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FIX: Windows 10/11 admin account is missing after update

9 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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How to bring back administrator account in Windows 10

Just like losing a password, losing your administrator account privileges is one of the lock out situations where you, the user, cannot run anything.

This can happen due to system conflicts, or malware, or just inadvertent modification of your user account settings in the User Accounts Control Panel or the Local Security Policy snap-in.

What follows is you won’t be able to go back to the User Account settings page andset yourself as an admin. Even worse is you may not have a second admin account in your system, so you wouldn’t have activated the built-in admin account.

Consequently, you may have issues using apps in Windows, making new or modifying any configuration settings, among several other problems in the system.

Therefore, it is imperative to get back your admin privileges if you want to run the system without any impediments.

How do you get back the admin privileges since most of the operations require admin rights? Below are a few solutions to help you get back.

FIX: Windows 10 missing administrator account

1. Create another Administrator account

— RELATED:VPN blocked by administrator? Here’s how to fix it

2. Change Local Account to Administrator

If you’ve lost admin rights to your account, change the local account to an admin account by doing the following:

— RELATED:How to Install Windows 10 Without a Microsoft account

Other things to try at this point:

3. Use iCacls command

This command line can be used to modify security descriptors as well as NTFS file system permissions. To do this:

If these don’t work, consider a system restore or refresh/reset option as described below.

4. Refresh/Reset your PC

Here’s how to refresh yourPC:

Note:When you refresh, your files and personalization settings don’t change. Software and programs may be removed and yourPCsettings may be restored to default values.

Here’s how to reset yourPC:

Note:a reset removes all personal files and restores all settings to default values.

— RELATED:How to Enable, Disable Administrator Account in Windows 10

5. Enable Built-in Administrator account

If you faceWindows 10missing administrator account, it may be due to the admin user account having been disabled on your computer. A disabled account can be enabled, but it is different from deleting the account, which cannot be restored. To enable the admin account, do this:

Go to the admin account and change the standard account to an admin account. To do this:

To disable the previous administrator account, do the following:

Your standard account is now your admin account, and the previous admin account is disabled.

6. Enable the Windows install media

7. Perform system restore rollback

To perform system restore rollback from WinRE, do this:

— RELATED:Fix: ‘Your Administrator Has Blocked This Program’ in Windows 10, 8.1 and 7

8. Enable Built-In administrator, and fix your account’s group membership

To do this:

9. Perform a fresh install of Windows 10

Before you do the fresh install, you need to note a few things about the tool:

What you need for a fresh install:

How to fresh installWindows 10using the tool:

Did any of these solutions help you restore theWindows 10missingadministratoraccount? Let us know in the comments section below.

FIX: Windows 10/11 admin account is missing after update#

How to bring back administrator account in Windows 10#

FIX: Windows 10 missing administrator account#

1. Create another Administrator account#

2. Change Local Account to Administrator#

3. Use iCacls command#

4. Refresh/Reset your PC#

5. Enable Built-in Administrator account#

6. Enable the Windows install media#

7. Perform system restore rollback#

8. Enable Built-In administrator, and fix your account’s group membership#

9. Perform a fresh install of Windows 10#