Device Manager is "Fully Accessible" to "Regular" Users

[Jason Kraus]

My apologies for the cross post. I'm not sure which group to best ask the
below question.
= = = = =

I am encountering a unique problem with Device Manager. For some unknown
reason, accounts with normal USER rights have FULL access and control to
Device Manager (DM). A non-administrator can access DM without getting a
"read only" warning. Also, a non-administrator can make changes like
enabling/disabling devices in DM. This is obviously not good since only
those with ADMINISTRATOR rights should have this type of access to DM.

NOTE: All other areas of Windows XP that should be restricted to only
administrators are working correctly. Only access to DM seems to be
compromised.

I suspect the problem is a software issue, perhaps a simple Registry issue.
Of the 300+ computers at my organization, the problem occurs on all
computers that use a specific image. The make/model of the system imaged
doesn't make a difference. There's something in that software image that is
causing the problem, and unfortunately, I am stuck using that image. Also
of note, even though non-administrators can access and change settings in
DM, I do occasionally get a "Failed To Write To Registry" error when making
a change in DM like enabling a device. Ironically, the change still goes
through despite the error message, but this does seem to imply the Registry
might be to blame somehow.

Does anyone have any ideas what is causing this problem and/or how to fix
it?

Thanks in advance for the help...

Jason Kraus
= = = = =
Air Force Institute of Technology
Desktop Support

 

[Paul Mathieu]

My apologies for the cross post. I'm not sure which group to best ask the
below question.
= = = = =

I am encountering a unique problem with Device Manager. For some unknown
reason, accounts with normal USER rights have FULL access and control to
Device Manager (DM). A non-administrator can access DM without getting a
"read only" warning. Also, a non-administrator can make changes like
enabling/disabling devices in DM. This is obviously not good since only
those with ADMINISTRATOR rights should have this type of access to DM.

NOTE: All other areas of Windows XP that should be restricted to only
administrators are working correctly. Only access to DM seems to be
compromised.

I suspect the problem is a software issue, perhaps a simple Registry issue.
Of the 300+ computers at my organization, the problem occurs on all
computers that use a specific image. The make/model of the system imaged
doesn't make a difference. There's something in that software image that is
causing the problem, and unfortunately, I am stuck using that image. Also
of note, even though non-administrators can access and change settings in
DM, I do occasionally get a "Failed To Write To Registry" error when making
a change in DM like enabling a device. Ironically, the change still goes
through despite the error message, but this does seem to imply the Registry
might be to blame somehow.

Does anyone have any ideas what is causing this problem and/or how to fix
it?

Thanks in advance for the help...

Jason Kraus
= = = = =
Air Force Institute of Technology
Desktop Support

Are you are using policies to lock down the access? If not, perhaps
one could be created and deployed to the target computers to meet your
objective? Just a thought.

Paul