Administrator Account - Make Up for Incorrect Practice

[Guest]

Hi,

(This post is a bit of follow-up to my previous post about deleting folders
for non-existent users.)

I began using the Administrator account several years ago when I had
difficulty with a hardware uninstall that went wrong. It started out to be a
temporary practice until I was sure the system was stable. To make a long
story short, I continued to use the account. By the time I was motivated to
start using a user account rather than the Administrator account, a lot of
time had passed.

I recently created a user account with administrative privileges. When I
logged into this account, and Windows started, there was a big difference
between the desktop for the new user account and that for the Administrator
account. (Only about half of the links to programs shown on the Administrator
account desktop show on the user desktop. Nor are the non-existent links
shown in the desktop folder for the Administrator; but, they do appear on the
desktop when using the system as the Administrator.)

Is it possible to create a user account with the same desktop as the
Administrator? Would this also apply to privileges and other settings?

I have an XP reference book, and I have read a number of posts on this
forum. I just don't want to make a mistake that will make the situation
worse. I am a little overwhelmed with some of the detailed explanations, and
I am afraid I might misinterpret some of the information.

Maybe it's just better to continue loggin on as the Administrator as I
continue to use the computer in the future. But, if I can use the system as a
user, having the same desktop and privileges as the current Administrator
settings, I would be quite willing to make the change in practice.

Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered.

Jeff

 

[Nepatsfan]

In

Hi,

(This post is a bit of follow-up to my previous post about
deleting folders
for non-existent users.)

I began using the Administrator account several years ago
when I had
difficulty with a hardware uninstall that went wrong. It
started out to be a
temporary practice until I was sure the system was stable. To
make a long
story short, I continued to use the account. By the time I
was motivated to
start using a user account rather than the Administrator
account, a lot of
time had passed.

I recently created a user account with administrative
privileges. When I
logged into this account, and Windows started, there was a
big difference
between the desktop for the new user account and that for the
Administrator
account. (Only about half of the links to programs shown on
the Administrator
account desktop show on the user desktop. Nor are the
non-existent links
shown in the desktop folder for the Administrator; but, they
do appear on the
desktop when using the system as the Administrator.)

Is it possible to create a user account with the same desktop
as the
Administrator? Would this also apply to privileges and other
settings?

I have an XP reference book, and I have read a number of
posts on this
forum. I just don't want to make a mistake that will make the
situation
worse. I am a little overwhelmed with some of the detailed
explanations, and
I am afraid I might misinterpret some of the information.

Maybe it's just better to continue loggin on as the
Administrator as I
continue to use the computer in the future. But, if I can use
the system as a
user, having the same desktop and privileges as the current
Administrator
settings, I would be quite willing to make the change in
practice.

Thanks in advance for any help that can be offered.

Jeff

Actually, this isn't that complicated a procedure. What you're
trying to do is create a clone of the built-in Administrator
account that you can use as your regular account. Once you
become familiar with how this is done, it shouldn't seem like
all that big a deal.

The key thing here is that you can't use either of the
accounts, Administrator or your new account, to accomplish your
goal. You need to create another administrative account that
will do the actual account copying. This account is purely
temporary and can be deleted once its job is done.

So you've now got three administrative level accounts on your
system, the built-in Administrator, your new account, and the
temporary admin account. Logon with the temp admin account.

You can use one of two methods to copy the Administrator's user
profile over to your new account. The simplest is to copy the
entire contents of this folder,

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator

into this folder,

C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNEWACCOUNT

where YOURNEWACCOUNT represents the account you created for
yourself.

The second method involves copying the user profiles which are
available through the System Properties sheet. It's essentially
the same process as outlined above. You're trying to copy the
Administrator's profile to the C:\Documents and
Settings\YOURNEWACCOUNT folder.

Here are a couple of articles which outline the procedure.

How do I copy a user profile in Windows XP?
http://www.petri.co.il/copy_user_profiles_in_windows_xp.htm

To copy a user profile
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...cs/en-us/sysdm_userprofile_copy.mspx?mfr=true

Keep in mind that using the built in Administrator as your
regular account is never a good idea. The Administrator should
be reserved for use in emergencies only.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Guest]

Hi Nepatsfan,

Thanks for the information. Your explanation was great.

I'll give it a go in the next few days and let you know the outcome.

(I probably shouldn't mention that I'm from Indy.... I hope that wouldn't
have made a difference. (Just Joking))

Thanks

Jeff

 

[Nepatsfan]

If you run into any problems, don't hesitate to ask for
clarification on the info I passed along earlier. You're being
from Indy won't be a problem. As a matter of fact, I'm counting
on our teams meeting sometime in late January, 2008 for the AFC
championship.

Now if you had said you were a Jets fan, that may have been a
different story.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

In