Type a user name for the new account. Usually, first name is sufficient.
In Windows XP, click Next.
In Windows Vista and 7, select if the user should be a Standard user or an Administrator. In most cases, leave Standard user selected. Remember, there should be only one user with administrative rights on a computer! Then click Create Account.
Windows XP, User Accounts, Name the new account. Type a user name for the new account (first name is fine) and click Next. Windows 7, Create a new account. Type a user name for the new account (first name is fine). For a user with limited rights, leave Standard user selected. Click Create Account.

In Windows XP, select the account type and click Create Account. Again, Limited is preferred here.
Windows XP, User Accounts, Pick an account type. Select Limited for the account type and click the Create Account button.

But we are not done yet! As you probably noticed, Windows did not ask for password for the new account. This is bad, every account must be password-protected. Let's create a password for the new account now. Again, remember to follow the guidelines for creating strong passwords.

Click on the new account under in the "pick an account to change" (Windows XP) or "choose the account you would like to change" (Windows Vista and 7) section.
Windows XP, User Accounts. Click on an account to change its type, name, picture or create a password. Windows 7, Manage Accounts, Choose the account you would like to change. Click on an account to change its type, name, picture or create a password.

Click Create a password.
Windows XP, User Accounts, What do you want to change about account. Click Create a password to password-protect an account. Windows 7, Change an Account, Make changes to account. Click Create a password to password-protect an account.

Type the new password into two first boxes - New password and Confirm new password. Also type in something for password hint to help user remember the password in case he/she forgets it. Just do not type the password itself! Use some words that describe the password. For example, when you specify "M@tt+daM0n89" for the new password, use "Your favorite actor and some number" as a password hint. Remember not to make the hint too obvious as anyone can see it on Welcome Screen by clicking the Password hint (blue button with white question mark) button (in Windows XP) or entering a wrong passphrase (Windows Vista and 7).
As we are setting a password for a brand new user, there is need to worry about losing his/her EFS-encrypted files, certificates or stored passwords.
Click the Create password button.
Windows Vista, Create a password for an account. Type the new password in two first boxes. Then type a password hint in the third box. Click Create password button.

And this is what a password hint looks like on Welcome Screen:
Windows XP, Welcome Screen. If you forget your password, try clicking the blue Password Hint button. Windows Vista, Welcome Screen. If you enter a wrong password for an account, the password hint for it will be displayed.

Changing existing user's account type in Windows

When you need to turn a limited user to an administrator (or vice versa), open Start menu by pressing Ctrl+Esc or Windows Key on your keyboard.
In Windows XP, open Control Panel, click User Accounts and then click Change an account.
In Windows Vista and 7, type "user" into Start menu Search box, click User accounts and then click Manage another account.

Next, click the account you want to change.

Click Change the account type.
Windows XP, User Accounts. Click Change the account type to set the account type to Administrator or Limited User. Windows 7, Change an Account. Click Change the account type to set the account type to Administrator or Standard User.

Select the account type you want and click Change Account Type button.
Windows XP, User Accounts, Pick a new account type. Select the account type you like and click the Change Account Type button. Windows Vista, Choose a new account type. Select the account type you like and click the Change Account Type button.

Deleting user accounts in Windows

If you need remove a user account, open Start menu by pressing CTRL+ESC or WINDOWS KEY on your keyboard.
In Windows XP, open Control Panel, click User Accounts and then click Change an account.
In Windows Vista and 7, type "user" into Start menu Search box, click User accounts and then click Manage another account.

Next, click the account you want to erase.

Click Delete the account.
Windows XP, User Accounts. Click Delete the account to permanently remove the user account. Windows 7, Make change to an Account. Click Delete the account to permanently remove the user account.

Windows offers an option to save the user's files and Desktop contents to a folder on your Desktop before deleting the account. This might come in handy sometimes, but remember that no program settings or e-mails will be stored in the folder.
If you want to keep user's files, click Keep Files. If not, click Delete Files.
Windows XP, User Accounts, Do you want to keep files. Click Keep Files if you want to save user's documents and Desktop contents to a folder on your Desktop. If you want to delete all files, click Delete Files. Windows Vista, Delete Account, Do you want to keep files. Click Keep Files if you want to save user's documents and Desktop contents to a folder on your Desktop. If you want to delete all files, click Delete Files.

Windows now asks if you are really-really sure you want to remove the user account. Click Delete Account to confirm.
Windows Vista, Delete Account, Are you sure you want to delete account. Click the Delete Account button to delete user's account.

Running programs as a different user in Windows

Sometimes you need to open a program or an item as an administrator without logging off the current limited user. The easiest way to do it for programs is to right-click an item and select Run as... (in Windows XP) or Run as administrator (in Windows Vista and 7). This is sometimes called running a program with elevated rights.
Windows XP, to run a program with administrative rights, right-click on a program icon and select Run as... Windows 7, running programs with elevated rights. Right-click an item and select Run as administrator.

If you see no pop-up menu after right-clicking on an item on Start menu, the user has disabled context menus on Start menu.
Windows XP users should read this article about how to turn the "Enable dragging and dropping" option on.
Windows Vista users should read this article about how to turn the "Enable context menus and dragging and dropping" option on.
Windows 7 users should read this article about how to turn the "Enable context menus and dragging and dropping" option on.

