User accounts and Start Menu
M
I'm a little confused about the XP start menu.
I have my own user account, administrator account, an all users account and
also an allusers.WINDOWS account. I did have another 'personal' account
appended with .WINDOWS but I copied files/settings/documents across to my
original 'personal' account and deleted the new one. The ones appended
.WINDOWS were created when I was first setting up my system hastily and I
installed XP twice ... DOH!
Now, simple question I hope ... I have four start menu folders, one for
each of the above users. Is it simply a question of copying/cutting/pasting
shortcuts and folders backwards and forwards between the different start
menu folders until I get it the way I want it, or is there something more
complex I need to do?
I'm the only user so I don't need to have limited access for others. I just
want all the start menu programs the way I used to have on Windows Me -
i.e. a folder for Internet related programs, a folder for graphics apps
etc. etc. Once I've done that I can then just delete the whole all
users.WINDOWS user account? I'm a little scared of screwing things up.
Thanks for any advice.
Thorsten Matzner
>I have my own user account, administrator account, an all users account and
>also an allusers.WINDOWS account. I did have another 'personal' account
>appended with .WINDOWS but I copied files/settings/documents across to my
>original 'personal' account and deleted the new one. The ones appended
>.WINDOWS were created when I was first setting up my system hastily and I
>installed XP twice ... DOH!
>
>Now, simple question I hope ... I have four start menu folders, one for
>each of the above users. Is it simply a question of copying/cutting/pasting
>shortcuts and folders backwards and forwards between the different start
>menu folders until I get it the way I want it, or is there something more
>complex I need to do?
You can simply merge all the shortcuts in ALL USERS\START MENU.
>I'm the only user so I don't need to have limited access for others. I just
>want all the start menu programs the way I used to have on Windows Me -
>i.e. a folder for Internet related programs, a folder for graphics apps
>etc. etc. Once I've done that I can then just delete the whole all
>users.WINDOWS user account? I'm a little scared of screwing things up.
You should not delete the default folders. These are: an ALL USERS
folder, your own profile folder and the DEFAULT USER folder. Try to
find out if the .WINDOWS folders currently are in use (f. e. check if
they contain the current MY DOCUMENTS folder). If so, you can delete
the duplicate folders that do not have this .WINDOWS extension from
the Safe Mode (and vice versa).
"A Description of the Safe Boot Mode Options in Windows XP"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315222)
--
(tm)
M
in news:Xns9350AF8B1C64...@207.46.248.16 on Tue, 01 Apr
2003 16:15:24 GMT:
[snip own ramblings]
I've done some more digging and now I'm more confused than ever.
In another thread going back to November 02, Kent W. England [MVP] said to
find out which profiles are currently being used to use regedit and find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\DefaultUserProfile shows you where the
current Default User profile template is located.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\AllUsersProfile shows you where the
current All Users profile is located.
In there I have:
S-1-5-18 (profile image path = %systemroot%\system32\config\systemprofile)
S-1-5-19 (%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\LocalService.NT AUTHORITY)
S-1-5-19 (%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\NetworkService.NT
AUTHORITY)
S-1-5-21 then a whole string of numbers (%SystemDrive%\Documents and
Settings\ms) < my 'own account'
S-1-5-21 then a whole string of numbers (%SystemDrive%\Documents and
Settings\Administrator)
No owner, no all users, no default, just those.
In documents and setttings I've got my own user account, administrator
account, an all users account and also an allusers.WINDOWS account.
Don't know where the default and owner details are that I keep seeing
mentioned. If I'm logged in as 'ms' and go to Start > Log Off then Switch
User there's only my own 'ms' and 'guest' users there. 'ms' is shown as
"computer adminstrator" but there isn't a separate Administrator.
So it looks like my original request (confirmation that I can just
copy/paste shortcuts and folders between various Start Menu folders) has
grown into "what the heck's going on and what do I need to do now?"....
Do I need to recreate an 'administrator' account, bearing in mind there's
an administrator account in Documents and Settings?
Sorry this is so long-winded, I'm really confused now! Apart from all this
the system seems to be running OK....
Thanks in advance for any advice.
--
m@rko
M
news:eiZLyaH#CHA....@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl on Tue, 01 Apr 2003 17:46:56
GMT:
Hello Thorsten,
Thanks for the reply. Before your reply appeared on my ISP's mail server
I'd 'replied' to my OP with more details (including the fact that I don't
have a DEFAULT USER (as far as I know).
I you (or someone else) would be so kind as to take a look I'd be
grateful.
Thanks again.
--
m@rko
Thorsten Matzner
>Thanks for the reply. Before your reply appeared on my ISP's mail server
>I'd 'replied' to my OP with more details (including the fact that I don't
>have a DEFAULT USER (as far as I know).
At a DOS prompt type
SET
and press ENTER
Check what is listed for
allusersprofile
userprofile
Those are the folders that are currently in use. You can delete the
other folders from the Safe Mode. If no DEFAULT USER folder appears
under DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS this does not indicate a problem as you
are not going to use the multi-user environment of Windows XP.
--
(tm)
M
GMT:
Thanks Thorsten. userprofile is ms (me, which is fine) and allusersprofile
is all users.WINDOWS.
Should I leave it at that (and delete the all users folder), or copy the
documents/settings from all users.WINDOWS to the all users account then
delete the .WINDOWS one? Does it make any difference which all users
account I keep (just the fact that the current one has the .WINDOWS
'extension' makes me think it could cause problems at some point? Maybe I'm
just being paranoid, but I just want to avoid any possible future problems.
Your help is very much appreciated.
--
m@rko
Thorsten Matzner
>Should I leave it at that (and delete the all users folder), or copy the
>documents/settings from all users.WINDOWS to the all users account then
>delete the .WINDOWS one?
No. But you may want to check the ALL USERS folder for data that you
want to keep and copy this over to ALL USERS.WINDOWS. Then you can
delete the ALL USERS folder.
>Does it make any difference which all users
>account I keep (just the fact that the current one has the .WINDOWS
>'extension' makes me think it could cause problems at some point? Maybe I'm
>just being paranoid, but I just want to avoid any possible future problems.
There is no problem with this. You should keep the folders that are in
use currently. You can delete any duplicates of these folders, which
are still there but no longer used.
--
(tm)
M
GMT:
Many thanks for all your help Thorsten. No further questions (right now) ;)
--
m@rko
Thorsten Matzner
>Many thanks for all your help Thorsten. No further questions (right now) ;)
You are welcome.
--
(tm)