This is odd. I am (OS 15.3.2) unable to log in as Administrator. The login screen only offers me the option of logging in as myself. Now, I do have Administrator privileges, but unless I can log in as Administrator, I believe I can't change that. So how do I enable Administrator login? I used to be able to do that.
iMac 24″, macOS 15.3
To login as Administrator does not literally mean to login to a user account called “Administrator”.
It simply means to login to any account that has administrator privileges.
Your own user account has those appropriate privileges so you’re golden.
👍🏽
Thank you. That's useful to know. But if I want to log in separately as Administrator, I have to turn off "Allow this user to administer this computer". But it won't let me do it. "You cannot remove yourself from administrators." Fine and dandy but, then, who can remove myself from administrators?
There is no reason to login separately as Administrator. Unless maybe your Mac is in a location where other unauthorized users - kids maybe? - have access to it.
That might be a reason to normally login with an account that doesn’t have admin rights.
At least one Mac user account must have administrator privileges.
You can create a second user account and give it admin rights. Then sign out of yours, login with the second and revoke the admin rights of your own.
But why would you want to do that? It’s not necessarily a bad idea to have two accounts with admin privileges. A second admin user can be handy for troubleshooting if one account somehow goes sideways. I keep a second admin account on all my own Macs just in case.
If you want to remove yourself from admin then you need to do it with another admin account. This prevents the situation where all the admins are removed. So, going back to System Settings/users and groups, if there isn't another user who is an admin then you need to create one - either allow one of the other users to be admin (not the Guest account) or create a new user and make them an admin. Note that you can have more than one admin account. You can then log out, log in as the new admin and then turn off admin privileges for your normal log in account. None of them need to be called admin - indeed it's best not to.
Where are you going with this? Are you trying to remove admin privileges from your day-to-day account as a means of increasing security?
OK, but it just seems a little odd that, as Administrator (for which there is a discrete account when I first use the OS), I can give myself administrator privilege but, with that administrator privilege, I can't take away that privilege. I guess only ANOTHER administrator can do that. As in, I can't administer myself if I have administrator privilege.
If you could take them away from yourself then you could end up in a situation where there are no administrators on the Mac. That would be A Very Bad Thing.
You still haven't said what you are trying to do. Why do you want to remove your admin privileges?
That's a fair point that if I'm the only administrator, and I take away my administration privilege, I'm screwed. I just wanted to try doing something as another user, when the only user on the machine was me. I thought, hey, I'll just log on as Administrator and use that as an alternate user. But, OK, I'll just make up a fake user.
Again it just seems a little odd that when you start it up for the first time, there is an Administrator account, but that account disappears forever.
Did you buy this computer new for yourself, or was it provided to you by an employer or other entity?
I ask, because most users don't setup a Mac user account named "Administrator", but an employer might. If that's the case, or if this Mac is enrolled in a remote management app or is a second hand Mac to you, then that would explain this inability to revoke privileges of the Mac user "Administrator".
A new Mac has no admin account when you set it up for the first time.
The initial setup of a Mac happens via the Setup Assistant, and that provides for the creation of the first user account, which by default IS an admin account. Once the setup process is done you'll never see it again unless you have to reinstall the OS for some reason.
OK, but I have an older machine (Mountain Lion) that has both an Admin account and a "me" account. I never bothered to give "me" admin privileges on that machine. I guess once I do, the former will disappear.
I always have a couple of other accounts set up. One is an admin account and one a non-admin account. When something odd start happening it's useful to be able to log in as another user to see if it's a Mac thing or a user thing.
Well, duh, if I restart, the login window doesn't let me log in as Administrator. But if I click on the icon in the menubar with the circle around the head ("Fast User Switching"), that allows me to do so! Problem solved. Very weird.
Log in normally. Go to System Settings/Users and Groups
This will show you which accounts are set up on your Mac and what their status is.
You don’t have to revoke admin rights from one user to give them to another.
Multiple users may have admin rights.
Bought it for myself. Yes, I guess if I were managing a machine to be used by a group, I could create a new Admin account, and have that be the only one with Admin privileges.
can't log in as Administrator
