In news:4453CCA3-43A3-48CE-A9F2-(E-Mail Removed),
Jeff <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> (This post is a bit of follow-up to my previous post about
> deleting folders
> for non-existent users.)
>
> I began using the Administrator account several years ago
> when I had
> difficulty with a hardware uninstall that went wrong. It
> started out to be a
> temporary practice until I was sure the system was stable. To
> make a long
> story short, I continued to use the account. By the time I
> was motivated to
> start using a user account rather than the Administrator
> account, a lot of
> time had passed.
>
> I recently created a user account with administrative
> privileges. When I
> logged into this account, and Windows started, there was a
> big difference
> between the desktop for the new user account and that for the
> Administrator
> account. (Only about half of the links to programs shown on
> the Administrator
> account desktop show on the user desktop. Nor are the
> non-existent links
> shown in the desktop folder for the Administrator; but, they
> do appear on the
> desktop when using the system as the Administrator.)
>
> Is it possible to create a user account with the same desktop
> as the
> Administrator? Would this also apply to privileges and other
> settings?
>
> I have an XP reference book, and I have read a number of
> posts on this
> forum. I just don't want to make a mistake that will make the
> situation
> worse. I am a little overwhelmed with some of the detailed
> explanations, and
> I am afraid I might misinterpret some of the information.
>
> Maybe it's just better to continue loggin on as the
> Administrator as I
> continue to use the computer in the future. But, if I can use
> the system as a
> user, having the same desktop and privileges as the current
> Administrator
> settings, I would be quite willing to make the change in
> practice.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered.
>
> Jeff
Actually, this isn't that complicated a procedure. What you're
trying to do is create a clone of the built-in Administrator
account that you can use as your regular account. Once you
become familiar with how this is done, it shouldn't seem like
all that big a deal.
The key thing here is that you can't use either of the
accounts, Administrator or your new account, to accomplish your
goal. You need to create another administrative account that
will do the actual account copying. This account is purely
temporary and can be deleted once its job is done.
So you've now got three administrative level accounts on your
system, the built-in Administrator, your new account, and the
temporary admin account. Logon with the temp admin account.
You can use one of two methods to copy the Administrator's user
profile over to your new account. The simplest is to copy the
entire contents of this folder,
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator
into this folder,
C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNEWACCOUNT
where YOURNEWACCOUNT represents the account you created for
yourself.
The second method involves copying the user profiles which are
available through the System Properties sheet. It's essentially
the same process as outlined above. You're trying to copy the
Administrator's profile to the C:\Documents and
Settings\YOURNEWACCOUNT folder.
Here are a couple of articles which outline the procedure.
How do I copy a user profile in Windows XP?
http://www.petri.co.il/copy_user_pro...windows_xp.htm
To copy a user profile
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d....mspx?mfr=true
Keep in mind that using the built in Administrator as your
regular account is never a good idea. The Administrator should
be reserved for use in emergencies only.
Good luck
Nepatsfan
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