Re: How to fool program into working for limited users in XP Pro

Jeffrey Bowen (formerly Sky Captain) wrote: 
Hello,

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I thought I had tried here.

I recently installed a US Robotics 56K(V92) Faxmodem in my brother's computer after his old one was fried during a storm. After installing it and making sure the "modem-on-hold" feature worked right I then proceeded to test it in his children's limited user accounts to make sure they can get on the net also.

Now, while his children were also able to log onto the net, the modem on hold program (which until now was quite impressive) will only work for users logged on as administrators.

This fact was verified by one of USR's support technicians who informed me that they had no immediate plans to change it so it would work in limited accounts.

Now this is a problem because he and his children all spend a lot of time on the net, and until his name comes up on the broadband waiting list, a modem is all they have between them and the net.

Now for the difficult question. I was able to get the modem on hold program to work properly by using the "run as"(my brother's administrative account) command while logged into one of the limited user accounts.

However, I can't just give his children his password and tell them to remember to run the moh program before going on the net. That would defeat the purpose of limiting his children's user accounts.

What I would like to do, is add to the Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\run key a command string that would automatically start the moh program with administrator credentials in the limited accounts without assigning his children's accounts administrator privilages.

If possible, I would really like to set it up to run as a service with "local system" or "network" credentials so that it wouldn't have to be set up for each individual account separately.

So any help would be appreciated.

Thanks ahead of time.

Peace,

Jeff Bowen
(aka Sky Captain)




You may experience some problems if the software was designed for Win9x/Me, or if it was intended for WinNT/2K/XP, but was improperly designed. Quite simply, the application doesn't "know" how to handle individual user profiles with differing security permissions levels, or the application is designed to make to make changes to "off-limits" sections of the Windows registry or protected Windows system folders.

For example, saved data are often stored in a sub-folder under the application's folder within C:\Program Files - a place where no inexperienced or limited user should ever have write permissions.

It may even be that the software requires "write" access to parts of the registry or protected systems folders/files that are not normally accessible to regular users. (This *won't* occur if the application is properly written.) If this does prove to be the case, however, you're often left with three options: Either grant the necessary users appropriate higher access privileges (either as Power Users or local administrators), explicitly grant normal users elevated privileges to the affected folders and/or part(s) or the registry, 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.aspx?scid=kb;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
.

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