Need help setting up a new identity

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vance McAlister
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Vance McAlister

We have a computer at work that has multiple users, but only one identity at
the moment. I would like to set up a new identity and set it up so that
certain programs already installed on the computer can only be accessed by
the new identity. Other programs we would like accessed by both identities.

Can someone point me to a simple walkthrough of this process? Thanks!
 
I assume by identities you mean you wish to create new users. Open Control
Panel, open User Accounts, click "Create a new account" and follow the
screen. Note, if these accounts are to be password protected, when you
finish creating the account, in the left frame there should be a link about
protecting your computer from lost passwords, use that and follow the
instructions for creating a password reset disk.

As to the access issue, you will need to use the Group Profile Editor:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307882

Note, the Group Profile Editor is only available in XP Pro and is not
available in XP Home Edition. In addition to the information above with
regard to setting user access, you might want to post this question to the
windowsxp.configuration_manage newsgroup as they may be able to give you
specific instructions beyond the general use of the Group Policy Editor
article to which I've provided a link above.

Also note, many applications were not created for a multi-user environment
and the GPE notwithstanding, you may need to do the following to give access
to more than one user:
First, be sure the account to which you wish to grant access is set to
administrator and not limited. Install the applications to the same folder
in which it was originally installed. This will look the same as one
install on your hard drive but create the pointers necessary for this user
to have access to the application.

Once the installation is complete, you can return the account to its limited
status if that is what you want and the user should still have access.
 
Thank you very much for your help. I have printed this out already. The
problem I see is that we are using XP Home on that machine. Is there any
way to limit access with Home?
 
Well, you could try simply making a user a limited account and not install
the application in that user account. However, some applications might
still be accessible so you'd have to test. The next layer of security you
could employ would be to try to use file ownership to keep them from
initializing the application.

If you understand how to take ownership, you might be able to use the
procedure to block ownership by not having the user listed on the security
tab but understand, in Home Edition, this is a bit of a convoluted procedure
as follows:

These are the instructions for taking ownership of a file in XP Home
Edition:

XP-Home

Unfortunately, XP Home using NTFS is essentially hard wired for "Simple File
Sharing" at system level.

However, you can set XP Home permissions in Safe Mode. Reboot, and start
hitting F8, a menu should eventually appear and one of the
options is Safe Mode. Select it. Note, it will ask for the administrator's
password. This is not your administrator account, rather it is the
machine's administrator account for which users are asked to create a
password during setup.

If you created no such password, when requested, leave blank and press
enter.

Open Explorer, go to Tools and Folder Options, on the view tab, scroll to
the bottom of the list, if it shows "Enable Simple File Sharing" deselect it
and click apply and ok. If it shows nothing or won't let you make a change,
move on to the next step.

Navigate to the files, right click, select properties, go to the Security
tab, click advanced, go to the Owner tab and select the user that was logged
on when you were refused permission to access the files. Click apply and
ok. Close the properties box, reopen it, click add and type in the name of
the user you just enabled. If you wish to set ownership for everything in
the folder, at the bottom of the Owner tab is the following selection:
"Replace owner on subcontainers and objects," select it as well.

Once complete, you should be able to do what you wish with these files when
you log back on as that user.
 
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