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This page was last updated on February 07, 2010

In all the 32 bit versions of Windows XP, there is a default built in admin account labeled Administrator. But immediately after if you setup another user account, then this Administrator account will be hidden and not shown in User Accounts in control panel. Using the steps in this article you can unhide this account.

1. Launch Registry Editor. To do this, open Start Menu → Run, type regedit and press Enter.
2. Navigate to the following key in Registry Editor :
   HKLM \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon \ SpecialAccounts \ UserList.
   
3. If the Administrator key does not exist, right click anywhere in the right side pane and choose New → DWORD Value, name it Administrator and press Enter. Double click on the Administrator key in the right pane. An Edit Value box would pop up. Type 1 and press Enter.

You can also download the Registry file unhide_admin.zip. Extract it in a folder, and double click on unhide_admin.reg.