Can someone help me with this problem, please?

Ok, so here it goes.

I just started an internship in the IT department of a local business. I have the weirdest problem that my boss gave me to figure out.

Apparently, they are running Windows 2003 Server with Service Pack 1 on the main server here, and every workstation runs either Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro with SP2. The problem is this. Everyone used to be able to login and have no errors at all. But one day, basically out of the blue, these error messages started coming up. The first message says "Some of the controls on this property sheet are disabled because you do not have sufficient privileges or access to change them." The second message says "Please contact your administrator". Now, the only way to run Scandisk, Defrag, change any Network settings, and a few other operations, is to log in as Administrator.

I asked my teacher at my school about this, and the only thing he could tell me is to go in and add everyone to the Local Admin group. My boss doesn't want to do this, as everyone here would have administrative rights. Not a good thing here.

Also, my boss has discovered that if he installs IPX/SPX on a workstation (under the Admin account of course) that this problem goes away, and anyone can Defrag, etc. But no one here wants to go around to every computer (there's a hundred or so) and install IPX/SPX on every single one.

Has anyone ever encountered this before, and what causes this to happen? All replies and suggestions are openly welcomed.

 

Group policies? I'm just guessing though, I truly have no clue :-/

 

It is normal for domain non-admin users to not have privileges to network settings. I assume this is a domain you are working in?

These errors pop up just by logging in? Are there any applications set to start at login?

 

Folder permissions include Full Control, Modify, Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, Read, and Write. Each of these permissions consists of a logical group of special permissions that are listed and defined in the following sections.

Note assuming that you are using Windows XP on a domain. By default, simplified sharing is enabled in Windows XP if you are not connected to a domain. This means that the Security tab and advanced options for permissions are not available.


Group Policy includes an option to apply permissions to folders for users and groups selected by the administrator. To locate this setting, click Computer Configuration, click Windows Settings, click Security Settings, and then click the File System section of the policy tree. This setting provides a convenient method to apply a uniform set of permissions to a group of computers.

 

Folder permissions include Full Control, Modify, Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, Read, and Write. Each of these permissions consists of a logical group of special permissions that are listed and defined in the following sections.

Note Assuming that you are using Windows XP on a domain. By default, simplified sharing is enabled in Windows XP if you are not connected to a domain. This means that the Security tab and advanced options for permissions are not available

Group Policy includes an option to apply permissions to folders for users and groups selected by the administrator. To locate this setting, click Computer Configuration, click Windows Settings, click Security Settings, and then click the File System section of the policy tree. This setting provides a convenient method to apply a uniform set of permissions to a group of computers.