How do I login as administrator?

Hello,

Please try the following steps.

1. Boot into Safe Mode from the sign‑in screen.

• On the Windows sign‑in screen, hold down the Shift key.
• While holding Shift, click Power → Restart.
• Select: Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart.
• When the Startup Settings menu appears, press 4 or F4 to start Safe Mode.

2. Check if the “Administrator” account appears on the Safe Mode sign‑in screen.

If it appears, sign in with the Administrator account.

3. After signing in with Administrator, restore administrator rights to your wife’s account.

• Press Windows key + R, type "control", and press Enter.
• Open User Accounts.
• Select User Accounts again.
• Click “Manage another account”.
• Select your wife’s account.
• Click “Change the account type”.
• Choose “Administrator” and click “Change Account Type”.

Restart Windows normally.

4. If the “Administrator” account does NOT appear in Safe Mode:

This means there is no available administrator account on the system.

In this case, please reset Windows again, because the previous reset may not have completed correctly.

After a reset, the original administrator account may be disabled or hidden, which can cause prompts to show only “No” and prevent app installs. Enable an administrator account first, then sign in with it.

Follow these steps on that PC:

1. Open Computer Management
   • In the search box on the taskbar, type computer management.
   • Select Computer Management (Desktop app).
2. Enable the built‑in Administrator account
   • In the left pane, select Local Users and Groups > Users.
   • In the middle pane, look for the user named Administrator.
   • If the Administrator icon has a small down arrow, the account is disabled.
   • Double‑click Administrator to open Properties.
   • Clear the Account is disabled check box.
   • Select Apply, then OK.
3. Sign in as Administrator
   • Sign out of the current account.
   • On the sign‑in screen, choose the Administrator account.
   • Sign in (if no password was set for this account, it may sign in directly).
4. Repair the regular account
   • Once signed in as Administrator, use Settings or Control Panel to:
     • Confirm the wife’s account is a Administrator type (not Standard).
     • Reset her account password if it is not being accepted.
   • After fixing the account, sign out of Administrator and sign back in with her account. The UAC prompts should now show Yes so apps can be opened and installed.

If the Administrator account does not appear in Computer Management or cannot be enabled, contact support, as additional recovery steps may be required.

References:

• Find lost files after upgrading Windows