Allowing a user to play PC games on XP PRO

[Michael]

I have installed quake and counter strike both an on-line games that plays
over the internet, on the family pc. We are running XP Pro with 3 users, 1
administer (me) and 2 limited users kids. The game plays fine when I log in
my name but cant when the kid log in how do I correct this so they can play
it when they are logged in.

 

[Steve Colburn]

It has been a long time since my kids moved out, and I did just what you are trying to do. But, from my "old man" memory here
goes....

Change the user to Admin. Log into user. Install game. Log out. Log into your account. Change user back to user. Log back into
user. Try the game. Works? Good! Does not?

Change user back to Admin. Log back into user. Now this is where the memory gets fuzzy! Run regedit (you are in the user's
account). Navigate to the game in ...Software. Modify the permission for the game to include the user, with full rights. You may
have to do this in both places (I forget the exact location - search to find it). Now go back and change the user back to user and
try again.

You may have to *play* with this for a bit, but it DID work fine for me.

Good luck & don't forget... Have fun!

Steve

 

[Perdita X. Nitt]

I have installed quake and counter strike both an on-line games that
plays over the internet, on the family pc. We are running XP Pro with
3 users, 1 administer (me) and 2 limited users kids. The game plays
fine when I log in my name but cant when the kid log in how do I
correct this so they can play it when they are logged in.

Just an FYI, all the groups you've posted to are completely irrelevant
(apart from setup_admin) there is a group for asking questions about games
and you've not posted there! ;o)

Anyway, some games *must* be played from an admin account because a limited
account won't allow them access to some of they files they require to run
(or so I've been told).

 

[Steve Colburn]

Thanks Oli! I generally put on my hip waders and just go bustin' in. I beat the ole thing till it works, then I'm happy! Then,
promptly forget how I "fixed" it. <VBEG>

And to add to Oli's post...

If you want "Tim" to be able to use "Quake", but you don't want Suzy to, then don't give "Users" full control, just give it to "Tim"
for "Quake".

Permissions can be daunting, but lots of "fun" once you get the hang of it.

Steve
"If it don't work, keep hackin' at it."

Just to expand on Steve's answer, it's either registry permissions or file
permissions.

Regedit in Windows XP now includes functionality to set permissions
(previous you have to use regedt32), so that's good. You must be logged in
as an administrator to be able to change the registry permissions (otherwise
permissions would be pointless).

The key you will need to change the permissions on will reside in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and can probably found under \Software\Game Publisher or
\Software\Name of Game

If you find a key that looks related to the game, just relax the permissions
by adding Users: Full Control.

Similarly, file permissions on "c:\program files\game directory" may need to
be relaxed.

Hope this helps

Oli

It has been a long time since my kids moved out, and I did just what you

are trying to do. But, from my "old man" memory here

goes....

Change the user to Admin. Log into user. Install game. Log out. Log

into your account. Change user back to user. Log back into

user. Try the game. Works? Good! Does not?

Change user back to Admin. Log back into user. Now this is where the

memory gets fuzzy! Run regedit (you are in the user's

account). Navigate to the game in ...Software. Modify the permission for

the game to include the user, with full rights. You may

have to do this in both places (I forget the exact location - search to

find it). Now go back and change the user back to user and

 

[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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