Using programs in multiple XP user accounts

Hello,

I have looked through the other threads and so forth but I'm pretty sure there's no thread dealing with this problem here at the moment.

I've set up multiple user accounts, on the advice of this website (which I recommend to friends constantly, thanks for all your help up to now!), on a new netbook. It's an ACER and it runs XP, 160GB hard drive, 1GB ram, and it's got some kind of N270 chip, 1.6Ghz. Anyway, programs that are installed in the administrator account are not available in the other limited accounts.

I did read elsewhere that you could just move the startup shortcut from the administrator's folder (in docs and settings) and move it into the analogous All Users folder. I tried that and it didn't work. In fact, I tried installing the program in both accounts and that didn't work either.

I would really be grateful if anyone has any advice on this issue.

Thanks!

 

What security permissions do you have on the folder that contains the software?

 

Best if AV, anti-spyware, and firewall controls are left with Admin only. Prevents unauthorized changes just so someone can "download" something they can't otherwise get.

 

Are these programs that came with the netbook? Usually when you install a program, as an administrator, it will ask if you want to install it for just yourself or all users.

As far as security permissions, netbooks come with XP Home and there is no security permission tab visible. In order to see the tab, you have to boot into safe mode. From there you do see the security tab.

 

Wow, yeah, I didn't really know how to find security settings. A tab (in normal mode) just told me to drag the folder into Shared Dox if I wanted to share it, which isn't going to work for program files. The program is IRIVER, which is not a great program and not even a program for which I can't provide an alternative but it is nevertheless useful and ideally I'd be able to use it in both user accounts. Anyway, I'm going to reboot in safe mode and check the security settings.

 

Right, I went into Safe Mode and clicked for properties on the program files folder. When I opened the security tab, on the main page, the following were allowed for limited users:

Full control, modify, read and execute, list folder contents, read, write

the only one that wasn't allowed was: special permissions.

Those settings were actually exactly the same for administrators and limited users.

Then in the "permissions" tab of the "advanced" tab, I changed it so that all users had Full Control. (Previously, limited users did not have full control but all others did).

Then I went back into the limited account and had another go at firing up the program but it still didn't work. The message read: "Required resource file cannot be loaded. Please reinstall program."

 

Sorry, I have no knowledge of a program called IRIVER. The only IRiver I know is hardware, an mp3 player.

I also do not know what shared dox is.

 

hello,

Iriver Plus, I should have said, is the software provided with the iriver MP3 player. By shared dox I meant Shared Documents.

 

Hi,

I've managed to get the rogue program working and the advice I got here helped me to bring all the anti-malware and other important programs over the user account divide, too.

Thanks everyone!