Vista - Migrating Desktop items to new User Account

Hello. I have never used separate profiles or user accounts at home. Never had to set them up. Since I bough my computer, I have been using Vista only through the Admin account. I now want to set up a user account for the kids for parental control and to get their stuff OFF my desktop.

I created the new account no problem. I expected to have either 1) a clean desktop with minimal icons or 2) a near copy of the admin destop. Instead I have something in between. Why do some of the shortcuts appear in the 2nd user account and not others? Only some of their games have made it over.

How should I properly migrate common, shared programs?

I have installed each and every program the same way: in Admin with the default path in the install program (with some deviations).

How should I be installing programs in the future, particularly programs that the kids (public) will access?

Can you recommend a good book/manual for account management in Vista?

Thanks,
Robert

OK, maybe that was too confusing or maybe it's so simple, no one wants to tackle it. I'll try it another way.

How does Vista handle program installations under the Admin account profile in terms of access and restrictions? I can't figure out why the Catz and Dogz icons appear on the new desktop, but the LegoLandDesigner is not there.

When I create a new profile/account, what do I have to do to allow the users of the new profile access to certain programs?

Similarly, how do I restrict the new users from certain programs and disk areas?

Thanks,
Rob

When you install software, it puts desktop and/or start menu icons either in
Public or Administrator folders:

C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop
C:\Users\Public\Desktop
C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Users can generally run a program if they have an icon for it.
So, if a program creates an icon on the Admin desktop, you can copy (or
move) the icon to the user desktop.

Similarly for the Public,Admin,User Start Menus.
You can move/copy shortcuts beween them.

Normal users cannot install software unless you enter the admin password
during the installation, when requested.

Therefore, just add or remove the appropriate shortcuts/icons for your
normal user's logon.

Nigel S.

"RHamper" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:c53d5c8b4c025596ec74262593b85206@xxxxxx-gateway.com...

Thanks for the reply Nigel. I don't have : C:\Users\Public\Desktop. The only folders under Public are for things like: Public Documents; Public Downloads; Public Music and so forth. No Desktop, Start Menu or Apps folders like I've seen in XP (and keep in mind I'm no frequent user of account folders).

The only Desktop folders I have under users are for the base Admin account and for the one I created 'Boyz'. But there is nothing in any of the folders for the latter (Boyz) account. Presumably, until I copy shortcuts in, they will stay empty. Yet I still have shortcuts for some of their games when I log into Boyz.

Actually, my "Admin" folder does not even say Admin, it has the user name of given to it on initial commissioning. (I've tried to post screenshots, but I can't seem to embed them in the post.)

C:\Users\Robert\AppData and
C:\Users\Robert\Desktop would be my base level accounts.

And when I open Computer; I have the Desktop at the top of the tree with subfolders as I've found under C:\Users.

It looks like this:
Desktop
> Robert
> Public
> Computer
>>A:\
>>C:\
>>>(Various Folders)
>>>Users
>>>>Boyz
>>>>Public
>>>>Robert

I presume that 'Robert' (Admin) at the top of the tree was lifted from C:\Users\Robert for easier access.

Rob

Just checked the Properties for one of the shortcuts common to both accounts and the path is C:\Users\Public\Desktop. So this makes sense. But why can't I see this path in Explorer?

To really get want you want and will work best for you. What you really
want is for each person to have their own computer, yourself, kid#1, kid#2,
kid#3, The Wife/ husband,
etc. etc. (but we only have one computer) So in this scenario we have 5
people who all wish to have their
own computer. All five would like to have their own email account, and
personalize their own use/work environment for the things and task, games
each
would like to have (unique settings and preferences). Further none of you
want your computer to be compromised by the mistakes that any one user may
make by changing things that will effect the operating system or others
personal files . You can accomplish this using Vista. I will assume your
machine is up to date,running normal,
and virus/spyware/malware free.

To get started using the above scenario You create _4_ accounts of the
_type_ *Standard User*, from your current admin account. Just give each a
name like kidsA, kidsB, kidsC, mylovingwife/ husband and create account.
You don't need to password protect when creating. Now each user can give
their own computer/account a name they prefer and a secret password that
only they know, keeping other people from using or messing with their
computer/account that does not have permission to do so. Best when naming
an account to use No spaces in the name.

That leave you the fifth person in the above scenario to deal with and you
need to make some changes.
From your current admin account you will create 2 more accounts of the type,
administrator. You create these two admin accounts give them a name and
create. Now you go to these two new admin accounts and give each a strong
password that only you know and that no one else could guess at, to
access,(like the dogs name). You need to remember them of course. You now
logoff of these two new admin accounts. Log in to your original Admin
account and change the type account to Standard User. If the kids or anyone
else knew your password to the now old admin account that you have now
changed to Standard user account and you don't want them using/accessing
your computer/account, change the Password for that account. Make sure that
you and the
other users create password reset disk before you are they forget the
passwords that they created. Be sure you secure these password reset disk,
because anyone that gets their hands on them can access the account (s).

You have now in effect created 5 computers for 5 people. Plus and in case
the person you appoint as administrator is not as sharp as you thought they
were you have two more computers/ admin accounts. One of the new admin
accounts is just a spare and not to be used until the day comes when you
find out the person you appointed as administrator has made some changes
they
should not have or were guessing at. When it is necessary to use an admin
account use and designate only one of the admin accounts for that purpose
and stay away out of the spare admin account, it is only for emergences.
You
because you know the admin password (s) can do almost everything you need to
from your standard user account, because you can elevate you privileges in
that account when you need to. The system will let you know when you may
have to logon to the admin account to deal with an area of the system that
only can be accessed through an admin account.

