Vista User Logon Issues

[Bryan]

I have two laptops configured for Workgroup mode and I need to hide a user account but still be able to log on as that user account as well as logon as the local Admin account. Any thoughts?

Also, when logging on as a standard user, Vista does not allow running programs as an Admin account? Is M$ serious or am I just missing something?

Quick, correct answers will merit you a Gold Star for the day and my eternal gratitude.

Thanks in advance,

Bg

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

 

[Dale]

Don't want the wife finding your secret profile, huh? *G*


in message news:[email protected]...

 

[Guest]

Do you want to hide these accounts from the welcome screen, but still want
them active?

 

[bryanjgill]

Actually, no. These laptops are for customers and I don't want them
to see our admin account. Not that I'm hiding something, just trying
to save support calls asking why they can't login under that account.

By the way, thanks for your contribution... :-|

 

[bryanjgill]

YES! Thank you for understanding what I'm looking for! Any ideas?

Thanks,

 

[Dale]

Ohhhhhh.. a back door. Interesting. Will your customers know you put a
back door into their systems? Sounds pretty criminal to me.

Dale

 

[bryanjgill]

Yes, they know that we create an admin account for us to administer
the PC. It just doesn't need to be shown on the Vista login screen.
It's the one account that they can't screw up, so we have an avenue to
reset passwords and reset anything than may have messed up their
profiles.

However, I am concerned by your persistence in lack of contribution to
the thread. This is supposed to be a place to seek help for technical
issues. Not a place to flame posters in a desperate cry for mental
help while trying to make yourself feel better about your aparent lack
of technical skill.

At this point, I must ask that you quite wasting my time with your
petty banter and either contribute something useful to this thread or
at the least move on to the next thread you plan on disrupting. I'm
sure there are less intelligent people that will be glad to keep you
witless babble going.

Thanks,

Bg

 

[Saucy]

Yes, the Administrator account is disabled by default, except in the case of
an upgrade when the Administrator account was the only account on the box.

You can enable the Administrator account.

You can make it show on the logon screen

Because the 'Users and Groups' mmc snap-in is not available on Vista Basic,
but is on Vista Ultimate, there is more than one way to handle this
depending on which version of Vista is operating.

To assign the Administrator account a password use the 'Users and Groups'
snap-in [Vista Ultimate], else one must make the Administrator account show
up so as to use 'User Accounts' in the Vista Basic's Control Panel. So for
Vista Basic this requires a reg edit.

Also, somewhere along the line one might have to reboot to get it all to
show

--
For email:
guidsaucy at hotmail dot com



in message news:[email protected]...

 

[Dale]

Yes, they know that we create an admin account for us to administer
the PC. It just doesn't need to be shown on the Vista login screen.
It's the one account that they can't screw up, so we have an avenue to
reset passwords and reset anything than may have messed up their
profiles.

That's what I would have said.

Dale

 

[bryanjgill]

Thanks Saucy, however, I'm looking to remove active accounts from the
logon screen instead of adding to it. We have an admin account that
is created for support purposes and is used if the PCs come in for
repair or if the user misplaces their password. We create a power
user account that the users use to run the High-Speed Digital cameras,
and that is the only account we want to show on the login screen to
simplify things for the user. We also want to be able to login as the
admin accounts if needed. This was done by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete
in Windows XP. I'm just trying to figure out how to do it in Vista.

Yes, the Administrator account is disabled by default, except in the case of
an upgrade when the Administrator account was the only account on the box.

You can enable the Administrator account.

You can make it show on the logon screen

Because the 'Users and Groups' mmc snap-in is not available on Vista Basic,
but is on Vista Ultimate, there is more than one way to handle this
depending on which version of Vista is operating.

To assign the Administrator account a password use the 'Users and Groups'
snap-in [Vista Ultimate], else one must make the Administrator account show
up so as to use 'User Accounts' in the Vista Basic's Control Panel. So for
Vista Basic this requires a reg edit.

Also, somewhere along the line one might have to reboot to get it all to
show

--
For email:
guidsaucy at hotmail dot com

I have two laptops configured for Workgroup mode and I need to hide a user
account but still be able to log on as that user account as well as logon
as the local Admin account. Any thoughts?

Also, when logging on as a standard user, Vista does not allow running
programs as an Admin account? Is M$ serious or am I just missing
something?

