Prevent administrators from changing settings?

[Frank4d]

I currently have a family PC running XP Home with six users. All are administrator accounts because I find the restricted account option is too restricted. I want users to be able to install, delete, and run their applications without asking dad for help.

But I want to prevent my 9 and 13 year old boys from intentionally changing each other's password or intentionally deleting each other's accounts (yeah it's great fun).

Is there a way to to do this with XP Home? Or do I have to install XP Pro?

 

[gpalmer711]

To be honest there is no easy way of doing this on any operating system if all accounts are administrator accounts.

The following may provide you with what you are looking for

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[Frank4d]

I'll give it a try. It looks like I can hide My Computer, disable Regedit, Run, the Command Prompt, and Control Panel on a per user basis. That might be enough to slow them down.

 

[meastaugh1]

It might be worth trying these users members of the Power Users group, rather than the Restricted. Run:
control userpasswords2

Go to the properties of one of your users, select the group membership tab, then select Standard user.

I think a power user still gives you the right to manage local user accounts, so that probably doesn't help.

 

[gpalmer711]

Using XP Pro there is a way that you can set Group Policy settings but exclude a specific user.

With XP home - i'm not sure of any other way.

If you click on Start > Run > Type (Without quotes) "control userpasswords2" > Click on OK - Does anything come up? If so you may be able to reduce the other accounts down to Power user level.

One other thought is using the NTFS permissions to restrict the other accounts access to the control panel applets. That can be done through Safe Mode.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[linney]

It really can't be recommended the way you have your users set up and will surely lead to a troublesome computer experience. However it is your computer and your right to do as you please.

What may help you a little more is if you convert your file system to NTFS (if it isn't already) and then via Safe Mode XP Home will give you access to the Security tab and File Permissions, where you can deny access to folders and files based on a username.

You can also amend XP Home to show the Security tab in Normal Mode if you want.

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_home_sectab.htm

307881 - HOW TO: Convert a FAT16 or FAT32 Volume to NTFS in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307881&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH