Changing ownership of a desktop

I want to give my son a desktop I have been using.
It has Windows 10 Home edition ver 2004.
Rather than reformatting the hard drive and re-installing windows, then
re-installing all the other software I thought the quickest way was to
create another user account in his name, change it to an administrator
account and then delete my user account.
Is it that easy or am I going to encounter problems?

--
mick

On 03/07/2020 20:09:44, mick wrote:
I want to give my son a desktop I have been using.
It has Windows 10 Home edition ver 2004.
Rather than reformatting the hard drive and re-installing windows, then
re-installing all the other software I thought the quickest way was to create
another user account in his name, change it to an administrator account and
then delete my user account.
Is it that easy or am I going to encounter problems?

should have said that my account is a local account and his account
will be a local account. There has never been and will never be any
Microsoft Accounts on the computer.

--
mick

On 7/3/2020 3:09 PM, mick wrote:
I want to give my son a desktop I have been using.
It has Windows 10 Home edition ver 2004.
Rather than reformatting the hard drive and re-installing windows, then
re-installing all the other software I thought the quickest way was to
create another user account in his name, change it to an administrator
account and then delete my user account.
Is it that easy or am I going to encounter problems?

You are apparently not a DIYer. One of Murphy's law is the simpler the
task the more that can go wrong.

If you want to eliminate your account completely, and transfer it to
your son, I suspect the first thing that would be needed would be to
create your sons account.

I suspect the next thing that needs to be done is to change the
ownership of the individual folders. This has been my main problem in
trying to share folders. Even thought you have administrator
permissions, you have to own the account to share it. I may not have
been doing it correctly but it seems it was a two step process, all done
from the File Properties, Security Advance Tab.

To do what you want, I assume you would have to transfer the ownership
of folders to your son's account before deleting your.

While you think of the computer having a couple of accounts I have found
there are several, some are basically unknown owners, and it gets confusing

mick wrote:
On 03/07/2020 20:09:44, mick wrote:
I want to give my son a desktop I have been using.
It has Windows 10 Home edition ver 2004.
Rather than reformatting the hard drive and re-installing windows, then
re-installing all the other software I thought the quickest way was to create
another user account in his name, change it to an administrator account and
then delete my user account.
Is it that easy or am I going to encounter problems?

should have said that my account is a local account and his account
will be a local account. There has never been and will never be any
Microsoft Accounts on the computer.

That should be OK.
--
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Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org /
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On 03/07/2020 20:46:23, knuttle wrote:
On 7/3/2020 3:09 PM, mick wrote:
I want to give my son a desktop I have been using.
It has Windows 10 Home edition ver 2004.
Rather than reformatting the hard drive and re-installing windows, then
re-installing all the other software I thought the quickest way was to
create another user account in his name, change it to an administrator
account and then delete my user account.
Is it that easy or am I going to encounter problems?

You are apparently not a DIYer. One of Murphy's law is the simpler the task
the more that can go wrong.

If you want to eliminate your account completely, and transfer it to your
son, I suspect the first thing that would be needed would be to create your
sons account.

Yes, I would do that.

I suspect the next thing that needs to be done is to change the ownership of
the individual folders. This has been my main problem in trying to share
folders. Even thought you have administrator permissions, you have to own the
account to share it. I may not have been doing it correctly but it seems it
was a two step process, all done from the File Properties, Security Advance
Tab.

To do what you want, I assume you would have to transfer the ownership of
folders to your son's account before deleting your.

Looking in the security tab of C:\ and other folders there are Users
(Computer Name\Users) and Administrators (Computer Name\Administrators)
so changing the Administrators name may have no effect and the computer
name will not change either. If it works then fine, if it doesn't then
it will be a case of playing around or just give up and take the long
option of re-installing everything.

The App-Data is the one that may cause the most headaches.
He has a working win10 setup now using most of the same software so it
will be a case of transferring profiles for Firefox, Outlook 2010 .pst
files and adding new email accounts to Outlook.

His desktop and mine are only five feet apart and on the same network
so after taking a disk image of both it'll just be a leisurely job of
transferring appropriate bits and pieces. ;-)
There will only be the one drive with windows and all the programs.
All personal files are on a serperate drive so that will just be
swapped out.

--
mick

Ant wrote:
mick wrote:
On 03/07/2020 20:09:44, mick wrote:
I want to give my son a desktop I have been using.
It has Windows 10 Home edition ver 2004.
Rather than reformatting the hard drive and re-installing windows, then
re-installing all the other software I thought the quickest way was to create
another user account in his name, change it to an administrator account and
then delete my user account.
Is it that easy or am I going to encounter problems?

should have said that my account is a local account and his account
will be a local account. There has never been and will never be any
Microsoft Accounts on the computer.

That should be OK.


Yep just make sure the new account is an administrator account *before*
you delete yours! Also for Home users I suggest creating a second
administrator account as a backup rescue account just as a CYA.

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

On Fri, 3 Jul 2020 17:06:08 -0400, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

Yep just make sure the new account is an administrator account *before*
you delete yours! Also for Home users I suggest creating a second
administrator account as a backup rescue account just as a CYA.

If desired, you can make a secret administrator account.

mick wrote:
I want to give my son a desktop I have been using.
It has Windows 10 Home edition ver 2004.
Rather than reformatting the hard drive and re-installing windows, then
re-installing all the other software I thought the quickest way was to
create another user account in his name, change it to an administrator
account and then delete my user account.
Is it that easy or am I going to encounter problems?


Now, if I tried to do this, something bad would happen... :-)

Make a backup first.

I've run a setup here, with two user accounts, and that was OK.
I typically install programs "for all users", so the Win32 ones
should be visible to both users. I don't know what the policies
and restrictions are on Windows Store Apps though.

Paul

Arlen Holder wrote:
On Fri, 3 Jul 2020 17:06:08 -0400, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

Yep just make sure the new account is an administrator account *before*
you delete yours! Also for Home users I suggest creating a second
administrator account as a backup rescue account just as a CYA.

If desired, you can make a secret administrator account.


"secret administrator account"? In Home edition where your options are
administrator, standard, and guest?

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

On 03/07/2020 22:14:32, Paul wrote:
mick wrote:
I want to give my son a desktop I have been using.
It has Windows 10 Home edition ver 2004.
Rather than reformatting the hard drive and re-installing windows, then
re-installing all the other software I thought the quickest way was to
create another user account in his name, change it to an administrator
account and then delete my user account.
Is it that easy or am I going to encounter problems?


Now, if I tried to do this, something bad would happen... :-)

Make a backup first.

I already have a couple of recent images so I will do another one
immediately before I start pulling apart this working system. It won't
be the end of the world if I have to start afresh by installing
everything from scratch. I'm just trying to save a bit of time so I
can do other things that are not so taxing. :-)

I've run a setup here, with two user accounts, and that was OK.
I typically install programs "for all users", so the Win32 ones
should be visible to both users. I don't know what the policies
and restrictions are on Windows Store Apps though.

Never used the store.

--
mick

On Fri, 3 Jul 2020 17:14:55 -0400, Jonathan N. Little wrote:

"secret administrator account"? In Home edition where your options are
administrator, standard, and guest?

I've only done it once, so I would have to google for current details...
o https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hidden+admin+account

Here's the first hit:
o *How to enable the hidden Windows 10 administrator account*
https://www.ghacks.net/2014/11/12/how-to-enable-the-hidden-windows-10-administrator-account/

Second hit:
o *How To Enable Hidden Administrator Account In Windows 10*
https://www.intowindows.com/enable-the-hidden-administrator-account-in-windows-10/

Third hit:
o *How to Unlock the Secret Administrator Account in Windows*
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-unlock-the-secret-administrator-account-in-windows/

Tons more hits...
o *3 Ways to Enable Hidden Administrator Account in Windows 10*
https://windowsloop.com/enable-hidden-administrator-account-windows-10/
--
Usenet is a public helpdesk where adults purposefully help each other.

mick wrote:
On 03/07/2020 22:14:32, Paul wrote:

I've run a setup here, with two user accounts, and that was OK.
I typically install programs "for all users", so the Win32 ones
should be visible to both users. I don't know what the policies
and restrictions are on Windows Store Apps though.

Never used the store.

With some luck then, the damage will be minimal.

Paul

On 7/3/2020 4:31 PM, mick wrote:
Looking in the security tab of C:\ and other folders there are Users
(Computer Name\Users) and Administrators (Computer Name\Administrators)
so changing the Administrators name may have no effect and the computer
name will not change either.Â* If it works then fine, if it doesn't then
it will be a case of playing around or just give up and take the long
option of re-installing everything.

