Log in as admin without looging user off

[matstara]

Hello
I'm in the IT department at a small company. We have about 120
computers, with 50% running XP and 50% NT4.0. Everyday I need to help
users install software etc but I can't get to their computer because it
is locked. I'm an administrator on the domain so I can log in to the
computer, but I will then log the user out and any unsaved work they
might have is lost.
So my questions is, is there a way to set up the computers so that I
can log in to them when they are locked with my admin password WITHOUT
logging the user off?
Thanks

 

[Guest]

I don't have a bunch of knowledge about this, but isn't it possible to use
the RunAs command to launch installation programs using the Administrator's
credentials? (I do it for my kids on our home LAN)

 

[Guest]

Yes but he would have to know the user's password and as he mentioned the
user is logged on and the workstation is locked.

I run into this all the time and I completely understand your frustration. I
don't believe there is any way around the situation. If there is, I'd love to
know.

 

[Mike Fields]

Yes but he would have to know the user's password and as he mentioned the
user is logged on and the workstation is locked.

I run into this all the time and I completely understand your frustration. I
don't believe there is any way around the situation. If there is, I'd love to
know.

Depends on what is enabled and what you are trying to do. If it is
graphical,
don't know, but there is telnet that you can get in with do do stuff at the
command line level (if it's enabled)

mikey

 

[NobodyMan]

I used to run into the problem all the time. I finally gave about 7
days notice that I would be visiting workstations to install updates
or whatever at X o-clock. That gave everybody plenty of notice. If
the individual user had locked the terminal and had work in progress
they had not saved, I felt no sympathy. Me (or one of my staff) would
pop in at the time we specified, log off any user still logged on, do
our business, then either log off or restart the computer and leave.

If a user complained, we showed them the message they recieved, along
with the message receipt saying they read it and told them to cry us a
river. I know they have jobs to do, but so does IT and part of that
is securing the network and/or upgrading software to enable them to do
their job in the first place.

 

[Jayso]

I'd be very interested to see if there is a solution to this. As I work at a
school (even though i'm only 15) and it is a real pain in the ass when a
teacher is logged on or a student is logged on and playing games
{(strangle)}. Although i am interested more in the way of the Remote Desktop
feature rather than the actual computer. (This way i can sit up in the
staffroom and install the stuff from there )

So if anyone knows how to do this plz post

 

[David Candy]

You use the inbuilt features of windows to do this. Specifically logon scripts if you don't have a domain and managed applications or you assign the software to the computer or user if it's a domain (and Windows Installer).

Also anyone can install Installer products by changing a policy setting Always Install Elaveted.