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Admin v/s User

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Old 2nd May 2007, 16:13
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Admin v/s User

For the longest time I was using Administrator mode in Windows XP by default. So one day I decide to create a new user so that if I do some day get whacked by a nasty, I won't be badly hurt. And also prevent my parents from unwittingly sending the system haywire.

Now I have two problems. First, the printer. Works well in Admin mode but in user mode it sits out blank pages. This is an HP 3550 deskjet that goes in via USB.

Secondly, when I insert a USB Flash drive into any of the ports in user mode I get a message "Please insert a disk into the drive". I try the same in Admin mode and it works flawlessly.

I assume the problem is USB privileges for the average user. I have tried hunting for a fix to no avail, not even on the MS site.

Please note, as much as I would love to switch to Linux (or worse, Macs!), I can't. So if anyone wants to give that advice, don't bother.
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Old 3rd May 2007, 05:23
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You should be able to reset the user privileges to permit the other account to do printing and disk management via Control Panel, when logged in as an Administrator.
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Old 3rd May 2007, 06:15
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I tried, but when I get into "User Management" via the control panel all it allows me to do is either change the user to admin mode or maintain status quo.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, can you give me a detailed walk-through?
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Old 3rd May 2007, 11:55
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I assume that you are using XP Home?

I have 3 plain user accounts on XP pro, all of which can access USB drives and print without problems. This is as it should be.

Which leads me to suspect that your problems are either of your own making or unique to XP Home (unlikely).

In general, one should use the actual "Administrator" account to install devices and software that will be used by all users. Using a named account with admin rights does not always produce the desired results.

You can try making all users admins temporarily, then re-installing printer(s) and accessing USB devices. Then take them out of admins group and see if they work.

As I said before, this SHOULD NOT be necessary with a standard XP installation.

SD
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Old 3rd May 2007, 17:15
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Seeing as your administrators account is probable setup the way you like it then i would suggest you create another administrators account with a strong password and then chance your current acount to a Limited user account.

This is something a lot of people are unaware of is there is an administrators account hidden and is only accessable in Safe mode, Make sure this account also has a strong password on it as well.

The biggest problem with limited user accounts a lot of programs will not run correctly as they need to have read/write privilages to work properly. which they don't have with a limited user account.
Allen
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Old 3rd May 2007, 17:23
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Saab - it *was* the original Admin account that I tried, not a user set as admin.

born2fly - my current account *is* a limited user account, and that is where I'm having trouble.

edit: XP Professional, not Home.
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Old 3rd May 2007, 17:42
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Is the Limited user account that is causing the problem a new account you created or you administrators account changed to a limited user account?

If it is the former then i suggest you
1/ delete the limited user account you are having trouble with.
2/ Change your admistrators account that is working ok to a limited user account.
3/ Create a new administrators account so as to be able to install/uninstall programs.

And see if that works ok

born2fly
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Old 7th May 2007, 09:12
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The trouble is that many/most applications won't run [properly] unless installed and run under full admin privileges.
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Old 30th May 2007, 19:30
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ok, an update:

Muchas gracias, folks, but I figured out (sort of) the troubles:

1. The USB drives now work. I made the regular user a "Power User" and also after a bit of hunting through the Security settings and stuff for user privileges, I found some that said "Formattind and removing removable media" or summat was allowed only for Admins. I've modded that to Power Users too, and voila!

2. The printer thing seems to be more an HP driver issue with Win XP Service Packs 1 & 2. For SP2 the solution is simple, you fiddle around with the Data Execution Prevention thing and everyone says it works. However I have SP1 - DEP came about only with SP2 - and there seems to be no fix. So short of getting hold of Service Pack 2 (*cough*not easy...ideas?*cough*) I can't print anything in regular user mode. So all printing work is now bunched together and when the time comes we log off and on and print en masse.
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Old 30th May 2007, 22:28
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getting hold of Service Pack 2
Isn't this downloadable from the MS website?
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Old 30th May 2007, 22:30
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The printer thing seems to be more an HP driver issue
Yes, any problems with HP gear on Windows it's 100:1 on that the HP software is the problem.

The trouble with HP seems to be that they seem to think they know better than Microsoft, so instead of coding standard drivers to standard interfaces, which would actually work, they stick in entire custom subsystems of their own, hooked into the operating system in random dirty ways.

So, the teeniest change to undocumented bits of the guts of the operating system and it stops working.

I don't buy HP gear any more because their software is just too much trouble.
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Old 31st May 2007, 08:37
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fly by wife - well....

Gertrude - That sucks. If it's true on a large scale (and I have no reason not to believe you) it looks like I will have to try an alternate brand the next time. The thing is, are other brands less stupid?

Their ink is also exorbitant, but so were the other two brands (Canon and Epson) when we bought this one. I don't know about now, especially with Samsung's entry into the market. Hope that by the time I really need to replace the printer, things have changed, but I'm not holding my breath.
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