Quick, correct answers will merit you a Gold Star for the day and my
eternal gratitude.

Thanks in advance,

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

 

[Saucy]

If these are copies of Business or Ultimate, you can use gpedit.msc (Group
Policies) and tell Windows to not show last user logged on. This means that
the user must enter both a Username and a Password.

If you also enable the Administrator account then you simply have to enter
those credentials at logon instead of a user's credentials

Helps?

--
For email:
guidsaucy at hotmail dot com

Thanks Saucy, however, I'm looking to remove active accounts from the
logon screen instead of adding to it. We have an admin account that
is created for support purposes and is used if the PCs come in for
repair or if the user misplaces their password. We create a power
user account that the users use to run the High-Speed Digital cameras,
and that is the only account we want to show on the login screen to
simplify things for the user. We also want to be able to login as the
admin accounts if needed. This was done by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete
in Windows XP. I'm just trying to figure out how to do it in Vista.

Yes, the Administrator account is disabled by default, except in the case
of
an upgrade when the Administrator account was the only account on the
box.

You can enable the Administrator account.

You can make it show on the logon screen

Because the 'Users and Groups' mmc snap-in is not available on Vista
Basic,
but is on Vista Ultimate, there is more than one way to handle this
depending on which version of Vista is operating.

To assign the Administrator account a password use the 'Users and Groups'
snap-in [Vista Ultimate], else one must make the Administrator account
show
up so as to use 'User Accounts' in the Vista Basic's Control Panel. So
for
Vista Basic this requires a reg edit.

Also, somewhere along the line one might have to reboot to get it all to
show

--
For email:
guidsaucy at hotmail dot com

I have two laptops configured for Workgroup mode and I need to hide a
user
account but still be able to log on as that user account as well as
logon
as the local Admin account. Any thoughts?

Also, when logging on as a standard user, Vista does not allow running
programs as an Admin account? Is M$ serious or am I just missing
something?

Quick, correct answers will merit you a Gold Star for the day and my
eternal gratitude.

Thanks in advance,

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

 

[Saucy]

P.S. I found the regedit to do the same in Vista Basic, if that's the
version they will be running.

--
For email:
guidsaucy at hotmail dot com

Thanks Saucy, however, I'm looking to remove active accounts from the
logon screen instead of adding to it. We have an admin account that
is created for support purposes and is used if the PCs come in for
repair or if the user misplaces their password. We create a power
user account that the users use to run the High-Speed Digital cameras,
and that is the only account we want to show on the login screen to
simplify things for the user. We also want to be able to login as the
admin accounts if needed. This was done by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete
in Windows XP. I'm just trying to figure out how to do it in Vista.

Yes, the Administrator account is disabled by default, except in the case
of
an upgrade when the Administrator account was the only account on the
box.

You can enable the Administrator account.

You can make it show on the logon screen

Because the 'Users and Groups' mmc snap-in is not available on Vista
Basic,
but is on Vista Ultimate, there is more than one way to handle this
depending on which version of Vista is operating.

To assign the Administrator account a password use the 'Users and Groups'
snap-in [Vista Ultimate], else one must make the Administrator account
show
up so as to use 'User Accounts' in the Vista Basic's Control Panel. So
for
Vista Basic this requires a reg edit.

Also, somewhere along the line one might have to reboot to get it all to
show

--
For email:
guidsaucy at hotmail dot com

I have two laptops configured for Workgroup mode and I need to hide a
user
account but still be able to log on as that user account as well as
logon
as the local Admin account. Any thoughts?

Also, when logging on as a standard user, Vista does not allow running
programs as an Admin account? Is M$ serious or am I just missing
something?

Quick, correct answers will merit you a Gold Star for the day and my
eternal gratitude.

