Windows 11 gives you the privilege to create multiple user accounts for different users who use your machine. But do all the users require all the access privileges that the admin user has? Definitely not! This is where changing user account types come into the picture. You can limit what other users can do on your PC if you are sharing your PC with them.
If you have an Administrator account, you have unrestricted access to your machine. You can install any new software and manage system files. With a Standard user account, these privileges are not present. Also, with a Standard user account, you cannot perform system wide operations like creating a new user. If you want to operate an existing program that needs administrator privileges, you need an admin account again. Of course, these sorts of restrictions are extremely helpful when you share your pc with other people.
In this article, we explain in detail how you can switch the user account type of a user account between Standard and Administrator, using 4 different methods.
Method 1: Through Settings Application
Step 1: Click on the Accounts option in the left window pane. In the right window pane, click on Family & other users.
Step 2: Scroll down and find the Other users section. Under this section, click on the user account to expand it, that you want to modify the account type for.
As next, click on the Change account type button associated with it.
Step 3: In the Change account type window, click on the drop down arrow associated with the option Account type.
Step 4: You can now choose from Administrator or Standard User account types for the selected account. Once done, hit the OK button.
Method 2: Through User Accounts Settings
If you are signed in with administrator privileges, you can use another tool called Netplwiz to change the user account types.
Step 1: Launch the Run window by pressing the WIN + R hotkey combination. Type in netplwiz and hit OK button.
Step 2: In the User Accounts window, click on the user account that you want to change the account type for. Once selected, click on the Properties button.
Step 3: Click on the Group Membership tab. Now choose the account type you wish to change to. Hit Apply and Ok buttons.
Note: If you select the Other user account type in the Group Membership tab, then apart from the Standard and Administrative users, you will have options like Guests user account, Device Owners user account, Replicated user account etc., to choose from.
Method 3: Through Control Panel
Step 1: On the taskbar, click on the Search icon.
Step 2: Now in the search bar, type in control panel and click on Control Panel from the search results.
Step 3: As next, under the section User Accounts, click on the link that says Change account type.
Step 4: In the next step, choose the user account that you want to modify the user account type of.
Step 5: On the left side of the window, click on the link that says Change the account type.
Step 6: Here you have the option to choose from Standard and Administrator user accounts for the selected account.
Once the required radio button is clicked, click on the Change Account Type button. That’s it.
Method 4: Through Command Prompt
Step 1: Click on the Search icon in the taskbar.
Step 2: Type in command prompt in the search bar and click on Run as administrator option.
Step 3: Now to change an account type to an administrator account, copy paste the following command and hit Enter key.
net localgroup administrators [USERNAME] /add
Note: Make sure to replace [USERNAME] with the actual user name of your user account.
Step 4: If you want to remove the administrator privileges from a user account, you can copy paste the following command and hit Enter key.
net localgroup administrators [USERNAME] /del
Note: Just like before, make sure to replace [USERNAME] with the actual account.
Please tell us in the comments if you faced any issues while performing any of the steps. Hope you found the article useful.