Re: Customizing User Profiles in Control Panel

Nothing to be sorry about; thank you! Great response! Ben J.

"Nepatsfan" wrote:

Answered inline.

In news:1CF4A234-69B5-4D17-92DB-17EB0390AE6B@xxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Ben <Ben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thank you so much for this great and helpful answer,
Napatsfan; OK. First,
You stated that in emergencies, I can log into my
Administrators account.
Yet I don't have an account for it set up in my CONTROL
PANEL\USER PROFILE,
or anywhere else to set a passwork to it; ...so at the
Welcome Screen, when I
press Ctrl + Alt + Del, one of the accounts that will appear
is ADMINSTRATOR,
and I can just go ahead and log into it without a password;
then how do I set
a password for it?

The Administrator account will not appear in the list of users
displayed when you run the Control Panel -> User Accounts
applet. Remember, this is a hidden account. The only time the
Administrator account shows up in that list of accounts is if
you are logged on with the Administrator account.

In my earlier response I made a mistake in outlining the
procedure that will allow you to logon with the built-in
Administrator account. It should have read as follows.

Note: To log on with the Administrator account you can hit Ctrl
+ Alt + Del twice at the Welcome screen in XP Pro. This should
bring
up the Logon to Windows dialog where you can enter
Administrator in the User Name box and logon.

You have to hit Ctrl + Alt + Del twice in order to get the
dialog that will allow you to logon as Administrator. The
password for this account is blank by default. Once you logon
to the account, you can go to Control Panel -> User Accounts.
The icon for the Administrator account will be visible allowing
you to assign a password to this account. Keep in mind that you
can also gain access to the Administrator account by starting
the computer in Safe Mode.

Sorry for the confusion,

Nepatsfan


Everything else, you are right on the mark; thank you! Ben
J.

"Nepatsfan" wrote:

In news:6FE66BEB-4D90-4C07-A412-CF8DB271F772@xxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Ben <Ben@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ok. I have a few items if you can share them with me:

1) I have four folders in my C:\Documents and Settings
folder: a)
Administrator, b) All Users, c) [my full name- which is the
account that I
previously set to automatically come up and use, having
full
Administration
rights], and d) Default User. Now, in Control Panel\User
Profiles, the only
account that I set up was "b)"; there appears only two
icons
also, one for my
"b)" account, and one for "Guest User" account. Based on
this:

a) Can I go ahead and delete all the folders in my
C:\Documents and Settings
folder, except for the one I'm using, i.e. folder "b)"?

b) I tried to make an account for the "a)" folder in the
C:\Documents and
Settings folder in Control Panel\User Profles; however,
when
I try to name
the account "Administrator", I get a message that this
account already
exists; I know that the folder exists in the C:\Documents
and
Settings
folder, but not in Control Panel\User Profiles. Why is
this
happening, and
how to I fix this?

2) In My Microsoft HELP in my Windows XP Pro, there it
states
that there is
a way to facilitate CRTL + ALT + DEL when I want a user to
log into my
computer, i.e to go to CONTROL PANEL\USER PROFILES, and
click
on the advanced
tab; however, when I go there, no ADVANCED tab exits. Can
you tell me why,
and what I can do to obtain this log in functionality?

3) Finally, can you refer me to an article that covers all
the basics on
this issue?

Thank you so much. Ben J.

1) a) Short answer, No. Long answer, Windows XP is a
multi-user operating system. Each of those folders, along
with
a few others that are hidden, are crucial to the proper
operation of XP. Here's a short description of the folders
in
question.

The Administrator folder is used by an account that is
usually
hidden and should be used only in emergencies. If your
current
user account were to somehow become corrupted, the
Administrator account is your safety net, ready to help you
fix
the problem.
Note: To log on with the Administrator account you can hit
Ctrl
+ Alt + Del at the Welcome screen in XP Pro. This should
bring
up the Logon to Windows dialog where you can enter
Administrator in the User Name box and logon. In Windows XP
Home Edition, you'll need to start the computer in Safe Mode
to
logon as the Administrator. For more info, take a look at
these
articles.

Courtesy of Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP
How to login as Administrator in Windows XP?
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/admins.htm

Where Is Windows XP's Administrator Account?
http://www.connectedhomemag.com/HomeOffice/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=24808

The All Users folder contains files and settings that are
common to all the accounts on the computer. If you had
created
more than one user account, each would be able to access
things
like common Start menu items and Desktop icons that are
stored
here.

The Default User folder is a template used when you create a
new user account. If you're thinking, "I've already created
the
only account I'll ever need", consider this. If for some
reason
your user account became corrupted to the point that it was
beyond repair, you could log on with the Administrator
account
and create a new user account, salvage what files you could
from the old user folder and be back in business. The only
way
you get to create a new user account is because the Default
User folder exists.

1) b) The Administrator account is a built-in account that
exists in all XP systems. Leave this account alone. There's
nothing to fix. If you want to create another account with
administrative privileges, pick a name other than
Administrator.

2) The information in Help and Support is, unfortunately,
not
always as accurate as it should be. Here's what the Help
article should advise you to do.

Go to Start and click Run. Note: If Run is not listed on
your
Start menu, hit the Windows key and the R key at the same
time
to bring up the Run dialog.
In the Run dialog, enter the following command in the Open
box.

control userpasswords2

In User Accounts, click on the Advanced tab.
In the Secure Logon section, put a check mark in the box
next
to "Require users to press Ctrl + Alt + Del".
Click OK.
Restart your computer to see if you obtain the desired
results.

Note: Another way to enable this requirement on an XP Pro
system is through the Local Security Policy.

3) Sorry, I'm not familiar with any web site that does a
complete and accurate job of explaining user accounts in
Windows XP. If you are curious about the inner workings of
Windows XP, visit your local library, take out a few books,
and
start reading. Here's one I'd recommend.

Microsoft Windows XP inside out / Ed Bott, Carl Siechert,
and
Craig Stinson.

Good luck

Nepatsfan




.

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