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Admin Account(s)
I'm running WinXP Home on a laptop. I originally set it up with just one
user account, with admin. rights, of course, and no password. For years, all I had to do was turn on the laptop, and my desktop loaded up. I didn't have to select a user or use a password. It just loaded up, ready to use.(The system automatically created a 'Guest' account.) Basically, the user accounts we Me (administrator) Guest A few months ago, I wanted to install a new printer and driver, but the OS kept telling me I didn't have administrator rights to do so. So,I created an administrator account. Now, when I turn the laptop on, I'm presented with a choice of two users: Me (administrator) Administrator No password is needed for either. The 'Me' account will give me access to my particular desktop settings and files, while Administrator gives me a more sparse desktop, just the basic icons, and fewer files show up in Explorer. I haven't dug too deep in Explorer, but I suspect that it will let me see all the 'Me' files. Yes? My main question is what is the difference in priviliges/rights between these two user accounts? Since both are called administrator, do they act the same? TIA |
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#2
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Admin Account(s)
Boris wrote:
I'm running WinXP Home on a laptop. I originally set it up with just one user account, with admin. rights, of course, and no password. For years, all I had to do was turn on the laptop, and my desktop loaded up. I didn't have to select a user or use a password. It just loaded up, ready to use.(The system automatically created a 'Guest' account.) Basically, the user accounts we Me (administrator) Guest A few months ago, I wanted to install a new printer and driver, but the OS kept telling me I didn't have administrator rights to do so. Right click on installation file , click on " install as administrator " . So,I created an administrator account. Now, when I turn the laptop on, I'm presented with a choice of two users: Me (administrator) Administrator No password is needed for either. The 'Me' account will give me access to my particular desktop settings and files, while Administrator gives me a more sparse desktop, just the basic icons, and fewer files show up in Explorer. I haven't dug too deep in Explorer, but I suspect that it will let me see all the 'Me' files. Yes? My main question is what is the difference in priviliges/rights between these two user accounts? Since both are called administrator, do they act the same? TIA |
#3
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Admin Account(s)
Boris wrote in
: I'm running WinXP Home on a laptop. I originally set it up with just one user account, with admin. rights, of course, and no password. For years, all I had to do was turn on the laptop, and my desktop loaded up. I didn't have to select a user or use a password. It just loaded up, ready to use.(The system automatically created a 'Guest' account.) Basically, the user accounts we Me (administrator) Guest A few months ago, I wanted to install a new printer and driver, but the OS kept telling me I didn't have administrator rights to do so. So,I created an administrator account. Now, when I turn the laptop on, I'm presented with a choice of two users: Me (administrator) Administrator No password is needed for either. The 'Me' account will give me access to my particular desktop settings and files, while Administrator gives me a more sparse desktop, just the basic icons, and fewer files show up in Explorer. I haven't dug too deep in Explorer, but I suspect that it will let me see all the 'Me' files. Yes? My main question is what is the difference in priviliges/rights between these two user accounts? Since both are called administrator, do they act the same? TIA It doesn't matter what the accounts are called. If the user is a member of the "Administrators" group, then it has administrator privilege. The quick way to check for admininstrator privilege is to right-click on "Start". If "Open All Users" is one of the options that pops up, then you probably have Administrator rights. The longer way to verify is to bring up a command prompt window (Start- Run - "cmd") and enter the command: net localgroup Administrators and you will get a list of all users who are administrators. Installers try to install files in certain directories and add entries to the registry. If they are unable to create a file or registry entry for any reason, they take the quick and easy way out and blame it on the user not having Administrator privilege which is not always the case. Administrators are users like any other and can be denied access to any file or registry entry. Having Administrator privilege does not give the user Carte Blanche access to any file, folder, or registry entry. It does, however, give the user the right to change the access rights. So to solve your printer install problem, you need to find out which file, folder, or registry entry is not allowing you access. Not always an easy process, but the program "Process Monitor" might help. Process Monitor: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645 HTH, JW |
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