Re: Help with Guest account

My mistake. I meant to say that I never use the built in guest account -
sorry about that. Enabling the built in guest account can be a security risk
as I mentioned by allowing anonymous access to your computer shares if
everyone has permissions for share and NTFS permissions even is simple file
sharing is disabled. And I did enable the built in guest account and had no
problem accessing the internet with it as it uses that same network
connection as configured by an administrator even though guest can not see
network connections.

Glad to hear you have made some apparent progress but again I would suggest
that you not use the built in guest account and instead create regular user
accounts that use a password for those users that you want to have limited
access to the operating system. Unfortunately there are far too many
programs that will not work unless the user is also in the local
administrators group though I am not sure if your Corel program is one of
them.

Steve

"seree" <seree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:CDA27D04-F13E-4297-A10E-36C36C91C546@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Steve, You misunderstood. I did not say I was using the default built-in
Administrators Account. You are absolutely correct in how dangerous and
even
foolish that would be. No, I said the my main account, the one I used to
enable the Guest Account is "an" administrator account. Big difference.
Thanks for enabling your built in admin account to see if you could
recreate
the problem you thought I was having. I have two computers networked, both
with user accounts with identical passwords for networking. I have NTFS
permissions, have disabled the Simple File Sharing, but have not as yet
done
any intricate shares other than just allowing access to my fiance's and my
documents. That is the only share I have created since setting up the
network. I enabled the guest account so my son could use the computer to
play
games during a recent visit. This was when I discovered the "access
denied"
error along with the Corel photo program attempting to install. I read a
previous post regarding a simular situation and the response was sometimes
software does not have proper permissions to run under the Guest Account
and
the person suggested contacting the manufacturer and seeing if this may
cause
this problem.

Now, I was finally able to get connectivity on the Guest Account on my
other
networked computer. It was not anything I did, just this morning it
worked.
There was an error, but it did not give me a chance to write it down. I
will
see if it replicates next time I open it. At this point I don't know what
to
do other than wait for the replication of the other computer I just
mentioned
and contact Corel about this program not having permissions to run with
the
Guest Account. Thanks for responding to my problems. Sorry about the
misunderstandings regarding what type of account I was using. I am not any
where close to an expert, but I am not a complete beginner now either. I
have
a LOT to learn, and really appreciate all the help you and others here
provide. Thank you for your time, have a nice evening. I will post again
when
I get this worked out or if I come up with something new to describe. Bye,
Seree
--
seree


"Steven L Umbach" wrote:

Hi Seree.

Thanks for the very detailed information! I personally never use the
built
in administrator account because enabling it on XP Pro can be a security
vulnerability as it will allow access to shares that have everyone
permissions to for share and folder/NTFS permissions. But just to see I
enabled it and was able to access the internet right away without a
problem
as I thought it would work and I noticed that guest could not see any
connections in networking properties just as you described though I did
have
networking connectivity. Network configuration is configured at the
"computer" level by an administrator and will then work for any user that
logs onto the computer assuming no software firewall is applying user
specific settings. However the connection settings in IE can vary per
user
and if proxy settings are enabled in advanced settings that can cause
access
problems for IE. I am still curious if you can create another user
account
and logon with that account and access the internet? I also wonder if you
were able to ping or do ipconfig /all for the guest account and what the
results were though I believe you mentioned that you get access denied
errors when you try that as the guest account.

If that is the case that leads me to believe that some process, possibly
an
internet "protection" or spyware/malware program, is locking down the
guest
account and preventing your access to it even as administrator. If that
is
the case then booting into Safe Mode with networking may bypass such
restrictions. Otherwise if an application is doing such lockdown you will
need to logon as administrator and undo those restrictions if that is
what
is happening. You also could try using runas to run commands while logged
on
as guest to do ping and ipconfig /all which are needed to establish basic
network connectivity.

Having said all that again I do not recommend using the built in guest
account on your computers but instead create another user account that by
default will not be in the administrators group and use that account for
a
user that you want to use the computer without advanced privileges. Best
practice is to create a user account for each user that logs onto the
computer. Then each user will have their own profile that can customize
the
way they want and the security log will track logon/logoff activity of
the
users. You as administrator then can use NTFS permissions to specify
which
folders a user can access and which applications they can run.

