Administrator and Limited Use Accounts

Solution to a problem I had trying to achieve the following three wishes all at once in accounts in XP Pro:

1. Run an admin account and a limited user account;

2. Boot directly into the user account, without going through a welcome screen where an account has to be selected;

3. Have the admin account easily accessible (eg, without rebooting).

If this can be done easily, I couldn't find instructions for it (if anyone has a simple solution, I would be pleased to see it - even though I will have embarrassed myself :-o, and wasted a whole lot of time :cry. There is something about pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del twice, but I can't get that to work without logging off). I could manage two of the three above wishes, but not all three together.

One possibility may be to change a Registry setting (Userlist), to turn off the admin account option at login - I found instructions for that, but couldn't make the change. This might have been because I wasn't logged in to an account with admin privileges - I don't know. And since I couldn't do it, I don't know if it would do what I wanted. In any case, the following worked without going to the Registry (I discovered this before re-trying the registry change with appropriate permissions).

I think I followed the following steps (I wasn't keeping track, as I didn't know it would work), and I don't really know why this worked:

1. Set up two accounts, each with admin privileges - I'll call them Aden (the one I want to keep as Admin), and Lulu (the one I want to have with limited user rights).

2. In Aden, go to Start > Run > and type in Control Userpasswords2

3. Uncheck Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer

4. In the Automatically Log On dialog box that appears, type the user name for the account you want to be logged on each time you start your computer (Lulu - or it may have another name. If Lulu doesn't work, go to Start > Control Panel > Admin Tools > Computer Management > Local Users and Groups > Users, and look under Name, where Lulu is in the Full Name list.)

4a. Reboot in Lulu account (maybe you could start in this account).

5. Now you will not be able to access Aden account. Restart the computer in Safe Mode. (I thought this would show a Welcome screen with the option to log on as Aden. It didn't for me - it just opened in Lulu. If so, go to Start > Log Off. This should give the Aden option.) Log on as Aden.

6. I thought at this point you could go to Lulu account in Control Panel > User Accounts > Change Account Name or Type and change Lulu to an Admin account. However, I seem to remember not being able to do this, so I think I did the following:

* Right-click on My Computer
* Click on Manage
* Expand Local Users and Groups
* Click on Groups
* Double click on Administrators
* Click on Add
* Enter the account name that you want to assign administrative privileges to (Lulu)
* OK your way back out.


7. Go to Start > Log Off and switch to Lulu account.

8. In Control Panel > User Accounts > Change Account Name or Type, change Lulu to a limited user account.

If this works, you should be able to boot directly into Lulu, but access Aden by going to Start > Log Off. You should then be presented with a screen with a Switch User option, with Aden available.

Phew! :heli

 

I've just redone this on another computer. There are a couple of errors in the instructions in the previous post. Also, I think it might be as simple as:
start with two accounts - one with admin and one without,
then, in the admin account, Run > Control Passwords2,
uncheck Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
Click OK.
In the Automatically Log On dialog box that appears, type the user name for the account you want to be logged on each time you start your computer (the account without admin privs)


I haven't tried this, so I can't guarantee it.