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Windows 10 version 1809 upgrade could invalidate Administrator account

It appears that the list of bugs in Windows 10 version 1809, the October 2018 Update, is still growing despite Microsoft's efforts to fix these bugs.

Microsoft's Japanese Ask the Network & AD Support Team confirmed another bug in Windows 10 version 1809; the bug may occur when devices running Windows 10 version 1803, the April 2018 Update, are upgraded to Windows 10 version 1809.

According to the report, the built-in Windows 10 administrators account may be invalidated during the upgrade. In other words: it cannot be used anymore because it is broken after the upgrade.

The bug occurs when the following two conditions are met:

  • The built-in Administrator account is enabled (it is disabled by default).
  • There is at least one additional account with Administrator permissions.

Microsoft reveals that it is working on a solution for the issue; the company asks administrators not to upgrade to Windows 10 version 1809 on devices on which the built-in Administrator account is the only account with elevated privileges as it would block access to administrative functions on those devices.

Administrators are asked to make sure that at least one additional administrator account is accessible on devices before the upgrade to the new version of Windows 10 is started.

windows 10 admin

You may do the following to find out if another Administrator account is available on a device:

  1. Use Windows-R to open the Run Box on the system.
  2. Type control userpasswords
  3. Select "Manager another account".

Windows 10 displays the list of accounts on the device and their type. If Administrator is listed next to an account, it is an account with elevated privileges.

Windows 10 version 1809 is one of the buggiest feature upgrades for Windows 10 that Microsoft released since the launch of the Windows 10 operating system in 2015.

Confirmed bugs included data loss issues, issues with audio playback and bluescreens, font display issues, problems with mapped network drives that did not connect properly on start, and lots more.

Microsoft had to stop the distribution of the upgrade in October 2018 days after it enabled the distribution. It took the company until December to fix major bugs and restart the rollout of the operating system. The rollout has picked up speed since then and the revelation of the new bug won't change that as it -- likely -- won't affect lots of devices.

Still, with just three months to go until the next feature upgrade is released, Microsoft needs to find a way to fix all outstanding issues and do something against a growing number of criticism leveled at the company's update testing and release schedule policies.

 

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

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