Other users can't use or see all Start Menu programs

[Guest]

Hello. I searched here and found several replies that address my problem
(Explore/All User Folder/moving programs to the All Users Start folder),
however, they did not help me. I'm using Windows XP Home, and find myself
needing multiple user accounts now that I have a fiancée and 2 teenagers.

This is where the problem comes in. I am the Administrator, and when I
install a program into my account/desktop, I thought all the other Users
would have access. Well, I was wrong. I tried adding RoboFrom Pro to my
fiancée’s Start Menu, but it didn't work, as I she gets error messages when
she tries to use it. We all have access to Musicmatch, Norton
Systemworks/Antivirus/Firewall 2005 and other programs though.

From my research here, I see sometimes a program install it gives you the
option to make it available to all Users, but sometimes it doesn't. To make a
long story short, what is the easiest way to make available to my family the
same programs I have in my Start Menu?

Thank you for any time and attention,

Leonard

BTW, I just had to reformat my hard drive because of SP2, so I'm starting
with basically a clean slate except for the programs mentioned above. I've
got all the Critical Updates and SP1 reinstalled, but does anyone know why
SP2 is so incompatible with nearly every program and audio/video driver on
the market? I wasted 8 CD-R's after installing SP2, because Musicmatch, NTI,
iTunes, and even WMP wouldn't burn a CD. Before I installed SP2, all would
burn with no problems. Then suddenly the computer crashed hard. Now I'm
scared to install SP2 again. Black Viper (www.blackviper.com) recommends
buying the SP CD's and not downloading the SP's from the Internet. Has anyone
else heard that? Thank you again, leonardface9

 

[Guest]

Hi, leonardface9;

To make a shortcut available to all users, it needs to be in the "All Users"
folder, or, as an alternate, you can place a copy in each user's folder; but
this will not make a program work under a limited account if it requires
admin priviledges to run, and some do. One can right-click the shortcut to
such a program and choose "run as," choose an admin user, and type the
password for that account in the resulting dialog, but I believe this has to
be done each time the offending program is started. Grrr. Simplest
workaraound is to make everyone who needs to use that program an admin user.
You may not wish to do that. Another answer is to search for a better written
program to replace one that requires admin priviledges simply to run, if you
can find one. Then let the offending developer know why you won't use their
product.

I've heard about using SP2 CDs rather than downloading from the internet,
but the only reason I've heard is to avoid the long download time over a
dial-up connection.

Regards,
Ian.

 

[Guest]

Hello, Ian!

And thank you for the very quick reply. I'm going to print this out, and
hopefully have better luck this time around. But as you mentioned, some
programs certainly need to be written better. But it does seem Miscrosoft
would come up with a better solution for this doesn't it? I mean that's one
of XP's selling points, multiple user accounts.

Oh well, I still love Windows, I'll just have to make sure and put all my
important files on my storage hard drive instead of just my music
files...they escaped the meltdown, but I lost all my pictures, documents,
etc. My Grandmother said a bought/learned lesson is the best one, and she
was right!!

And I was wondering about the SP issue as well, because I'm on slow dial up
myself, at least until March 5 when BellSouth FastAccess is finally available
in my area and my modem is supposed to be in...yipee!! But I went ahead
and ordered the SP2 disc, as it's free. But they charge for the SP1 and SP1a,
but I'll get them too, as I'm sure it will happen again because that's the
nature of this beast called Windows.

Thank you again Ian,

leonardface9

 

[Guest]

Hi, leonardface9;

You are welcome. I am not a programmer, so I don't know what, if anything,
Microsoft could do at this late date to make legacy programs and those
written as if they were legacy programs work properly in a multi-user
environment. I posted a question in a Mac forum to see if the problem existed
over there as well, since the new Mac OS, like UNIX, is a true multi-user
system. A very knowledgeable developer responded that yes, a program can be
written to require admin priviledges when there is no reason why it should
actually need them. So I put the blame on the developers of such junk.

Backing up everything before major upgrades is always a good idea, and maybe
dismounting any connected back-up drives before upgrading as well. I haven't
heard about it happening on Windows, but there was one Mac OS X upgrade that
wrote a series of zeros to part of some mounted Firewire drives. Instant
invisibility of all the files on those drives--just from an upgrade to the
operating system.

