Can you install a program and have it available to ALL USERS ???

We have used Windows 98 for 5 years now and just switched to XP this week.
The problem we are finding is our computer has 4 users, 2 administrators and 2 limited users ( the kids ) My wife installed Mahjongg under her account but it is available to no one but her on the" start menu "" all programs" no matter which account you look for it under. I can find it on the hard drive under program files but it won't show on my programs either. All of our programs are Win98 programs which by default install to C:\program files\ "whatever" . How do you install a game to work across all users so the kids can play them also ? Can this even be done ?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank You

Hi,

Please read this page:
http://users.westelcom.com/rogersr/xpsware.htm

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"_Q_" wrote in message
...
We have used Windows 98 for 5 years now and just switched to XP this week.
The problem we are finding is our computer has 4 users, 2 administrators
and 2 limited users ( the kids ) My wife installed Mahjongg under her
account but it is available to no one but her on the" start menu "" all
programs" no matter which account you look for it under. I can find it on
the hard drive under program files but it won't show on my programs either.
All of our programs are Win98 programs which by default install to
C:\program files\ "whatever" . How do you install a game to work across all
users so the kids can play them also ? Can this even be done ?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank You

Greetings --

This is quite common if the software was designed for Win9x/Me, or
if it was intended for WinNT/2K/XP, but was improperly designed. Quite
simply, the installation routine for this application doesn't "know"
how to handle individual user profiles, or the application tries to
make changes to "off-limits" sections of the registry. Quite often,
you can make this software available to other users by _copying_ the
Start Menu folder and Desktop folder shortcuts from the user profile
from which the software was installed in the corresponding folders in
the user profile(s) in which you'd like the software to be accessible.
If the application is something that can/should be made available to
all current and future users, copying the shortcuts into the
corresponding locations of the All Users profile will do the trick.

NOTE: This may not work if the software requires access to parts
of the hard drive and/or registry that are not normally accessible to
regular users. (This won't occur if the application was properly
written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're left
with two options: Either grant the necessary users appropriate higher
access privileges (either as Power Users or local administrators), or
replace the application with one that was properly designed
specifically for WinNT/2K/XP.

Some Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q307091

Additionally, here are a couple of tips suggested, in a reply to a
different post, by MS-MVP Kent W. England:

"If your game or application works with admin accounts, but not with
limited accounts, you can fix it to allow limited users to access the
program files folder with "change" capability rather than "read" which
is the default.

C:\cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:c

where "appfolder" is the folder where the application is installed.

If you wish to undo these changes, then run

C:\cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:r

If you still have a problem with running the program or saving
settings on limited accounts, you may need to change permissions on
the registry keys. Run regedit.exe and go to HKLM\Software\vendor\app,
where "vendor\app" is the key that the software vendor used for your
specific program. Change the permissions on this key to allow Users
full control."


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH


"_Q_" wrote in message
...
We have used Windows 98 for 5 years now and just switched to XP this
week.
The problem we are finding is our computer has 4 users, 2
administrators and 2 limited users ( the kids ) My wife installed
Mahjongg under her account but it is available to no one but her on
the" start menu "" all programs" no matter which account you look for
it under. I can find it on the hard drive under program files but it
won't show on my programs either. All of our programs are Win98
programs which by default install to C:\program files\ "whatever" .
How do you install a game to work across all users so the kids can
play them also ? Can this even be done ?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank You

THANK YOU ! ! ! ! Your post was very helpfull. It's looks like I should probably read more at the site link you provided also.

"Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" wrote:

Hi,

Please read this page:
http://users.westelcom.com/rogersr/xpsware.htm

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"_Q_" wrote in message
...
We have used Windows 98 for 5 years now and just switched to XP this week.
The problem we are finding is our computer has 4 users, 2 administrators
and 2 limited users ( the kids ) My wife installed Mahjongg under her
account but it is available to no one but her on the" start menu "" all
programs" no matter which account you look for it under. I can find it on
the hard drive under program files but it won't show on my programs either.
All of our programs are Win98 programs which by default install to
C:\program files\ "whatever" . How do you install a game to work across all
users so the kids can play them also ? Can this even be done ?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank You

THANK YOU, I appreciate the additional information. I may just get this figured out yet. ( 98 was alot easier though. )

"Bruce Chambers" wrote:

Greetings --

This is quite common if the software was designed for Win9x/Me, or
if it was intended for WinNT/2K/XP, but was improperly designed. Quite
simply, the installation routine for this application doesn't "know"
how to handle individual user profiles, or the application tries to
make changes to "off-limits" sections of the registry. Quite often,
you can make this software available to other users by _copying_ the
Start Menu folder and Desktop folder shortcuts from the user profile
from which the software was installed in the corresponding folders in
the user profile(s) in which you'd like the software to be accessible.
If the application is something that can/should be made available to
all current and future users, copying the shortcuts into the
corresponding locations of the All Users profile will do the trick.

NOTE: This may not work if the software requires access to parts
of the hard drive and/or registry that are not normally accessible to
regular users. (This won't occur if the application was properly
written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're left
with two options: Either grant the necessary users appropriate higher
access privileges (either as Power Users or local administrators), or
replace the application with one that was properly designed
specifically for WinNT/2K/XP.

Some Programs Do Not Work If You Log On from Limited Account
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q307091

Additionally, here are a couple of tips suggested, in a reply to a
different post, by MS-MVP Kent W. England:

"If your game or application works with admin accounts, but not with
limited accounts, you can fix it to allow limited users to access the
program files folder with "change" capability rather than "read" which
is the default.

C:\cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:c

where "appfolder" is the folder where the application is installed.

If you wish to undo these changes, then run

C:\cacls "Program Files\appfolder" /e /t /p users:r

If you still have a problem with running the program or saving
settings on limited accounts, you may need to change permissions on
the registry keys. Run regedit.exe and go to HKLM\Software\vendor\app,
where "vendor\app" is the key that the software vendor used for your
specific program. Change the permissions on this key to allow Users
full control."


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH


"_Q_" wrote in message
...
We have used Windows 98 for 5 years now and just switched to XP this
week.
The problem we are finding is our computer has 4 users, 2
administrators and 2 limited users ( the kids ) My wife installed
Mahjongg under her account but it is available to no one but her on
the" start menu "" all programs" no matter which account you look for
it under. I can find it on the hard drive under program files but it
won't show on my programs either. All of our programs are Win98
programs which by default install to C:\program files\ "whatever" .
How do you install a game to work across all users so the kids can
play them also ? Can this even be done ?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank You