XP Limited account

[bibble]

OK, so here is the problem. As per many households I have kids, we have two computers both running XP pro. I have quite happily let the kids on my computer on a limited account but these days have this following problem more and more. When running a game it needs admin priveledges to be able to be run/installed.

How can I have a limited account (keep fast user switching) and run games where they can work with them and not have to login as me.

I just bought a bucket load of games that didn't run well/at all on my old g400 which run superbly on my ati 9700. I feel like I am in a sweet shop playing all these games I have heard of but couldnt play.

The annoying on eof the moment is black and white (on my g400 characters arms legs etc would connect to the landscape, sun clouds etc), now on a limited account it gives a 'you need direct x 7 or above' error. I have direct x 9. The error on most games where this happens is you need to have admin rights to run this program.

so any ideas (other than changing their account to admin)?

Mike

[DentyCracker]

I'm not sure if you can set the shortcut to use a "run as" command

[UtwigMU]

Try right clicking on a shortcut and choosing compatibility mode.

See if that helps.

If kids want to burn CDs install nero burning rights.

I myself prefer Users, Administrators, Powerusers.... and old school CTRL+ALT+DEL.

[Jammrock]

The easiest way is to put them in Power Users and go through your program files and take away modify rights to 'everyone' and 'power users' for apps you don't want them to use.

Jammrock

[DentyCracker]

sound about right Jammy

[bibble]

jammrock.. hmmm - ok am not sure how to get power users up. Control panel only shows limited or admin. Any idea how to get the win2k view of users?

[Technoid]

I have tried to get that view too

[bibble]

i did manage it at uni when i joined a domain and then unjoined a week later and was left with that view. I could set a restore point and try that. I did try power user for 'age of mythology' but it said it still needed admin rights.. any way round that?

[Jammrock]

Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management

Go to Users and Groups -> Groups, and add your kids accounts to Power Users. Put your user account into the Administrators group and keep the password very secure. Make sure the kids accounts are NOT in Administrators, or they will have rights anyway. Remove them if they are in there.

Open Windows Explorer and go to Tools -> Folders Options... -> View. Go to the bottom of the list and uncheck "Use Simple File Sharing..."

Now when you Right-Click any file or folder you will have more advanced security options. Go to the Security tab and remove Everyone and Power Users from the list. Or simply remove Modify/Execute rights to the folder. Keep Administrator with Full Control.

Of you don't mind your kids using the program, give them Modify/Execute rights, or Full Control.

You should be able to control it all then. If that doesn't work with the programs that need admin rights, then there are other ways. Let me know how it works.

Jammrock

[Belwarrior]

Only limited and administrator profiles listed?
My friend has the same problem. I found out that he disabled a few services in the startup that he was not using (he had rpc disabled all along). now he cant acess the other profiles.. and i cant figure out which service is the one related..
maybe someone here might?

[bibble]

jammrock,

Ok done that - busy week. as a partial workaround I had installed black and white on a fat32 disk so security wasnt an issue but it says direct x 7 or higher is needed. Could this be a registry problem. I usually install programs under my account but when it comes to running them under the kids it asks to install them... hmmm

[Zao]

I'd export the registry entries for the game in your user, and import them in theirs.

It should be HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\<Company Name>\<Game Name>

[bibble]

zao - tried that still the same direct x error - could it be direct x thats the problem. but then it wouldnt be available for other games. any more ideas?

[Zao]

My post above was about the games complaining about not being installed.
You can read more about Limited Account gaming at http://boards.bluegoop.net/archive/topic/4851-1.html .
The only solution I can see for you is to set up the shortcuts to their games to Run As... with an admin account.
You could make an new unused admin account with a hard password to impersonate with the games, so if they manage to abuse the user, they won't have access to your files.
You could give that user some limits about where it can mess around.