Programs I load (as the administrator)

[rber]

There are 4 users on our computer using XP Home edition.
I have given myself administrator rights and the other 3
have been assigned user rights. Some of the programs I
have loaded can only be run (used) by me. For example, I
loaded "The Ultimate Rollercoster" for my daughter. I
can run the program under my user name but the program
cannot be used by my daughter while in her user profile.
Why is this. I thought the whole idea behind having an
administrator is so that other users can "use" but not
install or delete things from the computer to preserve it
in an operating manner? Is there something, other than
giving everyone administrator rights, that I can do to
allow everyone else on the computer to run software I
install?

I would appreciate some help here.

Thanks

Ray

 

[Colin Nash [MVP]]

Hi Ray,

Unfortunately some software is not very well written and doesn't handle
multiple user profiles very well.

One thing to try is go into C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\*your name*\DESKTOP
and/or C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\*your name*\START MENU\PROGRAMS and copy
the appopriate icons into the same folder under your daughter's name... or
even better, under "All Users".

If you put it under "All Users" don't be surprised if you see two copies
when you log in: you are seeing your original one, plus the one that "all
users" see. You can probably delete your own in this case, since you count
as one of "all users"

If you still have problems, you may need to temporary elevate your
daughter's account to an administrator, log in as her to perform the
installation and then demote her again.

Finally, some applications (especially some games) will only run as an
administrator. In this case you need to re-evaluate your need for the
software vs your attempts to control access to the system.

I hope this helps.

 

[Rehan]

Some rogue programs want to make temporary files in the program folder...
The limited users accounts in windows xp do not have write permissions for
this folder.

To try this solution you can give write permissions to all users for this
folder.
You need to restart into Safe mode (since you are using xp home).
1. Right click on the program folder "c:\program files\folder" where folder
is the name of the concerned application.
2. select Properties and goto Security tab
3. Select "Users" in the upper pane.
4. Enable Write and Modify in the lower pane