RE: [ActiveDir] Renaming the Administrator account

[Adams, Kenneth W \(Ken\)]

Title: Message

The standard best practice IS to rename the Administrator account, no matter what level it is (i.e., local Administrator, Domain Administrator).  Yes, there are some programs that refer to the account name.  Those are mostly hacker programs from what I've learned.  You DON'T want them to be able to access your network.   If the more experienced AD administrator complains, have that person check with Microsoft's own best practices guidelines.  Even Microsoft recommends the rename. Ken -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Edwin Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 7:38 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [ActiveDir] Renaming the Administrator account I have always renamed the default Administrator account on every system build I have performed for security reasons.   I did the same on the domain but was then scolded by a more experienced AD Administrator.  The reason given to me was because there are parts of AD that authenticate or use the SID of the administrator account while other areas may use the “Administrator” username explicitly.  If I were to rename the default Administrator account then those references that call the username explicitly may fail.   I am still new to AD so I took the above warning with caution and therefore renamed the default user back to its original settings.   I would appreciate anyone’s input on the above.  I would like to rename the Administrator account as part of best practices but if it may cause problems then of course this would not be an option.  However, I have a hard time understanding why renaming the account could cause potential problems.  I would think that any reference to the Administrator account would be made by the SID and if any call to the username itself was made, it would access a database that was populated with the correct information as it was changed.   The only information I have about renaming the account is above.   Thank you all for your responses.   Edwin