Re: Built In Admin account vs Created one

From: Steven L Umbach (n9rou_at_comcast.net)
Date: 08/31/03 

Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 00:45:08 GMT

They have the same exact power/rights. The built in administrator account is a member
of the local administrators group and that is where it gets its power. Adding another
user to that group gives them the same power. Here are the differences. The
administrator account has an assigned well known sid [known to hackers] account can
not be removed from the local administrators group, and it can not be deleted,
disabled [in W2K] or locked out from console logon. The built in administrator group
is a target for attackers and for that reason it should be renamed, given a very
complex password, and audited for account log on events. By default the administrator
account can not be locked out from network logon, but the passprop utility from the
Resource Kit is supposed to be able to allow that. Protecting the administrator
account is just one aspect of securing a computer. ----Steve

http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/
http://securityadmin.info/faq.asp#harden --- From the FAQ.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/default.asp
-- Technet security.

"wutsitallabout" <wutsitallabout@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:021f01c36f56$72ed49d0$a601280a@phx.gbl...
>
> Can anyone out there please tell me if there is any
> difference between the Built in Administrator account
> versus one that is created and made a member of the admin
> group and only the admin group. It is a local account on
> a local machine (not logging on to a domain).
>
> To put it yet another way, are all of the rights,
> privileges and behaviours the same for each?
>
> Someone must know! If you claim that they do behave
> differently, can you please direct me to the source of the
> information. I need an official word on this. Not just
> opinions.
> Thanks
>
>

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Remote desktop: cannot copy files why still not working
    ... I created a new user on the XP box, set as an administrator ... this new user account is local to the XP system, ... In my environment, when I do an RDP connection to a server, I first log ... member of the local administrators group on the server. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.security)
  • Re: Remote desktop: cannot copy files why still not working
    ... this new user account is local to the XP system, and a member of the local administrator's group on that workstation. ... In my environment, when I do an RDP connection to a server, I first log on to the xp workstation using my regular, non-privileged domain account, run mstsc, and then logon to the server using a domain account that is a member of the local administrators group on the server. ... In addition, I frequently use runas to run privileged applications on the workstation using my "administrator" account, and have found that files cannot be copied between those applications and anything running under the credentials of my regular account - even though my administrator account actually does have full access to everything on the workstation - just not through my regular account's view of that workstation. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.security)
  • Re: Windows Service - Event Log
    ... I didn't say the Administrator account. ... Administrators group on the local machine." ... I didn't advocate using a member of the Administrator's group; ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.csharp)
  • Re: Restriction
    ... Only a user that is also in the local administrators group ... can manage membership in the local administrators group. ... 'change my account type' and make themselves administrator. ... My question is, as administrator, how do you change the limited account ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Disk Management
    ... You can't delete the built in administrator account. ... reset the password on it being a domain administrator if the domain admins ... > in the local Administrators group on the server. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.security)