Showing Administrator User in Windows XP

From LinuxServerTech

Windows XP hides a special Administrator account, but the account still exists and can be exploited, especially if during the initial install no password, or a weak password, was entered for the account. One point of access is by rebooting the computer and pressing the F8 key on reboot to go into safe mode. If a user can gain access to the Administrator account, this is equivalent to gaining access to a root account under Unix; the user can do literally anything.

I prefer to unhide the Administrator account, put a strong password on it, and keep it as a back door should I ever need one. To show the Administrator account, perform the following:

1. Launch Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList in the Registry Editor.
3. If the Administrator key doesn’t exist, right-click on the above tree in the pane, choose New, DWORD Value, name it Administrator and press .
4. Double-click the Administrator key in the right pane.
5. Type 1 in the “Value data” box, and press .

At this point, you can open the Users screen in the control panel (or run control userpasswords) and modify the Administrator password. You will also see Administrator as an option on the boot screen.

Note: I also tend to create a separate account with administrator privileges, and this is the account I use for most administration. The Administrator account is simply a good back door, maybe even with a password that has to be written down and put in a safe deposit box or something.