Logging on as guest

[David160]

I am running xp professional. When the guest account is in the users group,
I can log on as guest normally without any problems.
If guest is not in the users group, but is in the guests group, the computer
starts to log guest on, displaying “loading your personnel settingsâ€, then
immediately logs guest off showing “saving your settingsâ€, and then goes back
to the welcome screen showing all the available user accounts for logging on.
If I put guest back into the users group, log on proceeds normally.

Why is this happening and how can I log guest on, when it is not in the
users group?

 

[Malke]

I am running xp professional. When the guest account is in the users
group, I can log on as guest normally without any problems.
If guest is not in the users group, but is in the guests group, the
computer starts to log guest on, displaying ?loading your personnel
settings?, then immediately logs guest off showing ?saving your settings?,
and then goes back to the welcome screen showing all the available user
accounts for logging on. If I put guest back into the users group, log on
proceeds normally.

Why is this happening and how can I log guest on, when it is not in the
users group?

I don't know why you're having difficulties but you shouldn't be using Guest
in any case. Here's why and what to do instead:

Do not use the Guest account you see in the User Accounts applet in Control
Panel. The Guest account is a special system account, not one meant for
when you are feeling hospitable. It is disabled by default in Windows XP,
Vista, Linux, Unix, and OS X for a reason.

From TechNet:

"The Guest account is intended for users who require temporary access to the
system. However, if this account is enabled, a security risk may exist
because an unauthorized user could gain anonymous access to the system
through this account."

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb418978(TechNet.10).aspx

So if you enabled Guest, disable it now and create a Standard/Limited
(Vista, XP Pro/XP Home) for your visitors. Call the new user account
something like "Visitor".

If you have XP Pro, Media Center, Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, you can
use Group Policy to set restrictions (gpedit.msc). Be very careful using
the Group Policy editor; it is completely possible to lock yourself out.
Questions about group policy should be posted here:

microsoft.public.windows.group_policy

Malke