Allowing admin rights to user account...

M

masshole

[H]ard|Gawd
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Feb 10, 2003
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My friend is running XP and wants her non-admin account to be able to control the power settings. Dont ask me why, but she has two accounts that she controls. (She is the admistrator on one of them.) She is the only person that uses the computer, but can't figure out how to change her non-admin account to control the power saving options.

Bottom line is she wants to set her screen saver and power options under her non-admin account.


Thanks for any help.
 
So, she wants administrative privileges without administrative rights?
 
lotik said:
So, she wants administrative privileges without administrative rights?
Click to expand...

Limited admin rights with a non-admin account - not a completely unreasonable request considering most people would just run as admin to save themselves the trouble.
 
Power User anyone?

I'm sure Power Users can control options like...uh...power. :D
 
yea, she wants admin privileges w/ out admin rights on her second account.

shes running xp home.

is that even possible with home?
 
user account rights are difficult with xp home, but not impossible.

i'd set the other user as a power user to start with and see if they have rights to the screensaver. as a power user, i believe the only thing you cannot do is install apps.
 
Just use RunAs. I don't use or get on XP Home machines much, well at all, but I expect there is RunAs functionality.

Desk.cpl is in C:\windows\system32 so browse to it or do a search. Then, create a shortcut on the desktop if you want repeated access to it. Right click the file, or the shortcut and click run as. If you don't see a RunAs then hold down the shift key while right clicking. In the Runas box type the user/pass combo of the admin account.
 
ignore his comment. heh.

it's possible, just difficult on xp home... xp home hides most of the administration functionality because it's typically for basic use where every user will be an admin or a guest. (all or nothing)...

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_groups.htm

i'd suggest the user needs at least power user rights. or as 'ktwebb' suggested above, try the run as for the "desk.cpl" or even the "powercfg.cpl"...

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313808
 
wizard, yeah but that's not a practical solution. if you dunno what your doing, modifying the group policy can render the admin account useless. you have to not apply it to the admin account but for the rest of the account for a local client GP to work. there's a thing to disable.
 
masshole said:
so youre saying its not possible, or am i just misreading it?
Click to expand...

Not only is it possible, it's an easy fix and has nothing to do with Group Policy. Maybe the guy was addressing someone elses post. I looked up and down this thread and couldn't figure out what the fuck Group Policy had to do with anything in any post but maybe I am just missing it. You can add RunAs in the shortcut properties with the user account. It will then prompt for the account password. This is how I manage my MMC snap ins at work. I login to a domain account that does not have many rights, by design. I use an account in our root domain to logon to our servers, OR to manage various things with MMC snap in consoles, via shortcuts and RunAs.

Admittedly, this is all XP Pro but if you see RunAs in the right click menu, either native or by holding shift when you right click, it will work on Home XP edition as well. Make sure your partitions are formatted NTFS if you have trouble.

here's a for instance. This is a shortcut to terminal server manager using my admin credentials. upong double clicking the shortcut I'll be prompted to type a password at prompt that looks like a dos box.

%windir%\system32\runas.exe /user:domain\useraccount"%windir%\system32\tsadmin.exe"

Since your not on a domain using XP Home, you could drop the domain name and just use the local account. The rest of the info would need to be specific to your needs

So for the desktop shortcut you'd make a shortcut where the target would be
%windir%\system32\runas.exe /user:username"%windir%\system32\desk.cpl"
Start in would be %windir%

Oh, in case there is any confusion username should be the actual name of the account, not the word username
 
Will there ever be a time when you don't have to explain that "username" is an indicator to use your specific username (without quotes...heh)?

Not directing at OP, just an observation in general.
 
Very good insight. Yea, Im going to let her know that, and even make her do the changes. I think Ive done enough research for her... yea.

Thanks guys.
 
maybe make the account an admin
set the settings
set account back to user

enjoy
 
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