Restricted users can't run older programs (Home)

[sjreynolds]

Hi.

I'm going somewhat mad trying to manage our home PC. This is the PC that my wife uses for her business, but is also the PC that the children use for their stuff. Needless to say, my wife has administrator access and I had set the chlidren up as restricted users. Which is where the problems start.

A lot of their software was originally written for Win98, and while I have been sent patches which allow them to run on WinXP, many of them want to write to files which are stored in Program Files - and restricted users cannot write to Program Files! I tried installing the software in another directory (e.g. "C:Childrens"), but there seem to be shared files still installed in Program Files (or possibly Windows, I guess) which they are trying to access and hence they won't run. Being familiar with Windows 2000 at work, I tried to change the security settings on the Program Files folder to allow the other users to write to the directory, but that functionality appears to be missing from XP Home.

Currently I seem to have just two options - I can either force the programs to be run under other credentials, which essentially means providing either the admin name/password or my wife's, or having to be around every time they want to do anything (nope), or I can set both children's accounts to be "administrator" types. While not ideal, I have gone for the second since I trust them - right up to the point where my daughter enabled the "guest" account for the use of friends / other children that my wife child-minds. I don't really want this account on, and I certainly don't want to give other people's children admin rights to the PC, just to run some software.

What I want to do then is to find a way to leave my children's accounts as restricted users, but to run programs which appear to require write access to Program Files and/or Windows. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Stuart

[JohnGray]

This isn't a solution but a bypass - how about getting a cheap second-hand Windows 98 SE machine for use by the children, and keep them away from your box under Pain of Death?

I don't think Bill ever imagined that people would be using olde programs on his shiny new WIndows XP!

John

[sjreynolds]

John, hi

A second box is not an option - the wireless network card didn't run at all on Win98SE when I previously had one, the machine is too far away from the hub to make cabling a practical alternative, and in any case I am somewhat space limited (at least as far as bulky PCs go).

Thanks anyway.

Stuart

[WyllyWylly]

Have you considered making the accounts in question Power Users instead? It would allow far more access while still restricting some top level functions. Alternately, have you explored the idea of creating a new user group with the specific privileges that are required? I presume the drive is using the NTFS file system, which would allow you granular control over what directories have what access rights.

You might also think about hunting down INI files or similar - I have been able to coerce some older programs to do what I want by hunting down and modifying their INI files (but not all programs use these).

[sjreynolds]

Mark, hi.

Two good thoughts!

I haven't checked if the drive is NTFS or not - I've been so used to working with NTFS drives that I just assumed it was, but of course there's no guarantee that this is the case at all. It may certainly explain why I wasn't able to set the individual permissions for different folders.

As to the Power Users, again this is a good idea. Only trouble is, I didn't see them listed when I went to change account type. I only had "restricted" and "administrator". I've certainly got them on my XP Pro, so this begs the question as to whether these groups exist in XP Home, but are hiding behind some "idiots" interface, or whether they are simply not there at all. Any ideas?

[Actually, since I originally posted, I've been over to a collague's machine with XP Home, and Microsoft is adamant that there are only two user types - Administrator, and Restricted - even the help says so. Hohum.]

Cheers.

Stuart

[WyllyWylly]

No Power Users in Home Edition? I wonder if this is another silly way Microsoft has tried to differentiate the two release editions of XP from each other. If that's the case, then you may be left with creating your own user group.

[viking33]

Mark,

Yes, XP Home only has Admin, Limited and Guest accounts. A note in XP Home users help says:
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Some programs might not work properly for users with limited accounts. If so, change the user's account type to computer administrator, either temporarily or permanently
-------------------------------------

That's it ! <img src=/S/frown.gif border=0 alt=frown width=15 height=15>

[WyllyWylly]

Now that is just plain ridiculous. I'm going to withhold further comment on it because I think it would be redundant and unnecessary!!

[DaveA]

"Power Users" are for Domain type networks and the Home version and domain networks are not supported.

[jolas]

How about a TQC RunAs solution this .