My bottom line here is that normally the built in guest account when
enabled
is not restricted to network connectivity, further testing needs to be
done
to determine is basic network connectivity exists for guest account and
if
an application or process is interfering with normal access of the guess
account and administrator account but having said that I strongly
recommend
that you do not use the built in guest account [keep it disabled] but
instead create other user accounts that are not also administrators.

Steve

"seree" <seree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:BA3236F3-25EC-40C5-ABD6-C6C515ABC1D2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Good morning Steve, Thanks for responding. I only have a little time
this
morning. First, I am not a complete beginner. I am self taught via
books
from
Microsoft Press such as Windows XP Inside Out by Ed Bott and others,
other
books, Microsoft resourses, etc. The "Guest" account I am referring to
IS
the
Guest account, not a limited user account. I have a great Internet
Security
Suite--Panda, there is no Viruses, spyware or other malware on either
computer. I have not had time to ping in the Guest Account in my other
computer as yet, I can't in "MY" computers Guest Account due to the
"Access
Denied" situation. I am unable to do anything in that Guest account. I
was
woondering if the "Access Denied" may have something to do with the
Corel
photo program attempting to install in "My" Guest account. "MY"
referring
to
my computer, the other is my fiance's computer. Sorry if that was not
made
clear my having two computers both with problems with the Guest
Account.

I first enabled the Guest Account on my computer. It came up with the
access
denied, with the Corel Photo program attempting to install underneath.

Let me tell you a bit about these two computers. The are both XP
Pro-Actually Media Edition 2005. "Mine" is a Dell Dimension 5150, Intel
Pentium D 820-2.8 Ghz, 4 Gigs RAM, 300 SATA Hard drive, ATI video card,
Radean X600 256MB Hypermemory, six months old. The other computer is my
fiance's. It is a 3 month old HP Pavilion a1445n, Pentium D 820-2.8
Ghz, 1
Gig RAM, 200 Gig Hard drive with RAID, NVIDA G Force 62000SE
TurboCache
Video card 256 MB. We have a wireless network with the Belkin Pre-N
Router
and the corresponding Belkin Adapters. The Network has been functioning
fine
except for a few drops once in a while which I need to address with
Belkin
soon. That is a seperate issue. Just thought I would throw it in as it
does
cause problems occasionally and I thought I should mention it just in
case
you are aware of anything which it may relate to here that I don't
know. I
have configured the Router at 192.168.2.1 in the browser setup page. I
configured WPA-PSK-TKIP, set a good password at the setup page, changed
the
SSID. The Router has four built in ports, an access point, a built in
switch
and of course the firewall. I have an account for both my fiance and
myself
on both computers for the Network. I have a great Internet Security
Suite-Panda. The firewall in Panda is not compatable with the Belkin
WPA
so I
do not have it installed, using instead the hardware firewall and the
Windows
Firewall. Monthly I run the Microsoft Live Saftey Scan just to ensure
there
are not any malware which escaped Panda, nothing ever shows up, both
systems
are clean as a wistle. Panda updates every day and performs an
automatic
full
scan I configured on both computers. The Routrer has automatic DHCP IP
Address assigning. Niether of these computers have ever been on a
different
Network configuration. I hope this is enough infor for us to get to the
bottom of what is occurring.

Now, I wanted to activate the Guest account when my son came to visit.
Two
things occurred. An "access denied" message, and underneath this the
Corel
photo suite attempted to install. When I looked into the Event Viewer
it
showed several "warning" messages. The basics of these where the
Registry
had
not released my Admin Account from use for some odd reason and the
other
was
a problem with the Corel suite attempting to install, something about a
installation file missing. I checked the Device Manager to make sure
all
drivers where functioning correctly, no errors there. Looking through
some
of
the posts here I saw one where a poster who was having a simular
"access
denied" in the Guest Account was told that a certain software program
may
not
have the proper permissions to run in the Guest Account. So, I was
wondering
if the Corel photo program may have triggered this Access Denied on
"MY'
Guest Account.

