Question

Renaming Administrator account (Win2008)

Asked by: widen76

I have installed a Windows Server 2008 R2, it's part of a workgroup not a domain. In Windows 2003 I used to rename the administrator account to make it harder for script kiddies to try to attack the system. Now I did the same in Windows 2008, went into Local User and Groups and renamed the account. Then I checked the C:\users folder to see the change but there still only was the Administrator folder. I entered it and tried to go to Local Settings and access was denied. I rebooted the server but still no change.

Is this new for Windows 2008? Can I still rename the built-in administrator account or do I need to make more changes if I do?

Thanks!

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Asked On
2009-11-07 at 03:08:49ID24880253
Tags

Renaming administrator account

,

windows 2008 Server

Topic

Windows Server 2008

Participating Experts
2
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500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: B-BytePosted on 2009-11-07 at 03:27:55ID: 25765857

Normally You don't have to do more changes. Altough change the name of the folder manually, and check the rights.

 

by: widen76Posted on 2009-11-07 at 03:40:44ID: 25765898

I have now renamed the account back to 'Administrator' but I still get "access denied" when trying to enter the Local Settings and all of the hidden folders in C:\users\Administrator. (I have enabled show hidden files and folders and system files). The folder permission have not been altered, they are still Full Control for the administrator user and the Administrators group (inherited from C:). The owner of the hidden folders are Administrator and Administrators group.

Then why is the super user account Administrator not able to access these folders? I remember something similar with Windows Vista and the fact that the Administrator account not being a "full" administrator. Is this a fact in Windows 2008 also?

 

by: peter_fieldPosted on 2009-11-07 at 03:45:47ID: 25765905

Renaming an account does not rename the profile. The account will have been renamed, just the profile path has not been updated. You can't manually rename it, unless you want to find the references to the profile path in the registry (which I think are not hard to find, Google should get you answers)... but the far easier way would simply be to delete the profile and log in again. You will need to log out as the renamed account, and use another account with admin rights to delete it. System Properties -> Advanced -> User Profiles...

 

by: B-BytePosted on 2009-11-07 at 03:45:59ID: 25765906

I've googled the question and found the following:

Vista and Server 2008 now offer us a group policy setting which can be used to rename the local administrator account automatically. The name of the policy setting is Accounts: Rename Administrator Account. To use this policy setting, all you have to do is to enter a new name for the administrator account, and the change will be propagated to all of the machines for which the group policy applies.

Maybe alter this would solve your problem.

 

by: widen76Posted on 2009-11-07 at 04:02:16ID: 25765939

Ok, thanks. The Group Policy way of renaming the account works, just like the manual way. But it seems like renaming the Administrator account have no effect on the "access denied" problem.

I now using the original Administrator account name and focusing on the "access denied" part. I found that the Local Settings and all of the hidden folders on that level are "junction points" that point to folder for legacy applications.

Quote:
"All of these are "directory junctions" that point to the "real" place for
this stuff in Vista. The default security on these "directory junctions"
is:

Everyone, this folder only, List folder/read data; Deny

Apparently, this is done to prevent possible endless recursion by "legacy"
applications that might use this path and to protect against accidental
deletion of content in the target."

Source: http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache:bTBOyXl9pvcJ:www.vistaheads.com/forums/microsoft-public-windows-vista-general/202249-access-denied-access-denied-like-broken-record.html+%22windows+server+2008%22+local+settings+%22access+denied%22&cd=1&hl=sv&ct=clnk&gl=se

However, I found what I was looking for in the AppData folder that seems to be the new "local Settings" for Win2008. I might have to read up on that. Very confusing stuff...

 

by: widen76Posted on 2009-11-07 at 04:14:34ID: 25765976

Here's what I will settle on:

- I will rename the Administrator account.
- I will settle for not renaming the Administrator profile account, I'll leave it as Administrator. The main thing is to have the login name changed which is accomplished by the rename operation.
- I will not pursue the "junction point" thing with legacy apps, since I found what I was looking for in the AppData folder.

Thanks for the answers guys, very helpful!

 

by: widen76Posted on 2009-11-07 at 04:20:07ID: 25765994

Clarification:

- I will rename the Administrator ACCOUNT NAME, but not the profile FOLDER. The main thing is to have the administrator account renamed and that goal is accomplished.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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