Installing Software With two accounts

[Skavenger]

I have two visible accounts running on Windows XP Pro.

Daily User
My Own (Administrator)

As well as the hidden Administrator account.

I have just installed Window Washer on my account and set it to load at
startup, from within the Main Account it runs OK but when I checked the
Daily User Account and Window washer did not load at startup and it was not
visible in the start menu. It did appear in the Add/Remove programs listing,
although looks like a remenant of a previous installed version.
Tried to reinstall it from the Daily User Account and it starts to install
but fails at the Creating Unistall Entries.

Access Violation at Address 77C0155D in Module `version.dll`. Read Address
00000004.

I thought any item installed from the main account would be usaeable from
within User Accounts?

 

[Gunilla]

Hi Skavenger.

According the Installation Guide on this site
http://support.webroot.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=776 it says that
it will not function on a limited account, if in case the daily user account
you have is limited. Maybe it is better for you to go there and see if the
support for Window Washer can help you.

Kind regards...Gunilla.

 

[Uncle John]

Skavenger

You have raised a very interesting topic to the way Windows XP runs in users
profile. Bear in mind that Windows XP pro has two types of user profile.
"The Administrator" profile which cannot be deleted.
"Users" profile, in which many users can be created , given privileges,
copied and deleted.

The reason you are having the problem is that some applications you
install as a user with full administrator privileges do not get installed to
work in all users, even if you select install for all users unless you
install from the "The Administrator" mode. Window Washer application is an
application with restrictions affecting individual users because Windows XP
Pro (particularly with SP2 installed) has strong separation between email
accounts for the individual users. It seems likely that it will not allow an
application to apply email constraints chosen by one user to affect all
other users.

I have a have similar problem, with "The Administrator" account. For example
since installing ZoneAlarm Security suite as Default user "The
Administrator" cannot access the internet properly using IE6 (although it
will do so with Firefox) because it is not accepted by ZA.


So if you normally send and receive email from your "daily user" I suggest
that you solve your problem by uninstalling Window Washer completely and the
install as Daily user.

There are ways to have several accounts each with different spam control
but they cost money so I look forward to hearing how you get on before
writing any more.

Uncle John

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I thought any item installed from the main account would be usaeable from
within User Accounts?

Only if the specific application in question has been properly designed
for use on a multi-user OS. Clearly, Window Washer, whatever that is,
was not so designed.

You may experience some problems if the software was designed for
Win9x/Me, or if it was intended for WinNT/2K/XP, but was improperly
designed. Quite simply, the application doesn't "know" how to handle
individual user profiles with differing security permissions levels, or
the application is designed to make to make changes to "off-limits"
sections of the Windows registry or protected Windows system folders.

For example, saved data are often stored in a sub-folder under the
application's folder within C:\Program Files - a place where no
inexperienced or limited user should ever have write permissions.

It may even be that the software requires "write" access to parts
of the registry or protected systems folders/files that are not normally
accessible to regular users. (This *won't* occur if the application is
properly written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're
often left with three options: Either grant the necessary users
appropriate higher access privileges (either as Power Users or local
administrators), explicitly grant normal users elevated privileges to
the affected folders and/or part(s) or the registry, 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

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Skavenger

You have raised a very interesting topic to the way Windows XP runs in users
profile. Bear in mind that Windows XP pro has two types of user profile.

Actually, that's not true. There are several types of user accounts
available on a WinXP Pro computer:

Administrators
Backup Operators
Distributed COM Users
Guests
Network Configuration Operators
Performance Log Users
Performance Monitor Users
Power Users
Remote Desktop Users
Replicator
Users
HelpServicesGroup

Further, it's quite easy to create one's own customized type of user by
manually assigning specific permissions.


--

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

 

[Uncle John]

Bruce,

Please don't shoot from the hip! But I am glad you could see my message to
comment on because I do not see it. I do find occasionally that some posts
do not show up but others, like you can read them.
My post evidently did not make it clear that I was distinguishing between
two distinct types of account in Windows XP Pro.

There is "The Administrator", which is not a USER account but a built-in
account which can not be deleted, and User Accounts of which as you say,
there are many kinds with different permissions, so though a default user
account is typically set-up with full administrative privileges when the OS
is installed, it can create the other kinds of account you mention which
can all be deleted. (see Microsoft's Article ID 811251 last updated on June
23, 2005).

As to Window Washer, that is an anti-spam application that was first
marketed before Microsoft tackled the spam problem in Outlook and MSN
Premium. I think that I first saw Window Washer four years ago. Given the
way email accounts are handled in user accounts I thought it was a virtual
certainty that if WW is installed by one user in XP Pro + SP2, it will not
be available to others.
My interest in the subject was kindled when I found that with Zone Alarm
Security Suite installed from my default user account I could no longer
access the internet using IE6 from the built in Administrator account.

 

[Uncle John]

Skavenger

You have raised a very interesting topic to the way Windows XP runs in users
profile. Bear in mind that Windows XP pro has two types of user profile.
"The Administrator" profile which cannot be deleted.
"Users" profile, in which many users can be created , given privileges,
copied and deleted.

The reason you are having the problem is that some applications you
install as a user with full administrator privileges do not get installed to
work in all users, even if you select install for all users unless you
install from the "The Administrator" mode. Window Washer application is an
application with restrictions affecting individual users because Windows XP
Pro (particularly with SP2 installed) has strong separation between email
accounts for the individual users. It seems likely that it will not allow an
application to apply email constraints chosen by one user to affect all
other users.

 

[Skavenger]

I uninstalled WW from my main account and tried to install it in my Daily
User Account it starts the install process but fails with an error

"Failed to create key Window Washer 5"

Next course of action will be to decrease the restrictions to the Daily User
Account maybe ammend to Administrator, install WW then change the account
settings again.

 

[Skavenger]

Yep it worked!

Must be that it won't instal without Adminstrator Access!!