asp.net mvc 4 - How to link from View in Area to the root controller? -

i'm new mvc, still learning ins , outs converting .net app mvc.

i have trouble linking action in controller page inside of "area" section.

i created areas , still have default route set up.

the area has following structure:

area   - admin     - controller         usercontroller.cs     -model     -views         user            index.cshtml 

index.cshtml has link should call "index" action in accountcontroller open "default" view:

<div class="pagenavigator">@html.actionlink("main menu", "index", new { area = "", controller="account" })</div> 

the default structure of application following:

- controller      accountcontroller.cs - views      - account           default.cshtml            login.cshtml 

my default structure has controller folder has controller login (default) action set in routeconfig.cs:

routes.maproute(    name: "default",    url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",    defaults: new { controller = "account", action = "login", id = urlparameter.optional } ); 

here account controller:

public class accountcontroller : controller {     public actionresult login(string returnurl)     {         stringbuilder sb = new stringbuilder();         sb.append("web security administration portal<br/><br/>");         viewbag.returnurl = returnurl;         viewbag.message = sb.tostring();         return view();     }      public actionresult index()     {         return view("default");     }      public actionresult login(loginmodel model)     {         if (modelstate.isvalid)         {            bool authenticated = security.authenticatelanuser(model.username, model.password);            if (!authenticated)            {                session["authenticated"] = false;                system.text.stringbuilder errormsg = new system.text.stringbuilder();                errormsg.append("invalid login/password entered.");                errormsg.append("we not able authenticate in in active directory based on information entered, ");                errormsg.append("but recorded attempt audit purposes.");                 modelstate.addmodelerror("", errormsg.tostring());                return view(model);             }             else             {                 return view("default");             }         }          modelstate.addmodelerror("", "the user name or password provided incorrect.");         return view(model);     } } 

what should if need link "default" view defined under default application route, index.cshtml defined under area, when click link, "accountcontroller" gets called correct "index" action?

in short, need find out way link "area" section controller's action in default application section, correct action gets called, not specified in default route mapping right now, link broken.

when view link in source, see following: <a href="/account/index">, when click on link, i'm getting error saying: resource cannot found requested url: /login.aspx

here adminarearegistration:

    public override void registerarea(arearegistrationcontext context)     {         context.maproute(             "admin_default",             "admin/{controller}/{action}/{id}",             new { action = "index", id = urlparameter.optional }         );     }