Administrator and User Accounts

[Guest]

Recently installed XP Home Edition; created administrator account (me) plus 3 other limited user accounts with the understanding that as administrator I would be able to manipulate the other user profiles (ie. accessible programs).

Installed various pieces of software which operated flawlessly under Windows Me. Under my administrator account all is well. When I look in the 'All Programs' in the Start Menu for each of the limited user accounts, the appropriate titles appear yet some work and some do not. The links are identical to those under the administrator account yet the programs won't run (messages include 'need to install software' or 'folder to which the short-cut applies does not exist').

Has anyone encountered this problem before? How can it be fixed? I don't want to install further software without knowing how to get around this dilema. I thought that limited users would have access to all installed software unless I denied them permission.

On another note, how does one deny some limited users permission to use certain software (ex. FrontPage) while allowing others the ability to do so?

Any help/advice is sincerely appreciated.
Cheers!

 

[SteveL]

Limited user accounts is just that LIMITED, you will have
to grant them rights to the folder where the programs
reside, some programs have to right information to that
location and if the user does not have that right it will
not work.

-----Original Message-----
Recently installed XP Home Edition; created administrator

account (me) plus 3 other limited user accounts with the
understanding that as administrator I would be able to
manipulate the other user profiles (ie. accessible
programs).

Installed various pieces of software which operated

flawlessly under Windows Me. Under my administrator
account all is well. When I look in the 'All Programs' in
the Start Menu for each of the limited user accounts, the
appropriate titles appear yet some work and some do not.
The links are identical to those under the administrator
account yet the programs won't run (messages include 'need
to install software' or 'folder to which the short-cut
applies does not exist').

Has anyone encountered this problem before? How can it

be fixed? I don't want to install further software
without knowing how to get around this dilema. I thought
that limited users would have access to all installed
software unless I denied them permission.

On another note, how does one deny some limited users

permission to use certain software (ex. FrontPage) while
allowing others the ability to do so?

 

[Tim Anderson]

Recently installed XP Home Edition; created administrator account (me)

plus 3 other limited user accounts with the understanding that as
administrator I would be able to manipulate the other user profiles (ie.
accessible programs).

Has anyone encountered this problem before? How can it be fixed? I don't

want to install further software without knowing how to get around this
dilema. I thought that limited users would have access to all installed
software unless I denied them permission.

I've written a short article on this situation, see
http://www.itwriting.com/winvandals.php

Tim

 

[Jon]

Check the location of where your program resides via properties tab of entry
in "All Programs"

You can check / change the accessibility of folders for particular users by
right-clicking the folder > Properties and looking at the security tab in
Safe Mode.

Alternatively install this program to have the security tab visible in
normal mode
http://tinyurl.com/35uev

(x86 Intel Version link)

Limited users don't have access to the "Documents and Settings" folders of
other users, by default. This can be changed via this security tab.

Jon

Recently installed XP Home Edition; created administrator account (me)

plus 3 other limited user accounts with the understanding that as
administrator I would be able to manipulate the other user profiles (ie.
accessible programs).

Installed various pieces of software which operated flawlessly under

Windows Me. Under my administrator account all is well. When I look in the
'All Programs' in the Start Menu for each of the limited user accounts, the
appropriate titles appear yet some work and some do not. The links are
identical to those under the administrator account yet the programs won't
run (messages include 'need to install software' or 'folder to which the
short-cut applies does not exist').

Has anyone encountered this problem before? How can it be fixed? I don't

want to install further software without knowing how to get around this
dilema. I thought that limited users would have access to all installed
software unless I denied them permission.

On another note, how does one deny some limited users permission to use

certain software (ex. FrontPage) while allowing others the ability to do so?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

This is quite common if the software was designed for Win9x/Me, or
if it was intended for WinNT/2K/XP, but was improperly designed. Quite
simply, the installation routine for this application doesn't "know"
how to handle individual user profiles, or the application tries to
make changes to "off-limits" sections of the registry. Quite often,
you can make this software available to other users by _copying_ the
Start Menu folder and Desktop folder shortcuts from the user profile
from which the software was installed in the corresponding folders in
the user profile(s) in which you'd like the software to be accessible.
If the application is something that can/should be made available to
all current and future users, copying the shortcuts into the
corresponding locations of the All Users profile will do the trick.

NOTE: This may not work if the software requires access to parts
of the hard drive and/or registry that are not normally accessible to
regular users. (This won't occur if the application was properly
written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're left
with two options: Either grant the necessary users appropriate higher
access privileges (either as Power Users or local administrators), or
replace the application with one that was properly designed
specifically for WinNT/2K/XP.

Some Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q307091

Additionally, here are a couple of tips suggested, in a reply to a
different post, by MS-MVP Kent W. England:

"If your game or application works with admin accounts, but not with
limited accounts, you can fix it to allow limited users to access the
program files folder with "change" capability rather than "read" which
is the default.

C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:c

where "appfolder" is the folder where the application is installed.

If you wish to undo these changes, then run

C:\>cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:r

If you still have a problem with running the program or saving
settings on limited accounts, you may need to change permissions on
the registry keys. Run regedit.exe and go to HKLM\Software\vendor\app,
where "vendor\app" is the key that the software vendor used for your
specific program. Change the permissions on this key to allow Users
full control."


Bruce Chambers
--
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Recently installed XP Home Edition; created administrator account

(me) plus 3 other limited user accounts with the understanding that as
administrator I would be able to manipulate the other user profiles
(ie. accessible programs).

Installed various pieces of software which operated flawlessly under

Windows Me. Under my administrator account all is well. When I look
in the 'All Programs' in the Start Menu for each of the limited user
accounts, the appropriate titles appear yet some work and some do not.
The links are identical to those under the administrator account yet
the programs won't run (messages include 'need to install software' or
'folder to which the short-cut applies does not exist').

Has anyone encountered this problem before? How can it be fixed? I

don't want to install further software without knowing how to get
around this dilema. I thought that limited users would have access to
all installed software unless I denied them permission.

On another note, how does one deny some limited users permission to

use certain software (ex. FrontPage) while allowing others the ability
to do so?