Windows 10: Deleting Admin Account

We get posts in these forums on a daily basis that relate to the opposite case: My one and only admin account has gone bad, how can I create a new admin account? Answer: You can't!

I bet you have at least two car keys. You would not even dream of throwing away one of them. So why would you want to delete your spare admin account? Bad idea!

Frederik,

First thing you should know is, I'm not the most technically savvy computer user--I know enough to get by and can sometimes fix issues following instructions found in communities like this one. However, in all the years I've been using a computer, I've never had a spare admin account--that is until a couple days ago.

They go bad? If so, why aren't users prompted to create additional admin accounts when setting up their Windows OS's? I guess I'm not really averse to leaving it there, I just didn't think it was doing anything for me so I thought I'd get rid of it.

Some observations re the "new" admin account:

When I did log on using that account, the first thing I noticed was that only about four shortcut icons transferred from my regular desktop, none of which (other than the Recycle Bin) would have been my choice to put there had I had one. None of the other 30+ shortcuts from my regular account were there. Also while in this new admin account, I uploaded the photo of my monitor (above, in my OP) and saved it to the desktop. This was after I edited it in Paint, which I had to go find. I had to go find it because the shortcut for it was no longer readily available in the "Life at a glance" section of the start button where I had put it before. After I logged out of this account and back into my "normal" one, the photo I'd saved to the Admin account desktop was nowhere to be found! I even searched for it in File Explorer, to no avail.

So, if my "normal" admin account goes bad, what good is the backup if I can't find (because it isn't there?) the file/program/app that I'm looking for?

They go bad? If so, why aren't users prompted to create additional admin accounts when setting up their Windows OS's?

-> You would need to ask Microsoft. Sometimes, in fact quite often, people forget the password to their single account. Disaster!

When I did log on using that account, the first thing I noticed was that only about four shortcut icons transferred from my regular desktop, none of which (other than the Recycle Bin) would have been my choice to put there had I had one. None of the other 30+ shortcuts from my regular account were there.

-> This is by default. Personal settings and desktop shortcuts are NOT visible to other accounts.

So, if my "normal" admin account goes bad, what good is the backup if I can't find (because it isn't there?) the file/program/app that I'm looking for?
-> If you know where to look then you can retrieve any file from any account, as long as you have admin privileges.

* Information from https://www.isunshare.com/windows-10-password/remove-or-delete-administrator-account-in-windows-10.html 

hi Mike, This are the steps to delete administrator account for windows 10
Windows 10 installation disc is a good and free option for you to delete administrator account directly without login while you have no access or no admin rights to computer.

1. Boot your Windows 10 computer from installation disc.
2. Press Shift + F10 and replace the utilman.exe with cmd.exe using command line.
3. Type wpeutil reboot and exit installation disc instantly to reboot computer from hard drive.
4. When Windows 10 boots to login screen, click the ease of access icon to run Command Prompt without login.
5. Type the command "net user username /delete" and press Enter to delete administrator account without password login or admin rights.

Such a Windows 10 install disc also works in the same way to reset Windows 10 local admin password, create new administrator account in Windows 10 when cannot sign in. Just need to change the command line used to reset password or add/delete user account. So you can keep it in safe place or learn to create a Windows 10 installation disc when you need.

Your recipe is overly complicated. Since the OP has an admin account, he can delete any account using the standard tools built into Windows. Clicking "Settings", then "Accounts" is sufficient.