Hey folks -

We have a Win2k Advanced server that does file and print sharing for our
office network. It acts as a domain controller.

We are migrating (one computer at a time) from Windows 98 to Windows XP.

Bear with me; I'm not an expert here.

We have Peachtree accounting setup to use a shared drive on the server (as
Peachtree recommends). I have the usernames with proper rights and
permissions setup on the server. They were setup under Win98, and they used
Peachtree with no problems under Win98.

Now that I'm trying to get them setup on XP, I have two scenarios, neither
of which work properly:

1. I setup a domain user on the XP machine. They can mount the shared drives
alright, but
- Peachtree complains that the user does not have enough rights to run
the program (it wants all users to be admins). When I log onto the machine
as the machine's administrator, I can't change the group of the user because
they are not listed in the computer accounts.

Question: How do I change the permissions of a domain user on this new XP
machine? Do I have to make them an administrator in the domain?

- It takes *forever* for the machine to load their settings after
they've entered their password. Like 3-5 minutes, no joke. What's the deal?

2. If I setup a local machine user, they log on quickly, but there is a
problem with accessing hidden shares (peachtree is a hidden share), and then
windows forgets what it mounted after a powerdown. But, I can change the
rights of the user to be an administrator, so Peachtree runs okay.

Can someone offer me advice?

Steve

>Question: How do I change the permissions of a domain
user on this new XP
>machine? Do I have to make them an administrator in the
domain?

Open the Computer Management administrative tool (from
control panel or by running "compmgmt.msc".
Find Local Users and Groups.
Click Groups, you should see Administrators on the right-
hand side. Double-click it, and click the "Add" button.
You can then add the domain accounts to the local
machine's Administrators group.


>
> - It takes *forever* for the machine to load their
settings after
>they've entered their password. Like 3-5 minutes, no
joke. What's the deal?

This is usually caused by incorrect DNS settings. You
need to make sure that the XP machine uses ONLY the DNS
server running on your domain (probably the Win2K server
itself). If you need Internet access, open the DNS
administrative tool on the server, open the help file,
and read the information on setting up DNS forwarders.
Your ISP's DNS servers (or whatever your DNS servers are
for Internet access) get added to the forwarders list on
the server.


>
>2. If I setup a local machine user, they log on quickly,
but there is a
>problem with accessing hidden shares (peachtree is a
hidden share), and then
>windows forgets what it mounted after a powerdown. But,
I can change the
>rights of the user to be an administrator, so Peachtree
runs okay.

Better to use the domain users, you'll have more
administrative control.