Regards,
Ian.

 

[Guest]

Hello, Ian;

again, thank you for your valuable time and expertise. I love when the
Internet brings complete strangers together for a common good. I'll take all
you mentioned and put it to good use, and thank you again!!

Leonard

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hello. I searched here and found several replies that address my problem
(Explore/All User Folder/moving programs to the All Users Start folder),
however, they did not help me. I'm using Windows XP Home, and find myself
needing multiple user accounts now that I have a fiancée and 2 teenagers.

This is where the problem comes in. I am the Administrator, and when I
install a program into my account/desktop, I thought all the other Users
would have access. Well, I was wrong. I tried adding RoboFrom Pro to my
fiancée’s Start Menu, but it didn't work, as I she gets error messages when
she tries to use it. We all have access to Musicmatch, Norton
Systemworks/Antivirus/Firewall 2005 and other programs though.

From my research here, I see sometimes a program install it gives you the
option to make it available to all Users, but sometimes it doesn't. To make a
long story short, what is the easiest way to make available to my family the
same programs I have in my Start Menu?

Thank you for any time and attention,

Leonard

This is quite common if the software was designed for Win9x/Me, or
if it was intended for WinNT/2K/XP, but was improperly designed. Quite
simply, the installation routine for this application doesn't "know"
how to handle individual user profiles, or the application tries to
make changes to "off-limits" sections of the registry. Quite often,
you can make this software available to other users by _copying_ the
Start Menu folder and Desktop folder shortcuts from the user profile
from which the software was installed in the corresponding folders in
the user profile(s) in which you'd like the software to be accessible.
If the application is something that can/should be made available to
all current and future users, copying the shortcuts into the
corresponding locations of the All Users profile will do the trick.

For some obscure reason, game developers in particular seem to not
understand WinXP's file security paradigm, and require even limited
users to have unnecessarily high privileges to protected systems
folders. For example, saved games are often stored in a sub-folder
under the game's folder within C:\Program Files - a place where no
inexperienced or limited user should have write permissions.

NOTE: This may not work if the software requires access to parts
of the hard drive and/or registry that are not normally accessible to
regular users. (This won't occur if the application was properly
written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're left
with two options: Either grant the necessary users appropriate higher
access privileges (either as Power Users or local administrators), or
replace the application with one that was properly designed
specifically for WinNT/2K/XP.

Some Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307091

Additionally, here are a couple of tips suggested, in a reply to a
different post, by MS-MVP Kent W. England:

"If your game or application works with admin accounts, but not with
limited accounts, you can fix it to allow limited users to access the
program files folder with "change" capability rather than "read" which
is the default.

C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:c

where "appfolder" is the folder where the application is installed.

If you wish to undo these changes, then run

C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:r

If you still have a problem with running the program or saving
settings on limited accounts, you may need to change permissions on
the registry keys. Run regedit.exe and go to HKLM\Software\vendor\app,
where "vendor\app" is the key that the software vendor used for your
specific program. Change the permissions on this key to allow Users
full control."

BTW, I just had to reformat my hard drive because of SP2, so I'm starting
with basically a clean slate except for the programs mentioned above. I've
got all the Critical Updates and SP1 reinstalled, but does anyone know why
SP2 is so incompatible with nearly every program and audio/video driver on
the market? I wasted 8 CD-R's after installing SP2, because Musicmatch, NTI,
iTunes, and even WMP wouldn't burn a CD. Before I installed SP2, all would
burn with no problems. Then suddenly the computer crashed hard. Now I'm
scared to install SP2 again. Black Viper (www.blackviper.com) recommends
buying the SP CD's and not downloading the SP's from the Internet. Has anyone
else heard that? Thank you again, leonardface9

You've got it backwards. It's not SP2 that's incompatible with the
applications; it's the applications that aren't compatible with a
patched and more secure OS. This is primarily the fault of the
application developers who neglected to update/patch their programs for
SP2 compatiblity during the many months that SP2 was in its late testing
phases.


--

Bruce Chambers

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You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[Guest]

Hello, Bruce Chambers;
Thanks for passing on those tips.
Regards,
Ian.