In Windows XP, Run As window opens. Click to activate the The following user option, type in a User name with administrative rights, enter the account's Password and click OK.
In Windows Vista and 7, User Account Control window opens. If there is only one administrator account available (as recommended), the name will be selected by default. Else, select the appropriate account from the list. Type in the account's Password and click OK (in Windows Vista) or Yes (Windows 7).
Windows XP, Run As. Click The following user. Then type in administrator user name and password and click OK. Windows 7, running programs with administrative rights, User Account Control. Click the administrator name and type in the password. Then click Yes.

If the password was correct, the program now launches with administrative rights. If the password was not correct, retype the password in User Account Control prompt.

Please note that Windows Vista and 7 warn about programs that have no digital signature. You can click the Details button to check if it really is the correct program. In case everything's fine, type in the administrator's password and click OK or Yes.
Windows Vista, running programs with administrative rights, User Account Control. If the program has no digital signature, the window has a warning. See Details before clicking OK.

Windows Vista and 7 are smart enough to ask for administrator password for performing administrative tasks while a standard user is logged on. You can use the familiar Start menu Search box for finding administrative tasks. After clicking on a task that requires administrator rights, a User Account Control window will pop up.
That's it - just remember to close the window opened with administrator rights after performing your tasks, otherwise a standard user might gain access to system configuration!

Limited users on Windows XP have no such password prompts and they should use the runas command.

Using the runas command in Windows

If you need to run Control Panel with administrative rights, open Start menu by pressing Ctrl+Esc on your keyboard or by clicking the Start button.

In Windows XP, click the Run... command. The alternative (and sometimes quicker) way is to use keyboard shortcut WINDOWS KEY+R to open the Run dialog.
Windows XP, Start menu. Click Run to open the Run dialog.

Then type runas /user:<administrator name> control into Open field (Windows XP) or Start menu Search box. Replace <administrator name> with the name of an administrator account - "mirjam" in this example. The capitalization does not matter in this case. Note that there is no space after colon.
Press Enter key to run the command.
Windows XP, Run dialog. To open Control Panel with administrative rights, type in runas /user:administratorname control. Then click OK.

A command prompt window opens asking for the account's password. Type it in and press Enter key to start Control Panel.
Windows Vista, runas command. Type in the password for the administrative account and press Enter.

If the password was correct, Control Panel opens. After completing operations as an administrator, always close the open window(s) to prevent standard users from accessing administrative tasks.

Managing the Guest account in Windows

The Guest account in Windows is disabled by default. Despite the fact that it is an account with limited rights, it still has full access to Shared / Public Folders and this might pose a problem for some. Another issue with Guest account is that it has no password and it cannot be changed easily in Home versions of Windows.

But the account is still very useful if your friends need to check their Facebook or webmail accounts while visiting you. There is no need to create separate accounts for people who do not use the computer often.

To turn Guest account on or off, open Start menu by using the CTRL+ESC keyboard shortcut.
In Windows XP, open Control Panel and click User Accounts.
In Windows Vista and 7, type "user" into Start menu Search box, click User accounts and then click Manage another account.

The current status of the Guest account is displayed as "Guest account is off" or "Guest account is on" in Windows XP; in Windows Vista and 7 it just displays the "Guest account is off" message.

To enable the account, click its name.
Windows XP, User Accounts. To enable Guest account, click its name. Windows Vista, Manage Accounts, Choose the account you would like to change. To enable Guest account, click its name.

Click the Turn On the Guest Account (Windows XP) or Turn On (Windows Vista and 7) button to unlock the account.
Windows XP, User Accounts, Do you want to turn on the guest account. Click Turn On the Guest Account.

The visitors' account is now active. Remember, it has no password and you cannot change this the way you reset other users' passwords.

If you need to disable the account later, open User Accounts in Control Panel, click Guest account and then click Turn off the guest account. The action will not be confirmed.
Windows Vista, Manage Accounts, What do you want to change about the guest account. To disable the user, click Turn off the guest account.

Changing Guest account password in Windows

Having the Guest account turned on without password protection is often a bad idea. Windows does not let you change the password easily - mainly to prevent some ill-humored visitor from resetting it.

In Home versions of Windows, you need to use an old-time trick to set a passphrase for Guest. In Professional, Ultimate and other advanced versions of Windows, you can open Computer Management console and reset the account's password there.

First, make sure you are logged on with an account that has administrative rights.
In Windows XP, open Run dialog using keyboard shortcut Windows Key+R, type "cmd" into Open field and click OK.
In Windows Vista and 7, type "cmd" into Start menu Search box, right-click cmd.exe and click Run as administrator.
Windows XP, Run dialog. To open Command Prompt, type cmd. Then click OK. Windows Vista, Start menu. To open an elevated command prompt, type cmd. Right-click the cmd.exe and select Run as administrator.

This opens a Command Prompt window. In Windows Vista and 7, this is also known as elevated command prompt - you need administrator's rights to perform the following task.

Type in the following command: net user guest *
Press Enter to run it.
You will see a "Type a password for the user:" prompt, type a new password and press Enter key.
A "Retype the password to confirm:" prompt will follow, repeat the new password and press Enter.
If passwords matched, you will see the "The command completed successfully" message. Close the Command Prompt window by click the X mark on the top right.
Windows Vista, elevated Command Prompt window. To change Guest account password, type: net user guest *