Ids in Administrator Group

[torbar]

I have 3 ids on my home XP desktop (SP 2 and all updates); Norton Internet
Security and Spy Sweeper (both current) plus other applications. The ids are
part of the adminsitrator group (yes I know that they should not be). The
learning program installs successfully under id 1. The learning program fails
to install under ids 2 and 3. The system displays an error message that
indicates that ids 2 or 3 do not have access rights to c:\program files.
When I check folder settings and set owner option to display, Windows
Explorer shows Adminstrators.

After the install an icon is placed on id 1's desktop. I switch to id 2 and
move the icon from id 1's desktop to id's 2 desktop which is succesfull.

Any idea as to why the access error message to c:\Program Files and how to
correct the error state.

Thanks

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Some apps incorrectly need administrator access to those folders. Home does
not grant those rights by default to any user except the default
"Administrator" account. ID #1 is probably that account. As default admin,
you can set the Permissions of any folder or drive to any ID's you wish.
If you have trouble with getting permissions to show, boot to safe mode(F8
on restart), and default "Administrator" to make the settings.

Description of File Sharing and Permissions in Windows XP (Q304040):
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q304/0/40.ASP

 

[torbar]

Hi Mark

I should have noted that I use XP Professional not the Home version. It is
interesting since I I had installed the learning games prior to the rebuild.
I rebuilt my system due to a MFT Bitmap error that Acronis TrueImage
reported. From the rebuild, the learning programs reported the error
condition. ID 2 is my grandkids id (they are under 4).

 

[torbar]

Hi Mark

I read the article and I fail to see why I need to share c:\Program Files.
This is the default folder where all programs are installed. All ids are a
member of the adminstrator group. Should not they all have access rightsd to
the folder. I can see why an id that is a member of the user group may not
have the install rights. Additionally, I had installed two other learning
tools under id 2 and they installed successfully.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Something is not right in Permissions, since you use Pro.

Aaron Stebner's WebLog Solving setup errors by using the SubInACL tool to
repair file and registry permissions:
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2006/09/04/739820.aspx

 

[torbar]

Evening Mark

When I ran the SubInAcl tool, I noticed that their were failures on various
registry keys. Is that to be expected?


torbar

 

[torbar]

Hi Mark

Results after the execution of SubInAcl

1. I treied to uninstall the Coouinting Program first (via Add/Remove) and
the system gave an error message that basically indicated the program was not
present. It asked if I wanted to delete the entry in the Add/Remove listing
and I said Yes (mistake).
2. I logged onto my id and reinstalled the program. On id 1 (original id in
admin group), the install program listed all the folders under c:\program
files.
3. I restarted my system.
4. Logged onto id 1 and uninstalled the program; restarted my system
5. I logged onto id 2 (still member of admin group); autorun activated from
CD; and program failed with the same permission error for c:\program files.
6. I noticed during the install process when the program asked to select the
install folder it identified c:\program files only. When I installed the
prorgam under id 1 it identified all the folders under c:\program files.
7. Under id 2 I started Windows Explorer and the system gave me the same
access error when I tried to expand c:\program files.

Any additional ideas?

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

I think you can conclude from seeing the folders in ID #1 that the disk or
files are not damaged. Also, the Permissions should now be OK. As Sherlock
Holmes said: "When you eliminate the impossible, what's left is the answer".
I think the profiles of the other two are probably damaged in some way. (I
say this, because the other possibility, Policy settings, would not behave
like this)
I would create a new ID as an experiment, and see what happens with program
files. If that works, you can use the copy feature to move old settings to
new ID's

811151 - How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151

There is a small possibility that this utility might also do something.
User Profile Hive Cleanup Service:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...0E2F3582&displaylang=en&Hash=L3YYBBF#filelist

 

[torbar]

Evening Mark

Since I had not heard from you or anyone else, I decided to use the Take
Ownership functions and add specific geoups and permission settings to
c:\program files. I used the c:\windows settings and added the miissing user
groups (admins, user, power user, creator owner) with the same permission
settings. I then logged onto id 2 and was able to access c:\program files.

I wish to thank you for the responses and advise that you provided.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Good job. Nice to hear you fixed it. I think your ability to control your
system just went over the top.

 

[torbar]

Hi Mark

Once again thanks. I was ttying to understand what was caused the problem
and also find some solutions for future reference. I have reinstalled my
system a large number of times and had never encountered this problem.