How to Change an User Account Type in Windows 8 and 8.1
InformationThis will show you how to change the account type of an user account to be either a standard, administrator, guest, or other group type of your choice in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1.
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to change an account type.
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to change an account type.
NoteGuests - A guest account allows people to have temporary access to your computer. A guest account has the same access as a "standard (Users)" account, but is further restricted by not being able to install software, hardware, or change settings.
Standard (Users) - A limited unelevated standard "users" account that can use most software and change system settings that do not affect other users. If a standard user wants to do an action that requires elevated rights or affects other users, then they will be prompted by UAC (if set to notify) to provide an administrator's password before being allowed to do so. If UAC is not set to notify, then the standard user will just be denied and not allowed to do the action.
Administrators - An unelevated administrator account that has complete access to the computer and can make any desired changes. Based on your UAC notification settings, administrators may be prompted to provide their password or confirmation before being allowed to open or run anything that requires elevated rights to do so, and make changes that affect the system or other users.
Standard (Users) - A limited unelevated standard "users" account that can use most software and change system settings that do not affect other users. If a standard user wants to do an action that requires elevated rights or affects other users, then they will be prompted by UAC (if set to notify) to provide an administrator's password before being allowed to do so. If UAC is not set to notify, then the standard user will just be denied and not allowed to do the action.
Administrators - An unelevated administrator account that has complete access to the computer and can make any desired changes. Based on your UAC notification settings, administrators may be prompted to provide their password or confirmation before being allowed to open or run anything that requires elevated rights to do so, and make changes that affect the system or other users.
WarningBe VERY careful to NOT make all or your only administrator account into standard accounts. Doing so will leave you with no way to do anything on your PC that requires being signed in as an administrator afterwards.
You need to have at least one administrator account on the PC.
You need to have at least one administrator account on the PC.
OPTION ONE
To Change an Account's Type in Control Panel "User Accounts"
1. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the User Accounts icon.
2. Click/tap on the Manage another account link. (see screenshot below)
3. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.
4. Click/tap on the user account that you would like to change it's type. (see screenshot below)
5. Click/tap on the Change the account type link. (see screenshot below)
6. Select (dot) either Standard or Administrator as the new account type for the selected user account (step 4), and click/tap on the Change Account Type button. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If the user account is originally an administrator account, then Windows 8 will not let you change it to be a standard account unless there is another administrator account already created other than this one.
7. When finished, you can close User Accounts if you like. (see screenshot below)
OPTION TWO
To Change an Account's Type in PC settings
NOTE: This option is only available in Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1.
1. Open PC settings, and click/tap on Accounts on the left side. (see screenshot below)
2. Click/tap on Other accounts on the left side of PC settings, and click/tap on the account (ex: Brink) you want to change the type of on the right side. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Only local accounts will be listed here. You will need to use OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO instead to change a Microsoft account's type.
3. Click/tap on the Edit button for the selected account. (see screenshot below)
4. Click/tap on the drop down menu arrow, and click/tap on the type (ex: Administrator, Standard User, Child) you want the account to be, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
NoteThe type that shows selected by default is what the account is currently set as.
Note
5. After a short moment, you will now see the account's type changed. (see screenshot below)
6. When finished, you can close PC settings if you like.
OPTION THREE
To Change an Account's Type in "Advanced User Accounts" (netplwiz)
1. Press the :winkey: + R keys to open the Run dialog, type netplwiz, and click/tap on OK.
2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.
3. Check the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer box, select (highlight) the user name that you want to change the account type of, and click/tap on the Properties button. (see screenshot below)
4. Click/tap on the Group Membership tab, select (dot) what type (standard, administrator, or other) that you want to change the selected account (step 3) type to, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If you are unable to select a group in the Other drop down menu, then select standard or administrator, and select Other again to be able to.
WarningIf the user account is originally an administrator account, then do not change it to be a standard account unless you already have another administrator account created first. Unless you do have another administrator account to use, you will lose access to everything that a standard user doesn't have access to.
