Admin account in Windows XP home edition

[Ajay]

Hello,
Few days ago, I bought a new Gateway system with Windows XP. When I
tried to install some of my personal software on the box, towards the
end it said that I did not have permissions to do this. The Owner
account is set up as the admin account. Anywho, all of the softwares
got installed but only some of them are working.

Another issue (I guess because of the above) is that I disabled some
programs from starting up at boot time in msconfig. However, the
programs get started again whenever the machine is started. When I open
up msconfig again, the programs are all enabled as if I did not disable
anything.

I have another old system with all these softwares installed and each
of them working fine. The old system has Windows XP Home with SP2. The
new system has Windows XP Media Center Edition with SP2.

What could be the reason? Is the owner account the "true" admin
account? How can I fix this problem?

Thanks for your help.
Ajay

 

[Guest]

Never heard of "owner account",as microsoft TechNet puts it,thier is a
diffrence between "Administrator" & "Administrators" in windows,the "s"
makes all the diffrence.Gateway must have edited xp software,because i
dont think microsoft xp has a "owner account".Also,MsConfig can be a real
monster if one edits it,being if edited and once you close out in "ok" youre
mistakes might be made,if close out in "cancel" thier not...

 

[Pennywise]

What could be the reason? Is the owner account the "true" admin
account?

I have a Gateway, Owner is a true admin account.

 

[Malke]

Hello,
Few days ago, I bought a new Gateway system with Windows XP. When I
tried to install some of my personal software on the box, towards the
end it said that I did not have permissions to do this. The Owner
account is set up as the admin account. Anywho, all of the softwares
got installed but only some of them are working.

Another issue (I guess because of the above) is that I disabled some
programs from starting up at boot time in msconfig. However, the
programs get started again whenever the machine is started. When I
open up msconfig again, the programs are all enabled as if I did not
disable anything.

I have another old system with all these softwares installed and each
of them working fine. The old system has Windows XP Home with SP2. The
new system has Windows XP Media Center Edition with SP2.

What could be the reason? Is the owner account the "true" admin
account? How can I fix this problem?

The "true" built-in Administrator account is called Administrator.
"Owner" is a generic account created by the OEM (Gateway) because
naturally they don't know who is going to purchase the computer. The
Owner account is an administrator on the machine. All administrator
accounts have the same level of privileges so you don't need to be
logged on as the built-in Administrator to do installs, etc. Something
else is wrong on your computer.

We would need to know exactly what "softwares" you tried to install and
more about what error messages you get, what "not working" actually
means in order to give you focused help. What did you disable using
msconfig?

Here is a link that will explain what details you need to include in
your next post so you can get help:
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Malke

 

[Ajay]

Sorry for the delay in replying back. To answer some of Malke'e
questions:
1. I installed Java run time. While installing, towards end, it said
that I don't have sufficient rights. However, in the control panel, it
shows as installed. Yet when I go to a java web site, it does not work.
Sun's web site at http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp can verify
the installation of run time, but it failed too.

2. I installed Roxio Media creator 7. Got the same insufficient rights
message in the end, but the software works fine.

3. Installed IE7. Under Tools -> 'Deleting Browsing History', there is
a 'Delete all' button. But it never works. Even individual buttons for
deleting history, cookies, temp files, forms, passwords don't work. I
have to clean up the mess using privacy cleaner of zone alarm. I have
IE7 at my work PC (Windows XP Professional) and these buttons work fine
over there.

4. In msconfig, I disabled the the Roxio and qttask from being started
at boot time, but they are right back on every time.

As mentioned earlier, I have another older system and things are
working fine on that.

I am going crazy over this.
Ajay

 

[Malke]

Sorry for the delay in replying back. To answer some of Malke'e
questions:
1. I installed Java run time. While installing, towards end, it said
that I don't have sufficient rights. However, in the control panel, it
shows as installed. Yet when I go to a java web site, it does not
work. Sun's web site at http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp can
verify the installation of run time, but it failed too.

2. I installed Roxio Media creator 7. Got the same insufficient rights
message in the end, but the software works fine.

3. Installed IE7. Under Tools -> 'Deleting Browsing History', there is
a 'Delete all' button. But it never works. Even individual buttons for
deleting history, cookies, temp files, forms, passwords don't work. I
have to clean up the mess using privacy cleaner of zone alarm. I have
IE7 at my work PC (Windows XP Professional) and these buttons work
fine over there.

4. In msconfig, I disabled the the Roxio and qttask from being started
at boot time, but they are right back on every time.

As mentioned earlier, I have another older system and things are
working fine on that.

At this point, I would probably restore the Gateway to factory condition
since you have just started installing your own stuff. Create your own
user account and delete the Owner one. Then start installing Java, etc.
and see if all is well.

If you don't want to do that, uninstall everything you installed - Java,
Roxio, IE7. Make sure you follow whatever uninstallation instructions
are necessary for Roxio and IE7. See MVP Sandi Hardmeier's site for IE7
here: http://www.ie-vista.com/

Or do a System Restore to before you installed anything.

Then make your own user account, log in and delete the Owner account.
See if things work now.

Malke