S
SpinLock
I've had this irritant for some time now, and I finally
solved it at least for my setup, your mileage may vary.
I've tried just about all the suggestions posted for fixing the
problem with the user account picture always being the chess.bmp
picture at the welcome screen for all accounts. Just for
clarification, changing the user account picture through the
typical methods in XP, would always SUCCEED in changing
the account picture correctly for the start menu. But would
always default to the darn chess.bmp at the welcome screen
regardless of the methods used to change the picture from the
main GUI. I am not a network administration nor an expert on
NT/2K/XP security and permissions by any means. I just barely
know the basics. So bare with me on my lack of knowledge on
both of these fronts. Going to where the default user account
pictures are stored:
x:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\
User Account Pictures\Default Pictures
or
x:\Documents and Settings\All Users.WINDOWS\Application Data\
Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures
Not sure why there's BOTH a 'All Users.WINDOWS' and a 'All Users'
folder under x:\Documents and Settings\ ??? Perhaps one of the experts in
here could shed some light on that.
I checked the security settings for both of these folders:
1) right click the folder.
2) Select Properties.
3) Select Security (only visible for NTFS partitions on XP Pro I think?)
Within the 'Group or user names:' list box from the security tab, I had a
'Unknown user account' entry in the list with a SID. I searched the
registry and the user accounts for both the SID, and any entries for
'Unknown user account' and found NONE. I have done a couple of
in-place installs on my setup over the years, and I somewhat understand
that a new SID will be generated every time this is done, and that it will
some how alienate the old account and SID? I've also read about people
removing the 'Unknown user account' from their user accounts, and in reality
it was the active account they were presently logged on with, and hence
screwed up there main login account. This was not my case. The
'Unknown user account' was ONLY listed as a user under the
'Group or user names:' list from the security tab.
Initially I tried to remove the 'Unknown user account' from the
'Group or user names:' list box, but was greeted with the lengthy dialog
box that states you must remove the inheritance from this account before
you can remove the user from the list. Did that via the Advanced button
on the security tab, and unchecking the:
'Inherit from parent the permission...' check box. After that and removing
the 'Unknown user account' for the default pictures folder, all was well,
and my welcome screen pictures were now synchronized with the GUI
picture. So from a security novices viewpoint, the problem seems to be
a security/permission issue for the default pictures folder. I'm sure this
could manifest from several different scenario's, but perhaps my scenario
could shed some light on others.
regards,
MushroomInTheDark
solved it at least for my setup, your mileage may vary.
I've tried just about all the suggestions posted for fixing the
problem with the user account picture always being the chess.bmp
picture at the welcome screen for all accounts. Just for
clarification, changing the user account picture through the
typical methods in XP, would always SUCCEED in changing
the account picture correctly for the start menu. But would
always default to the darn chess.bmp at the welcome screen
regardless of the methods used to change the picture from the
main GUI. I am not a network administration nor an expert on
NT/2K/XP security and permissions by any means. I just barely
know the basics. So bare with me on my lack of knowledge on
both of these fronts. Going to where the default user account
pictures are stored:
x:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\
User Account Pictures\Default Pictures
or
x:\Documents and Settings\All Users.WINDOWS\Application Data\
Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures
Not sure why there's BOTH a 'All Users.WINDOWS' and a 'All Users'
folder under x:\Documents and Settings\ ??? Perhaps one of the experts in
here could shed some light on that.
I checked the security settings for both of these folders:
1) right click the folder.
2) Select Properties.
3) Select Security (only visible for NTFS partitions on XP Pro I think?)
Within the 'Group or user names:' list box from the security tab, I had a
'Unknown user account' entry in the list with a SID. I searched the
registry and the user accounts for both the SID, and any entries for
'Unknown user account' and found NONE. I have done a couple of
in-place installs on my setup over the years, and I somewhat understand
that a new SID will be generated every time this is done, and that it will
some how alienate the old account and SID? I've also read about people
removing the 'Unknown user account' from their user accounts, and in reality
it was the active account they were presently logged on with, and hence
screwed up there main login account. This was not my case. The
'Unknown user account' was ONLY listed as a user under the
'Group or user names:' list from the security tab.
Initially I tried to remove the 'Unknown user account' from the
'Group or user names:' list box, but was greeted with the lengthy dialog
box that states you must remove the inheritance from this account before
you can remove the user from the list. Did that via the Advanced button
on the security tab, and unchecking the:
'Inherit from parent the permission...' check box. After that and removing
the 'Unknown user account' for the default pictures folder, all was well,
and my welcome screen pictures were now synchronized with the GUI
picture. So from a security novices viewpoint, the problem seems to be
a security/permission issue for the default pictures folder. I'm sure this
could manifest from several different scenario's, but perhaps my scenario
could shed some light on others.
regards,
MushroomInTheDark