WinXP Pro: Limited accounts not working.

[David Bilek]

I'm trying to create a limited account for web browsing, etc.
Creating the account with my regular admin account seems to work
properly but whenever I try to log on a limited account (or the Guest
accout, which I enabled to test) it sits on "Applying personalized
settings" or whatever for far too long and then goes to a completely
blank pale blue screen. Nothing else happens. I can CTRL-ALT-DEL and
bring up the task manager but nothing else.

I created a second Admin account for testing purposes and that account
can long on normally. So the problem appears to be specifically with
limited accounts. The only error I see in the Event Log is a Warning
with the limited accounts user name on it..

Warning: MsiInstaller. Failed to connect to server. Error:
0x8000400.

However, some googling seemed to indicate that the MsiInstaller
sometimes returns this error message even when functioning properly so
I don't know if it is the real problem.

Any help would be appreciated. Not being able to use limited accounts
is obviously sub optimal.

-David

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

The connection may not be shared.

Open "Network Connections" folder, and run the "add a new connection" wizard, setting it to be default, and share with all users.

(or) Rightclick the connection icon in the 'Network Connections' folder Properties, Networking tab, TCP/IP protocol properties,
General tab, Advanced button, General tab, select "use default gateway on remote network".

The Guest account can never OPEN a connection to the inet, by design, and as expected behavior. It must use an existing connection
opened by another account.

 

[David Bilek]

I fear I have been rather unclear. When I say "log on", I do not mean
"log on to the internet". I mean "log on to Windows". I can't log on
to Windows with limited or guest accounts, it just hangs on a blue
screen; No start menu, no taskbar, no icons. Just a pale blue
screen. Admin accounts can log on to Windows normally!

Thanks for the help.

-David

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

If creating a new account fails, try SFC.

To repair all system files, go to Start/Run, and type (or paste in): SFC /SCANNOW (see: Description of Windows XP and Windows Server
2003 System File Checker (Sfc.exe): http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310747 )