Limited user and power options

[Matt Broughton]

I'm mostly a Mac user, so please excuse what is probably a very simple
question. I just have not been able to find the answer to this one,
however.

I'm trying to set up a limited user account. The only problem I seem to
be having is that I cannot get the monitor to power off after xx
minutes. I can get the screen saver to come on when set, but the
monitor will not shut off when set. Even when I have the same power
option settings as the administrator's account, the monitor will not
power down.

I don't see anything obvious in the Group Policy section that covers
this.

Any help would be appreciated be it something simple, third party
software, registry hacks, whatever.

TIA

Dell Dimension E310 with Windows XP MCE 2005 -- purchased in May and
allowed to self update.

Matt

 

[terry b.]

Hello Matt
Have you tried the obvious? Right-click desktop > Properties > Screen
Saver > Power > Turn off monitor (set number of minutes) ????
riprap

 

[Matt Broughton]

Hello Matt
Have you tried the obvious? Right-click desktop > Properties > Screen
Saver > Power > Turn off monitor (set number of minutes) ????
riprap

Thanks for the response.

I actually accessed that through the Control Panel and/or Performance
and Maintenance --> Power Options. To make any setting changes, I had
to temporarily elevate the limited user to an administrative user.
Otherwise I would get an "Access denied" dialog box. I then made the
changes and downgraded the user again to a limited account. This did
not work.

When I elevate the user to an administrative user, the power options
work fine. When I demote the user to a limited user, the screen saver
works, but the monitor will not turn off.

I also tried setting up another limited user account to see if there was
some corruption somewhere. Same results.

Matt

 

[terry b.]

Hello Matt!
After reading your 2nd post, and spending some time googling around
with terms like "limited user" "power options" and so forth, both in
this newsgroup & others (e.g., "security admin" etc), I'm just as
puzzled as you are...I can find a bunch of 1-thread posts where people
asked questions very similar to yours, but precious-few replies to
those posts! Seems odd that MSoft's software engineers would've decided
that it's too risky (???) for limited users to be able to set power
options within their own account!
If you're not averse to playing around in the registry, Doug Knox has
some suggestions here: [He was replying to a question much like yours]

"You may need to adjust the permissions in the Registry for this to
be possible. When power settings are changed, a number of changes are
made to the Registry.

HKCU\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\0\Policies
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls
Folder\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\0\Policies
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\GlobalPowerPolicy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls
Folder\PowerCfg\GlobalPowerPolicy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Power
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg

Are some examples. Open REGEDIT and go to each key indicated. Right
click and select Permissions. Users, and possibly Restricted need
Write and Modify access to these keys."

Then again, another MS system expert offered this blunt advice:
"Power options can only be configured by the administrator ."

At any rate, Matt, I'm glad you brought that topic up....since I
rarely use anything but Admin accounts, I was unaware of this XP
limitation. Good luck [

riprap

 

[Matt Broughton]

Hi terry b,

Again, thanks for all your effort.

After reading your 2nd post, and spending some time googling around
with terms like "limited user" "power options" and so forth, both in
this newsgroup & others (e.g., "security admin" etc), I'm just as
puzzled as you are...I can find a bunch of 1-thread posts where people
asked questions very similar to yours, but precious-few replies to
those posts! Seems odd that MSoft's software engineers would've decided
that it's too risky (???) for limited users to be able to set power
options within their own account!

You picked up a couple of posts that I must have missed. It's strange
how a minor change in the search pattern can yield different results.

If you're not averse to playing around in the registry, Doug Knox has
some suggestions here: [He was replying to a question much like yours]

"You may need to adjust the permissions in the Registry for this to
be possible. When power settings are changed, a number of changes are
made to the Registry.

HKCU\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\0\Policies
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls
Folder\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\0\Policies
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\GlobalPowerPolicy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls
Folder\PowerCfg\GlobalPowerPolicy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Power
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg

Are some examples. Open REGEDIT and go to each key indicated. Right
click and select Permissions. Users, and possibly Restricted need
Write and Modify access to these keys."

I'll take another look at the Registry. Hopefully with some examples of
what to look for, it will make some sense.

Then again, another MS system expert offered this blunt advice:
"Power options can only be configured by the administrator ."

I can actually see some logic behind this. You don't want a limited
user being able to put the machine into Hibernate etc. at some
inopportune time That could ruin a good day. What doesn't seem to make
any sense is what I am experiencing -- I set the power options with the
account set to administrative status, set the power options, and then
set the account back to limited user status. So the power options are
configured by an administrator, but don't work when the account is
reverted to limited status.

We have some strange and mind boggling things on the Mac platform too.
There is usually a way to solve it if you dig deep enough into the
system. I'm just not that familiar with Windows to know where to look;
ergo, I search and then ask.

At any rate, Matt, I'm glad you brought that topic up....since I
rarely use anything but Admin accounts, I was unaware of this XP
limitation. Good luck [

Well, this computer is being set up for my 84 year old mother who
doesn't get along with any type of machine. It will only be used to
display captioned telephone through the telephone relay system. Similar
to closed captioned of live TV. A great step up from TTY devices.
Although I do not anticipate her having any interaction with the
computer other than reading the screen, I just don't feel it wise to
assign an administrator status.

Matt

 

[Matt Broughton]

Hi terry b.,

Success, it works!!! To complete the archive, here's what I did --

Export a copy of your Registry settings (or at least the parts you are
going to change) for backup.

If you're not averse to playing around in the registry, Doug Knox has
some suggestions here: [He was replying to a question much like yours]

"You may need to adjust the permissions in the Registry for this to
be possible. When power settings are changed, a number of changes are
made to the Registry.

Open REGEDIT and go to each key indicated. Right
click and select Permissions. Users, and possibly Restricted need
Write and Modify access to these keys."

HKCU\Control Panel\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\0\Policies

give Full Control to REGISTERED

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg

give Full Control to REGISTERED

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg\GlobalPowerPolicy

give Full Control to REGISTERED

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls
Folder\PowerCfg\PowerPolicies\0\Policies

give Full Control to Users(Machine name\Users)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Controls
Folder\PowerCfg\GlobalPowerPolicy

give Full Control to Users(Machine name\Users)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Power

give Full Control to Users(Machine name\Users)


Hope this helps someone else in the future.

Matt