Re: Admin & non Admin, NTFS vs FAT32

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Gregory L. Forster, E.A. wrote:
I have WinXP Pro SP2. For the past several years, I ran an admin account for software update and installation. I had a non admin account for general everyday operation and all the software worked there. I had my WinXP Pro SP2 on a FAT32 40Gig hard drive.

Last month, my motherboard and hard drive were failing. Earlier this month, I had a new motherboard installed and a 400Gig SATA hard drive installed. I was told that because of the huge size of the hard drive, my Windows XP Pro SP2 was installed as an NTFS, rather than a FAT 32.

All my software installed and works beautifully in the admin account. However, creating a functional non admin account does not seem possible. I was told by the tech that did the work for me that it was because of the NTFS structure I was unable to create a useable non admin account.



The "tech" you consulted seems to either have very limited knowledge, or to have deliberately withheld pertinent information from you. In either case, he is quite thoroughly wrong.

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."



So, now what do I do?


As above.


I was on the Microsoft website and it stated that I could partition part of the hard drive for FAT 32, but won't that destroy the data that's already there?


Yes, but formatting the partition to FAT32 should be unnecessary, if you follow the advice above.


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