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I recently read that running Windows (10 Home, in my case) primarily on an administrator account is a bad idea for security reasons. So, I created a local account to work in, and I'll only log in as an administrator as needed.

My administrator account displays my real name on the sign-in screen. I'd like to change this to just "Administrator" or "Administrator Jack" to differentiate the two accounts, since my local account is also my full name.

I can't figure out how to do this. I logged into my Microsoft account, which is linked with the machine's administrator account, and changed my name there, but the change has not taken effect on the sign-in screen; it still shows my full name.

What do I need to do to make these desired changes?

2 Answers 2

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Try this :

  • Open Control Panel
  • Click the Change account type link
  • Select the account you want to modify
  • Click the Change the account name link
  • Type the new name for the account
  • Click the Change Name button.

The sign-in screen should now display the new account name you specified.

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  • The "Change the account name" option is not available for my administrator account. It's only an option for my local account.
    – user881349
    Jun 23, 2018 at 18:29
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I've figured it out thanks to this video. Here are the steps I performed:

  1. Run a command prompt (as administrator)
  2. To activate Windows' admin account, type: net user administrator /active:yes
  3. To set a password, type: net user administrator *

And it worked. I now have an account named Administrator.

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    The default name to the built-in account is already Administrator. This is not the proper solution to your question. The built-in Administrator account should not be used routinely. It’s disabled by default for a reason. What should be done is your User account should be linked to your Microsoft Account and your existing Administrator account should be converted to a local account. This will allow you to change the name of your existing Administrator account. The built-in account has slightly different permissions then your created Administrator account.
    – Ramhound
    Jun 23, 2018 at 19:42
  • Just so I understand you correctly: I should keep the build-in Administrator account hidden. When I first fire up my Windows machine and create an account, that's the existing Administrator account, which should be a local account. So, I need to create another account, a User account, which should be linked to my Microsoft account. Is that right? Right now I have the build-in Administrator account enabled, but I don't plan on logging into it unless there are serious issues. I'm using a User account, which is linked to a Microsoft account. Am I asking for trouble by working this way?
    – user881349
    Jun 23, 2018 at 20:47

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