Difference between Power User and Administrator?

[S.Joseph]

What exactly is the difference between "power user" and "administrator" in
the user settings?

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Groups overview
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/lsm_local_groups.mspx

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Why not open Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Local Security
Policy > Local Policies > User Rights Management and take a look?

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[S.Joseph]

Your reply helped. I can see more specifically the user rights for each
specific group. One more follow up question:

I would like to lock down users in my company to "Users" group instead of
administrator but it prevents a certain program from working properly for
them. This program reads and writes word files on a network share. Which
specific 'policy' under 'local security settings' can I add the User group
to in order to possibly get the program to work for a "User"?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Your reply helped. I can see more specifically the user rights for each
specific group. One more follow up question:

I would like to lock down users in my company to "Users" group instead of
administrator but it prevents a certain program from working properly for
them. This program reads and writes word files on a network share. Which
specific 'policy' under 'local security settings' can I add the User group
to in order to possibly get the program to work for a "User"?

To ensure that the userds have the necessary permissions to the data
files on the network share, you'll need to consult the network
administrator. If the issue revolves around the users'
permissions/privileges on their individual workstations, the following
may help:

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. It
is sometimes also necessary to grant users elevated privileges to the
registry keys of the application.

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

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH