user priveleges -- must I have TWO administrators?

  • Thread starter Thread starter soilman
  • Start date Start date
S

soilman

I got a used computer w Windows XP pro on it.

It has an a user with admin priveleges named
administrator, and a guest user.

When I try to set up a new user, it won't make it
a "limited" user, claiming you need "at least one
administrative user" even tho I already have an admin
user -- named administrator. how do i set up a limited
user?

also, how do i transfer the files and program settings i
have already set up for the admin user, to any new users
I set up.

This is driving me crazy.

I made a new admin user and it took me ages to figure out
how to remove it. It wouldn't let me change it to limited
user.

also, under Computer manager > system Tools > Local Users
and Groups, under Users, in addition to Administrator
users and Guest users types listed, I also
have "helpAssistant" -- marked with a red X,
and "Support_388945a0" user types set up. Should I just
get rid of these? they have the descriptions "Account for
Providing Remote Assistance" and "This is a vendor's
account for the Help and Support Service" respectively
(shown in Properties).
 
soilman said:
When I try to set up a new user, it won't make it a "limited" user,
claiming you need "at least one administrative user" even tho I
already have an admin user -- named administrator. how do i set up a
limited user?
Click to expand...

Create another admin account and then create another account and make it
limited.
also, how do i transfer the files and program settings i have already
set up for the admin user, to any new users I set up.
Click to expand...

Create the new user account and make it admin. Logon to it and then
logoff and logon to your second admin account. Then go to the System
control panel and find the User Profiles tool and copy your primary
admin profile to your new user profile.
 
-----Original Message-----

Create the new user account and make it admin. Logon to it and then
logoff and logon to your second admin account. Then go to the System
control panel and find the User Profiles tool and copy your primary
admin profile to your new user profile.
Click to expand...
When I find the Control Panel > System, select the
Advanced Tab, and press the Settings button for User
Profiles, the users are listed, but the "copy to" button
is greyed out for the original Administrator, but not
grayed out for the new user. Thus I can copy the new
user's profile info to the Administrator, but not vice
versa, as I want to do.
 
Also, just what exactly is a "profile" that I am copying,
anyway? I am prompted to copy something to a folder, not
to a user.
 
soilman said:
When I find the Control Panel > System, select the
Advanced Tab, and press the Settings button for User
Profiles, the users are listed, but the "copy to" button
is greyed out for the original Administrator, but not
grayed out for the new user. Thus I can copy the new
user's profile info to the Administrator, but not vice
versa, as I want to do.
Click to expand...

Then do it the other way round - log in as Administrator and copy the
profile to the new user.
 
Then do it the other way round - log in as Administrator and copy the
profile to the new user.
Click to expand...

That's the way I was doing it. Tried logging in as Scott,
and only Scott was listed. I made Scott an administrator -
- and now I couldn't get back to the main Administrator
without changing to "username-write-in" mode from
username mouse-select mode (and needing to log out from
scott before I could log in to Administrator).

Only after I made a THIRD administrator, George, could I
transfer the profile from Administrator to Scott.

And the help file for Windows XP pro says it is "easy" to
use for anyone. It is NOT easy to use! It is designed for
backasswards people.

Then of course I had to change Scott back to limited, and
erase George not in Control Panel > User Accounts, but in
Ctrl Panel > Admin Tools > Computer Managment > Local
users and Groups > Users.

Then I had to switch back to mouse-select user switching,
from name-key-in user switching if I wanted to preserve
log-ins when switching.

Then I had to erase Georges folders.

I have a question: does copying a "profile" do anything
more than copy files? Can I do the same thing by simply
making a new user, and then simply copying files from
documents and settings > administrator to documents and
settings > Scott? Probably not -- because the name of the
My Documents folder is programmed to automatically change
to Scott's Documents, when I change users to
Administrators. It might not do this if i use the simple
file-copy method.

One more Q. If I make a new user, say "Scott," in Control
Panel > user accounts, its folder is labelled Scott. If I
make a new user in Control Panel > Admin Tools > Computer
Management > Local users and Groups > users -- its folder
is named with the name of the local computer tagged onto
it: Scott.Eomeo1 in my case.

I am also confused between seting up my users as local
users and roaming users. I don't have domain names on my
2-computer home network, but rather a "workgroup." the
distinction is lost on me.

Again, Win XP pro is not simple and easy to use, it is
obtuse, and convuluted.
 
As a matter of fact, if I go to CtrlPanel > System >
Advanced Tab > User Profle Settings Tab, select any user,
and click the Change Type button, the "roaming profile"
radio button is greyed out, the user can only have
a "local profile." Do I have to set up my computer with
domains -- whatever those are -- it is almost impossible
to learn the distinction between domains and user groups
from the Help File -- in order to have roaming profiles
enabled?

I am afraid to use the Network setup Wizard, as the
wizards never tell you what changes they make -- and then
you look later and you see they changed all kinds of
settings that you had made on your own, and you no longer
remember how to set them back. It would be nice if the
wizards told you where to find the dialog boxes they were
changing and allowed you to step thru the changes. Or if
the help file had step by step intructions to do the same
thing as the wizards do, instead of just telling you
to "use the wizard."

While xp is more stable than 98se -- it is really
difficult to decipher how to use it.
 
That's the way I was doing it. Tried logging in as Scott,
and only Scott was listed. I made Scott an administrator -
- and now I couldn't get back to the main Administrator
without changing to "username-write-in" mode from
username mouse-select mode (and needing to log out from
scott before I could log in to Administrator).
Click to expand...


Eh? The built-in Administrator account is hidden by default when you create
another account. At the Welcome Screen, press Ctl-Alt-Del twice and you will
see the W2K-style log in box appear. Type in Administrator as the User and
the password if amy, and THAT is how you log on to The Administrator.
 
soilman said:
I got a used computer w Windows XP pro on it.

It has an a user with admin priveleges named
administrator, and a guest user.

When I try to set up a new user, it won't make it
a "limited" user, claiming you need "at least one
administrative user" even tho I already have an admin
user -- named administrator. how do i set up a limited
user?
Click to expand...


The one named 'Administrator' is a reserve account for emergencies. You
should have a regular user account in your own name with administrator
status, to use for day-to-day admin. Once that is set up, he
'Administrator' one will be hidden - you get at it should it be needed,
when you boot into Safe Mode. You can then set up a Limited account or
accounts to taste
 
"The built-in Administrator account is hidden by default
when you create another account."

The help file and the tour seemed to have neglected to
mention this!! They "walk you thru" creating a new user --
w/o mentioning this! It was extremely disconcerting to
see the built-in administrator choice disappear. I spent,
wasted, about 30 hours -- no exaggeration -- trying to
figure out where it, and all its settings -- went.
Understatement: this is NOT a "time-saving" "easy to use"
feature of windows xp pro. Why didn't the help file warn
me about this???
 
I wasn't abel to find any mention or warning about this
in the tour, or help file. Couldn't find anything about
it in the on-line knowledge base either. Spent a LOT of
my time figuring out what was going on.
 
soilman said:
"The built-in Administrator account is hidden by default
when you create another account."

The help file and the tour seemed to have neglected to
mention this!! They "walk you thru" creating a new user --
w/o mentioning this! It was extremely disconcerting to
see the built-in administrator choice disappear. I spent,
wasted, about 30 hours -- no exaggeration -- trying to
figure out where it, and all its settings -- went.
Understatement: this is NOT a "time-saving" "easy to use"
feature of windows xp pro. Why didn't the help file warn
me about this???
Click to expand...

You are SUPPOSED to create a User Account during Set-up, and the first one
you create has Admin rights - that's why.
 
I wasn't abel to find any mention or warning about this
in the tour, or help file. Couldn't find anything about
it in the on-line knowledge base either. Spent a LOT of
my time figuring out what was going on.
Click to expand...

That's because at the end of Set up you are prompted to create one or more
accounts, the first one of which is an Administrator Account.
(I'm presuming that is what you are on about because you didn't quote the
post you were replying to. Please do so in future - it makes things much
easier. Thank you)
 
=====================
.... at the end of Set up you are prompted to create one
or more accounts, the first one of which is an
Administrator Account.
=======================

This makes things difficult for owners of second-hand
computers. i was given a computer with no system restore
disk or fast-restore disk or documents, except the
supposedly "complete" system already installed, and the
supposedly "complete" help files. It is only about 6
months that the orig owner had it. It came "set up" with
just an "administrator" account and a "guest" account,
and the orig owner told me that since I was the only
user, to just use the built-in administrator account.
Obviously he was mistaken -- but there was no information
in the help files that I could find, to contradict him.


the Op sys is apparently legit and registers, since after
30 days, if it isn't registered, it wouldn't be working
any more. And since the orig owner doesn't use it any
more, it should be legit for me to use it if it was sold
or given to me.

Of course the whole cost of the computer, complete with
operating system, to me, was LESS than the cost of me
buying a new XP pro operating system disk. In other
words, for me to buy a new xp pro op sys disk (and Compaq
disk) and quick-restore disk -- it would cost me more
than I paid for the computer. This is not unusual as used
computers in excellent condition with little use go for
very low prices.

There is a copy of the main xp pro installation files in
a folder called "I386" -- i think i can install most of
the op sys from there if I need to, and I can back that
to a CD (I have a writeable cd drive). However some of
the add-on stuff that comes with windows xp must be
missing.

the owner is looking for the orig cd but is having
trouble finding it.
 
By the way, the person that I got the computer from is
head of computing and NETWORKING for a bank with 6
branches in the New York City metropolitan area and more
branches up and down the US east coast. He had the
computer set up with just the built-in administrator and
the guest, and when I recently asked him why he didn't
set up a named administrator at set up instead of just
the built-in administrator, he told me it wasn't
necessary and that the way he had it set up was simplest
best way to use it for a single user. Obviously he was
wrong. I wonder if my money is safe in the bank whose
computer he has set up, and linked together? I'm
wondering if records of my deposits might dissappear
without warning -- the same way the built-in adminstrator
dissappears without warning the moment you set up a named
administrator.
 
I have to agree with Soilman on this one. It's a bad user experience.
While you are correct to point out that setup requires a new account be
created, Soilman's second hand computer had already gone through this step.
The original user wisely deleted his own account before handoff leaving the
machine in this less-than-optimal state.

Soilman I'm sorry the documentation was inadeqeate to your situation. I am
going to forward your problem on to our help folks. They don't always have
every scenario thought out ahead of time. Feedback like yours is helpful.
We live and learn.
 
Soilman I'm sorry the documentation was inadeqeate to your situation. I am
going to forward your problem on to our help folks.
Click to expand...

While you are at it -- tell them to put back the long-
gone "annotation" feature in windows Help Files. So I can
attach notes with that cute little representation of a
paper clip, right to where I need to have a note --
regarding things like this. Rather than make separate
text files or Word files, saved somewhere else and not
linked to from the Help file. And rather than have to
completely re-compile the help system file using Html
Help Workshop -- for every little note I want to add.

thank you!
 
soilman said:
By the way, the person that I got the computer from is
head of computing and NETWORKING for a bank with 6
branches in the New York City metropolitan area and more
branches up and down the US east coast. He had the
computer set up with just the built-in administrator and
the guest, and when I recently asked him why he didn't
set up a named administrator at set up instead of just
the built-in administrator, he told me it wasn't
necessary and that the way he had it set up was simplest
best way to use it for a single user.
Click to expand...

Well he'd have been stuffed if the Admin log-on went belly-up, which it is
NOT unknown to do......
 
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