The App-Data is the one that may cause the most headaches.
He has a working win10 setup now using most of the same software so it
will be a case of transferring profiles for Firefox, Outlook 2010 .pst
files and adding new email accounts to Outlook.

His desktop and mine are only five feet apart and on the same network so
after taking a disk image of both it'll just be a leisurely job of
transferring appropriate bits and pieces. ;-)
There will only be the one drive with windows and all the programs. All
personal files are on a serperate drive so that will just be swapped out.

On 7/3/20 2:09 PM, mick wrote:
I want to give my son a desktop I have been using.
It has Windows 10 Home edition ver 2004.
Rather than reformatting the hard drive and re-installing windows, then
re-installing all the other software

(which would be a good thing to do)

I thought the quickest way was to
create another user account in his name, change it to an administrator
account and then delete my user account.
Is it that easy or am I going to encounter problems?



--
"The fact of having been born is a bad augury for immortality." [George
Santayana, "The Life of Reason"]

knuttle wrote:
On 7/3/2020 4:31 PM, mick wrote:
Looking in the security tab of C:\ and other folders there are Users
(Computer Name\Users) and Administrators (Computer
Name\Administrators) so changing the Administrators name may have no
effect and the computer name will not change either. If it works then
fine, if it doesn't then it will be a case of playing around or just
give up and take the long option of re-installing everything.

The App-Data is the one that may cause the most headaches.
He has a working win10 setup now using most of the same software so it
will be a case of transferring profiles for Firefox, Outlook 2010 .pst
files and adding new email accounts to Outlook.

His desktop and mine are only five feet apart and on the same network
so after taking a disk image of both it'll just be a leisurely job of
transferring appropriate bits and pieces. ;-)
There will only be the one drive with windows and all the programs.
All personal files are on a serperate drive so that will just be
swapped out.

--
mick
The computer name is completely different from the owner of a folder.

I have the MS Administrator account plus my account which has
Administrator privileges. I found that when I tried to share a drive
from my account, I would get errors when I tried to access that folder
from an LAN computer.

I would suspect if you don't make sure the ownership are correct, you
will not have problems until you start sharing folders and things like
that.


The machine name and the workgroup name are in the system control panel

Right-click Start : Run and type "control" into the Run box.

That gives all the Control Panels.

The System control panel has the computer names in it.
You can set stuff like that to values other than "Desktop-5Tq87V2".
and make it "Franks-Computer" if you want.

That should affect graphical views of the ancient protocol used
for the Network Neighborhood. Maybe you could have two computers
that said "Franks-Computer" but if you made a reference to
\\192.168.1.3\TVRoom , the IP method would work.

As far as computer account values for home directories, the SID
for "Frank" is different for every unique (non-cloned) OS disk.

111111111-222222222-333333333-1001

The three groups of digits are randomly generated for each OS install.
The "plain" user accounts start at 1000.

The Administrator is 500. On Windows 10 that is sometimes referred
to as the "Real Administrator", just because its home directory
reflects that it is Admin. Other accounts can be elevated and
belong to an Administrator group, and do everything the Real Admin
can do.

The Real Admin account is not generally turned on. If you turn
it on (for reasons unknown), the password should be set immediately
to a secure value. Write the password on a piece of paper, put the
paper inside the computer.

When you do File Sharing between computers, and you log in as
"Frank" on someone elses computer, in a non-domain situation,
the machines don't really know what Frank is. Maybe Frank on
a second machine is

222222222-444444444-666666666-1002

If the computer does a "Take Own" with the green bar showing,
then you may find two owners on a file in shared folder.

111111111-222222222-333333333-1001
222222222-444444444-666666666-1002

On your own machine, the owner would show as

Frank
222222222-444444444-666666666-1002

because that machine happens to know that the first number
is a "known quantity" on the machine. The foreign SID
remains displayed as a number.

If the machines were domain-joined, as far as I know the
situation is a lot tidier. The domain server knows everything,
and so it should be possible to label things well.

But home computers work just fine without the domain server,
and still manage to transfer files OK.

File sharing on Home or Pro, is limited in the number of machines
that can connect at any one time. Most households don't have enough
computers, for the Win10 serving a folder to deny the 11th computer
(20th connection or so). It's possible a computer burns up two
connections, when it connects. Most people don't run into that
limit, unless they've really put a lot of machines on their
LAN segment.

Paul