Remote logins using 2x XP Pro, 1x XP home, 1x Vista home premium

[jodleren]

Hello

The situation: I maintain an office, where they now got a computer
with Vista. There are 4 computers, all connected via lan and the idea
is that all documents are shared to everyone.
There are 2 computers with XP Professional, one with XP Home and now
one with Vista Home Premium.

Sharing works in all cases, all computers can access "my documents" on
all other computer (though on Vista I renamed the Documents folder for
the sake of the standard.

There are 3 minor issues with the system. The XP Pro are the best
working computers.

1) XP Home cannot remember passwords for logging in to other
computers. Is this specific for "home"? Professional has it. Is there
a fix?

2) The same goes for Vista Home Premium. When logging in to another
computer, it prompts for user/passw, and with an option "Remember by
password" just as XP Pro has it. The only difference is that it does
not work after rebooting/starting, while in XP Pro it works next time.
Is this a bug?

I also found this:
"You need to utillize Vista's UAC (user account control) tool.
Click on the start butto, type "User Accounts", and press Enter.
Click Manage network passwords on the side menu.
Select 'Add' for this problem
Fill out the 'Stored Credential Properties' screen and click OK."

Well I found it myself also, and figured it out. But, I can fill it
out, but I dont know how it relates... should it be "\\other_computer"
or just "other_computer". USername "other_computer\someone" or just
"someone". All were tried, but none worked. When entering another
computer, it still prompts for user/passw, though I can pick the
username here, the password is not working at all.
Finally, it seems to forget this list anyway when rebooting Yet
another bug?

3) When logging in to Vista Home Premium from another computer, I need
to create a dummy account. There is only one administrator on the
computer, and basically that should be it (no password during startup,
just working... this is needed for those .... working there).
Well, I cannot login using the admin accoung with or without password.
In stead, there is a dummy account (with password, forgot to try
without) and that one can log in. Now they are confused that there are
2 users on one computer.
Can I in anyway login using the admin account? Or make the dummy
account hidden, so it is only there for remote login?

WBR
sonnich

 

[Malke]

jodleren wrote:

Comments inline:

The situation: I maintain an office, where they now got a computer
with Vista. There are 4 computers, all connected via lan and the idea
is that all documents are shared to everyone.
There are 2 computers with XP Professional, one with XP Home and now
one with Vista Home Premium.

Sharing works in all cases, all computers can access "my documents" on
all other computer (though on Vista I renamed the Documents folder for
the sake of the standard.

Although this doesn't address your questions below, you really should
consider having one computer or Network Appliance Storage (NAS) that hosts
all the shared files and nothing else. The way you have it, unless you have
a backup system you haven't mentioned, you need to back up all 4 computers
separately. This almost guarantees that it won't get done.

There are 3 minor issues with the system. The XP Pro are the best
working computers.

1) XP Home cannot remember passwords for logging in to other
computers. Is this specific for "home"? Professional has it. Is there
a fix?

2) The same goes for Vista Home Premium. When logging in to another
computer, it prompts for user/passw, and with an option "Remember by
password" just as XP Pro has it. The only difference is that it does
not work after rebooting/starting, while in XP Pro it works next time.
Is this a bug?

Home versions of XP and Vista do not cache passwords. This is by design. If
it is important to you, upgrade to XP Pro/Vista Business.

I also found this:
"You need to utillize Vista's UAC (user account control) tool.
Click on the start butto, type "User Accounts", and press Enter.
Click Manage network passwords on the side menu.
Select 'Add' for this problem
Fill out the 'Stored Credential Properties' screen and click OK."

I'm really not sure where you're seeing this. You can read about Vista's UAC
in the Vista Help & Support or check out this link:

User Account Control Step-by-Step Guide
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709691.aspx?ppud=4

It is important for security to have UAC enabled, but it won't make your
Home versions of Windows act like Pro/Business versions regarding caching
passwords.

3) When logging in to Vista Home Premium from another computer, I need
to create a dummy account. There is only one administrator on the
computer, and basically that should be it (no password during startup,
just working... this is needed for those .... working there).
Well, I cannot login using the admin accoung with or without password.
In stead, there is a dummy account (with password, forgot to try
without) and that one can log in. Now they are confused that there are
2 users on one computer.
Can I in anyway login using the admin account? Or make the dummy
account hidden, so it is only there for remote login?

You actually have not got your computers set up well in regards to user
accounts. You're apparently using the built-in Administrator account in XP,
some other administrative user account in XP Home (since the built-in
Administrator account is only available in Safe Mode in Home), and some
other administrative user account in Vista (since the built-in
Administrator account is disabled by default in Vista). This gives you zero
protection in an emergency if those accounts become corrupted (not an
uncommon occurrence).

You absolutely do not want to have only one user account in Vista or XP.

You particularly don't want only one user account with administrative
privileges on Vista because the built-in Administrator account (normally
only used in emergencies) is disabled by default. In Vista, you should
create at least three user accounts: one standard user account that you
will use for your daily work and two administrative accounts for
permissions and emergencies. In XP, while it is more secure to run as a
Standard (Limited in Home) user, in Real Life(tm) it is often difficult
because of older software expecting to run with administrative rights. You
should create at least one extra user account in XP. Call it Tech or
whatever. You may never need to log into it or the extra Vista user
accounts, but if the day comes when you can't get into your regular
accounts you'll be very glad you had the foresight to create the extra
ones.

If you want to go directly to the Desktop and skip the Welcome Screen with
the icons of user accounts, this works for both XP and Vista:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

Malke