SerialKeys fails for non-admins in XP

[Guest]

We use SerialKeys to pass data from our serial barcode readers to our
Windows application. This has worked great under Windows NT and 2000. Now
with XP Pro, I'm finding that SerialKeys - the SerialKeys Service - will fail
to start if the user that first logs on does not have administrative
privileges.
If I logon first with an account with Admin rights, SerialKeys works
perfect, and I can log out and back in with a non-admin account and it
continues to work. If I power down the PC, then restart, then again
SerialKeys wont work if I logon with a non-admin account first.
When SK fails for a non-admin account, there's 2 events recorded in the
System event log - 7009 and 7000 - stating that serialkeys timed out waiting
to connect. There's also one event recorded in the Application log -
....SerialKeys error: 5. Unable to create event.
Any clues???

thanks

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

First, did you enable SerialKeys in each user account? If yes, were the
accounts admin accounts when you turned on SerialKeys in that account? If
not, try temporarily making the user account an admin account, then turn on
SerialKeys, make sure it works as you wish in that account and then return
it to its limited status. If SerialKeys shows as already turned on in these
user accounts, first temporarily change the account to admin, then turn off
SerialKeys and then turn it back on as specified above.

If the above doesn't resolve the issue, you might try this question on the
windowsxp.configuration_manage newsgroup.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the response.
Yes, SerialKeys has been enabled for all user accounts. The fact that it
shows the failure in the event log proves it's trying to run.

Since my first posting, I've pinpointed the problem, and it's not what I
assumed.

The actual problem is that SerialKeys fails to load when I have autologon
enabled in Windows XP, regardless of whether the user auto-logging on has
administrative privileges or not. If I use the SHIFT key at logon to stop
the auto-logon, then manually enter the credentials, SerialKeys works fine
for any user, admin or not.

If the user has admin rights and serialkeys doesn't start due to the
autologon, they can issue the 'net start serialkeys' cmd and it works.
Unfortunately, none of my users are running with admin rights, so that
doesn't work for them.

I think I need to find a way to allow non-admins to start the SerialKeys
service so I can put it in their logon script, or find a way to institute a
delay before the serialkeys service runs.

Any ideas? thanks

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

I think you should take this question to the windowsxp.security_admin
newsgroup for help with the logon script. If they can't help,
windowsxp.configuration_manage would be another possibility.