5. If you had an user account set to be logged on to at startup automatically, then you will need to set this back again for the user account.
6. When finished, you can close the advanced User Accounts (netplwiz) window.
OPTION FOUR
Change User Account Type in Elevated Command Prompt
NOTE: This option will use the net localgroup command to basically add an "existing user account" to the group that you want the account type to be, then remove the user account from any other group (account type) that it belongs to, leaving the user account as only a member of the group that you want the account type to be.
1. Open an elevated command prompt.
2. To See What Groups the Existing User Account Currently Belongs To
NOTE: This will give you a list of user account names that are a member of each user account type. For example, to see what account types my Example-Standard (name) user account is a member of.
A) In the elevated command prompt, copy and paste the commands below one at a time for each account type, and press Enter after each one. (see screenshots below)
- net localgroup guests
- net localgroup users
- net localgroup administrators
3. Do either step 4, 5, or 6 below for what account type you want the user account (ex: Example-Standard) to be.
4. To Add User Account to Administrators Group
NOTE: This is to make the user account (ex: Example-Standard) a administrator account type by adding it to the administrators group, and removing the user account from the users and guests groups if the user account is a part of them.
A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command below and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Substitute UserName in the command below with the actual user name of the user account (ex: Example-Standard) within quotes that you want to add to the administrators group.
net localgroup administrators "UserName" /add
B) Go to step 7 below, and remove the user account from the users and guests groups if listed as being a member of them from step 2.
5. To Add User Account to Users Group
NOTE: This is to make the user account (ex: Example-Standard) a standard user account type by adding it to the users group, and removing the user account from the administrators and guests groups if the user account is a part of them.
A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command below and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Substitute UserName in the command below with the actual user name of the user account (ex: Example-Standard) within quotes that you want to add to the users group.
net localgroup users "UserName" /add
B) Go to step 7 below, and remove the user account from the administrators and guests groups if listed as being a member of them from step 2.
6. To Add User Account to Guests Group
NOTE: This is to make the user account (ex: Example-Standard) a guest account type by adding it to the guests group, and removing the user account from the users and administrators groups if the user account is a part of them.
A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command below and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Substitute UserName in the command below with the actual user name of the user account (ex: Example-Standard) within quotes that you want to add to the guests group.
net localgroup guests "UserName" /add
B) Go to step 7 below, and remove the user account from the users and administrators groups if listed as being a member of them from step 2.
7. To Remove User Account from Groups
NOTE: This is to remove the user account (ex: Example-Standard) from all of the groups that is was listed as being a member of from step 2 except for the group (account type) that you want the user account to be.
A) In the elevated command prompt, type the commands below one at a time for only each group (account type) that you want to remove the user account from being a member of, and press Enter after each one. (see screenshots below)
NOTE: Substitute UserName in the command below with the actual user name of the user account (ex: Example-Standard) within quotes that you want to remove from being a member of the group.
- net localgroup administrators "UserName" /delete
- net localgroup users "UserName" /delete
- net localgroup guests "UserName" /delete
8. When finished, close the elevated command prompt.
That's it,
Shawn
Related Tutorials
- How to Switch from a Local Account to a Microsoft Account in Windows 8 and 8.1
- How to Switch from a Microsoft Account to a Local Account in Windows 8 and 8.1
- How to Create and Add a New User Account in Windows 8 and 8.1
- How to Delete an User Account in Windows 7 and Windows 8
- How to Enable or Disable the Built-in Elevated "Administrator" Account Windows 8
- How to Change a User Account Name in Windows 8
- How to Change the Email Address of Your "Microsoft Account" in Windows 8
- How to Add or Remove Aliases for your Microsoft Account
- Fix Microsoft Account Issues in Windows 8 with "Microsoft Accounts Troubleshooter"
- How to Change or Remove Password of a Local Account in Windows 8 and 8.1
Attachments
Last edited by a moderator:
