Does Windows 8 still have Administrator accounts and User accounts?

Question

I’ve installed Windows 8 on a VMWare Fusion virtual machine on my Mac.

I used VMWare’s Easy Install option, which gets you to enter a username and password for what it describes as an administrator account:

Now that I’ve got Windows 8 up and running, I wanted to do what I did for Windows 7 and previous versions, i.e. set up a regular user account to run as, for security purposes.

However, when I added a user (in PC Settings > Users), I couldn’t see a choice between different types of local user accounts. (There is the new choice between “Microsoft” and “Local” accounts, but I’m not interested in that.)

Is there still such a thing as Administrator vs. regular users in Windows 8?

If so, how can I create a regular user account? Or is that what I’ve already done?

Answer 1

There is Administration account in Windows8 but it's hidden by default, For Enable it to show in the list of users open Command Prompt and execute below command:

net user administrator /active:yes

For disable it (don't show in user list)

net user administrator /active:no

And if you want to know that your Username is Local Account or MS Account also Administrator or Regular user go to the Control Panel > User Account and Family Safety > User Accounts.

It shown under the left photo.

You can access Control Panel by right-clicking on the Start screen, selecting “All Apps”, and scrolling to the “Windows System” category.

Answer 2

Is there still such a thing as Administrator vs. regular users in Windows 8?

Yes, not sure why you can't create a regular account from this screen, you'd create it from the computer management windows by pressing Win+R and typing compmgmt.msc window once you're booted and logged into the Win8 install.

Answer 3

As far as I know, windows 8 introduced the new concept called "Microsoft account" and "Local account".

• Microsoft account

Microsoft account is the account of your windows live ID and password. Administrator can login with them and he can also add other Microsoft account to the system, so next time anyone can choose their own MS account to login.

• Local account

Just like the traditional windows system, it includes administrator account and guest (user) account. By default you are login as administrator, but you can turn the guest account on in the control panel. Yesterday, i did that and realized the guest account is very limited and almost every program you starts you have to enter administrator account passwords. And I couldn't find a way to configure the guest account privileges yet.