Thanks in advance,

EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

 

[Guest]

Hi There, well I tried a few things to my knowlege. You could enable
ctrl+alt+del to log in to which ever account (mind you no accounts are
visible on the welcome screen) You have to press ctrl+alt+del. Go to Start,
in the "Start Search" box at the bottom of the menu, type "netplwiz" (no
quotes), click "Advanced" tab and check off the ctrl+alt+del box. If you need
the account(s) totally hiden from other users,then you need to edit local
policy: in the run box, type, "secpol.msc" (no quotes), left hand side, Local
Policies>Security Options, scroll down to "Iteractive logon: Don't display
last user name" double click and "Enable". All accounts will be hidden unless
you know the info (including yours), but its no as pretty LOL. Another way
(netplwiz) is to un check "Users must enter a user name and password to use
this computer", enter you default account info (which ever is the account you
want used), then go to the "Advanced" tab again and enable "Require user to
press ctrl+alt+del" ok out of everything. This method will boot straight to
the default account (no welcome screen), then if you need to go to another
account you either "log off" or "switch users" this will bring you to the
ctrl+alt+del welcome screen. Have fun!

 

[bryanjgill]

Saucy,

They are using Vista Business. Thanks for all of your help!

If these are copies of Business or Ultimate, you can use gpedit.msc (Group
Policies) and tell Windows to not show last user logged on. This means that
the user must enter both a Username and a Password.

If you also enable the Administrator account then you simply have to enter
those credentials at logon instead of a user's credentials

Helps?

--
For email:
guidsaucy at hotmail dot com

Thanks Saucy, however, I'm looking to remove active accounts from the
logon screen instead of adding to it. We have an admin account that
is created for support purposes and is used if the PCs come in for
repair or if the user misplaces their password. We create a power
user account that the users use to run the High-Speed Digital cameras,
and that is the only account we want to show on the login screen to
simplify things for the user. We also want to be able to login as the
admin accounts if needed. This was done by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete
in Windows XP. I'm just trying to figure out how to do it in Vista.

Yes, the Administrator account is disabled by default, except in the case
of
an upgrade when the Administrator account was the only account on the
box.
You can enable the Administrator account.
You can make it show on the logon screen
Because the 'Users and Groups' mmc snap-in is not available on Vista
Basic,
but is on Vista Ultimate, there is more than one way to handle this
depending on which version of Vista is operating.
To assign the Administrator account a password use the 'Users and Groups'
snap-in [Vista Ultimate], else one must make the Administrator account
show
up so as to use 'User Accounts' in the Vista Basic's Control Panel. So
for
Vista Basic this requires a reg edit.
Also, somewhere along the line one might have to reboot to get it all to
show
--
For email:
guidsaucy at hotmail dot com
in messageI have two laptops configured for Workgroup mode and I need to hide a
user
account but still be able to log on as that user account as well as
logon
as the local Admin account. Any thoughts?
Also, when logging on as a standard user, Vista does not allow running
programs as an Admin account? Is M$ serious or am I just missing
something?
Quick, correct answers will merit you a Gold Star for the day and my
eternal gratitude.
Thanks in advance,
Bg
EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com-Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

 

[bryanjgill]

You have all been of great help to me and I thank you very much! You
all have Gold Stars for the day and the weekend! ;-)

Now, it appears that I have gone and done something foolish... I have
hidden the user created admin account so it no longer appears on the
login page. However, now, the only option for login is a standard
user account and there is no option to login as a different user.
Also, I did not enable the builtin admin account. When I login as the
standard user I have no option to run anythin as a different user.
So, in short, I cannot run regedit, I cannot launch compmgmt.msc to
get to the local users & groups, I cannot launch services.msc to kill
the windows firewall service to be able to remotely edit the registry
to unhide the user created admin account. I'm at my wits end here and
I don't know what to do. Any thoughts?

P.S. The laptops are HP DV9000 series and HP has decided that it's a
good idea to not include an OS installation disc; so there's no chance
of formatting and reinstalling.

 

[Guest]

Well you could try this, find your command prompt, its in Start>All
Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt, right click and select "Run As
Addministrator" and then try your command, hit enter.

 

[bryanjgill]

When I right click on any *.exe for the run as, the Vista User Account
Control comes up but doesn't give me an option to enter an admin user
id or password. and the OK button is greyed out...

 

[Saucy]

So he could get, say, regedit or gpedt.msc running with Administrators
credentials .. then he could go to

HKLM > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > Policies > System

then make a little adjustment to dontdisplaylastusername i.e. set it to 1

then log out and log back on with whatever credentials he wants? That kind
of "Run as Administrator" ??

 

[Saucy]

Did you try running the "Command Prompt" as an admin?

 

[bryanjgill]

At this point I have no options to log in ad any admin account or
runas any admin account... I think I'm screwed...