To check if the situation duplicated itself on my Network I enabled the
Guest account on my other computer. It enabled just fine but does not
have
any Internet Connectivity. The Icon for our Network does not appear in
the
Notification Area, bringing up the Network connections via the control
panel
just has an empty box. Clicking on IE just gives the "page can not be
displayed" error message. I don't understand why the Guest account does
not
have any Connectivity. Ok, now I hope I have given enough information.
If
you
need more let me know. I am off to school. No, I am not a kid, an adult
with
an empty nest after raising eight children (biological and adopted) as
a
widow and am now remarrying and going back to school to finish my B.S.
in
Phychology of Behavorail Science, with two years to go. Thanks so much
for
your response to this problem I am experiancing. Oh, I am self taught
with
computers. Some college courses but mostly via books like Winddows XP
Inside
Out by Ed Bott and others, Windows XP Pro, other Microsoft Press books,
books
by other author's who came highly reccommended, the Microsoft websites,
etc.
I am not a beginner, not yet intermediate but coming up on it. I do not
know
much about servers. Again, thanks for all your assistance. Seree


--
seree


"Steven L Umbach" wrote:

OK. Are you talking about the built in guest account or just another
user
account. Some refer to any other account as to guest which makes
things
confusing. As the administrator can you create another user account
and
logon with that account, which will create a new user profile, and
access
the internet from that user account? I don't know if it is related to
your
problem but since you mention registry related problems for the
administrator account you may want to install the User Profile Hive
Cleanup
Service on your computer. If you can create another user account that
is
not
in the administrators group and access the internet with it then there
is
something wrong with the user profile for the user account in question
you
call guest and you will want to scan the computer for malware and
spyware.
AdAware SE is free and works well for spyware if you do not have a
spyware
detection and removal program. For the "guest" account be sure to
check
IE
properties and go to connections to make sure it is set the same as
your
user account and run the command ipconfig /all to see what it shows
compared
to your user account and try to ping the default gateway IP to see if
that
works or not. What exactly do you mean by My guest account keeps up
with
the
Access Denied??

Steve

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en


"seree" <seree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8C61986C-FF9E-489B-AABF-22BA90BF7C04@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Steve, yes I am absolutely sure I am using an administrator account.
I
did
use the command prompt to make sure there had not been an error, but
I
have
been using this account a long time and am sure what it is. I wrote
in
the
post below this one as well in answer to the fellow having a problem
with
the
internet access with the guest account. I need to let you know that
so
we
don't go back and forth now between these two posts. My fiance had
been
using
dialup, I configured a wireless network with a Linksys Router (yes,
I
know
the difference between dialup and a router a hub a hub w/swith, a
router
w/switch is the norm) then changed to a Belkin Router about six
months
ago
and it has been functioning very well. I configured WPA, changed the
SSID,
configured it all at the browser setup page located at 192.168.2.1
which
is
the address for the Belkin Routers. I also put in a good password.
Now,
the
guest account I enabled on my fiance's comptuer is up and running
without
any
problem except for no internet connection. There is not any icon
down
in
the
notification area, I can't access the network connections via the
guest
account to see what is up with this and clicking IE result is an
"page
can
not be displayed" message. My guest account keeps up with the Access
Denied.
I checked the event viewer and there were several entries sugesting
the
registry would not let my Admin account lose for some reason. I
tried
accessing the link in help without any luck, have looked this up in
my
Windows XP Inside Out as well as other books without any success as
well.
There should not be any reason for either the access denied nor the
lack
of
internet connectivity problems yet there you have it. When I switch
back
to
my admin account everything works fine there. Thanks, Seree
--
seree


"Steven L Umbach" wrote:

Are you sure you are using an administrator account and did you
verify
it
with the command I recommended? You can also run the command net
user
username using the actual username for your account to see if it
shows
that
it is a member of the administrators group under local group
memberships.
Below is the output you should see. Also why do you need to enable
the
guest
account?? You can also create other user accounts for other user
that
you
want to be able to logon to your computer.

Steve


D:\WINDOWS\system32>net user steve
User name Steve
Full Name
Comment
User's comment
Country code 000 (System Default)
Account active Yes
Account expires Never

Password last set 7/26/2006 11:16 AM
Password expires Never
Password changeable 7/26/2006 11:16 AM
Password required Yes
User may change password Yes

Workstations allowed All
Logon script
User profile
Home directory
Last logon 8/23/2006 3:42 PM

Logon hours allowed All

Local Group Memberships *Administrators *Network
Configuration
*Users
Global Group memberships *None
The command completed successfully.


.

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