Disable the administrator user in Windows

Many hackers know about the default Microsoft® Windows® administrator user. So we recommend that you assign administrative rights to one or more other users and disable the administrator user. Taking this step helps protect your server from attacks by bad actors.

WARNING: If you disable the administrator user by using the steps in this article, make sure at least one user with administrative rights remembers his or her password. Otherwise, you aren’t be able to regain full control of your server.

Disable the built-in administrator account or other users

To disable the built-in administrator account or any user, remotely access the server and perform the following steps:

1. Open up the Local Users and Groups by using one of the following methods:

   • Open PowerShell®, enter lusrmgr.msc, and click Enter.

     or

   • If you are running Windows 2012 R2, click the Windows icon at the bottom left of the screen and type lusrmgr.msc into the Windows search field.

2. Double-click Users.

3. Right-click the user that you want to enable or disable.

4. Click Properties.

5. To disable the user, select the Account is Disabled check box.

6. Click Apply.

The preceding process immediately revokes access for the user.

Note: If you need to enable a user, perform the preceding steps, but uncheck the Account is diasbled check box.