Show Administrator Account on Welcome Screen In Windows

Windows automatically creates an Administrator account during installation process which is by default hidden from view on the welcome screen. This article will show you a trick using which you can easily show and enable the administrator account on the welcome screen in Windows.

Most of the time, we require access to the hidden administrator account to change user passwords or to perform tasks limited only to system administrators. The hidden nature of this account causes great problem if you are using the welcome screen as you might be forced to use the classic login screen to access the account. Here is the solution to this problem.

Compatibility: If you are using Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 or Windows Vista, see : Enable Administrator in Windows 7, 8 & 8.1. This trick works only on Windows XP. 

Before going into the details of this tweak, let me remind you that this trick requires editing the registry, so you must take utmost care not to do it wrongly and mess your computer up. If you have any doubt, you can always comment and ask before trying it out practically.

So now let us begin this article. The steps to enable the Administrator account are as follows:-

1. Click on the Start.
2. Click on Run. Alternately, press Windows Key+R to directly load the Run dialog box.
3. Type "regedit" (without quotes) in the open field and press Enter.
4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\ Microsoft\ WindowsNT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon\ SpecialAccounts\ Userlist .
5. Right click in the Work Area and create a new DWORD entry.
6. Name it as Administrator and change its value to 1.
7. Exit Registry Editor and Reboot/ Restart your computer to apply the changes.

To hide the Administrator account, change the value of the Administrator DWORD to 0 in Step 6.

After using this trick, the Administrator account will become visible on the welcome screen.