Now all that you need to do is have the administrator move the shortcuts to
programs that are not already on the new accounts you set up and delete the
short cuts you don't want in your own standard user account. You can
restrict who can use what programs. Most of this if not all you can do from
your standard user account. As the admin you can setup the parental control
as you wish. You can and should restrict how mush Hard drive space each
user can use. You could come home one day and find out, your out of disk
space because one of your kids down loaded 200 GB of your favorite songs for
your birthday surprise.

You can find all the directions for almost anything you need or want to do
in the Vista Help and Support files. The best way to find find any
particular info is to use the search box at the top of the help and support
window just using keywords or phrases ,like, create user account or Create a
password reset disk, parental control. Some changes like the quota for disk
space you can go through the properties of the disk from computer.

This in effect and if your using UAC will give each of you your own computer
that no one standard user can mess up other than their own. With one
exception being
the administrator. That's why you have the extra admin account in case you
mess up and
of course there is still the real hidden Administrator account you hope you
never have to use.

Couple of notes: Train yourself and the others to never use the switch user
and that they close
all application/programs they were using before they log off. Its a good
idea to have each user including
your self to set up screen safer with a short time to activate when in
active and require logon, (On resume display logon
screen.) This way if a user is in the middle of something and has to step
away and if the time set on screen saver is short
enough no one can jump in and start using that account, set the times very
short, each person or account has to set that up.
You may need to learn something's and understand others, but take it slow
and read carefully its not difficult and the kids will need to learn some
new things too, rules among others. Keep all the defaults set in Vista as it
pertains to Security, unless you have very good reasons not to.

H Brown



"RHamper" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:00089e0e2981c6ec2c877ca7186a1358@xxxxxx-gateway.com...

What has this to do with Rob's problem?

Nigel Steinberg
MCP / MCTS Configuring Windows Vista

"H Brown" <H.Brown@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Oo7IEBSxJHA.5100@xxxxxx

Hi Nigel
You were point blank to a solution that would allow the OP to hopefully, not
only get done what he wanted and also gave him the information as to how
things work. Your information is correct. The information I gave in no way
contradicted your advise. Knowing that If the OP used your information he
would have a handle on and better understand what was going. The
information I posted is Appendix A to your information. Appendix A gives the
OP the way to fully manage and avoid a like situation/problem arising in the
future, practically those that he is likely to encounter in a multiple user
environment. It also will go a long way in avoiding compromising his System
as well.
(As a matter of fact your information will be even more beneficial to the OP
when/should he choose to follow/apply the information of/in my thread)

(Your View) You saw a _problem_ now and offered a fix with explanations.
(My View) I saw _problems_ coming and offered away to avoid a repeat of the
problem that you had to spend your time fixing and explaining.

Thanks for your question, Nigel.
H Brown



So "What has this to do with Rob's problem?

"Nigel Steinberg" <nigel.steinberg-at-hotmail.co.uk> wrote in message
news7DAE602-732B-46D8-A120-D99BC9A2D115@xxxxxx

Thanks for all the assistance so far. I appreciate the effort.

I really only need two or three accounts. The boys are 7 & 5 and aren't nearly savvy enough to do any damage or do things they aren't supposed to. I want an account for them to clear my desktop and, more importantly, protect them from unsavory games and Internet sites.

My wife has little interest in the computer outside of e-mail and a few websites. For now, the Admin account I use is good enough for her. But, I can see the wisdom of giving her (or us) a different account to prevent any accidents. So, thanks H. Brown for that.

My problem is not creating the accounts. I've done that. The problem is tracing all the permissions and where everything goes. It's already evident that there are folders I'm not seeing:

"I don't have : C:\Users\Public\Desktop"
"Just checked the Properties for one of the shortcuts common to both accounts and the path is C:\Users\Public\Desktop."

Why can't I see this path under Computer?

I'm just not used to working with profiles and accounts. I've never really need to do it. I've done it at work (XP system) to straighten out some problems but Vista seems to do it a little bit differently. Why can't I see the C:\Users\Public\Desktop when I am the Admin??

For that matter, when I download a file from my e-mail account, why can't I download it to any folder I want. Instead I have to download to one of the User subfolders (usually \Downloads) and then cut and paste to the folder I need it in. Very annoying. But that's a digression.

Is there anyway to post a screenshot here so I can show you what I have and you could point out where things should be?

And here's a question. Roaming. Isn't that a copy of my own Desktop and preferences so that I can log on to any computer on the Network (that I've been given permission for ) and be able to work with my own files?

Rob

Hi Robert
Keep in mind in the directions that follow we are dealing with
shortcut/files/folders that you want to see on other users accounts that
will give those users shortcuts to open the programs you wish them to be
able to use. After that you will be able to delete the stuff from your admin
desk top that you don't want to see. This will also have to be done from
the admin account you have been using all this time.

I do believe the easiest way for you to get things arranged will be to logon
to your admin account, open Computer, your now in a windows explorer window.
You will see a folder pane on the left side. If all you are seeing in pane
is your Favorite Links, then at the bottom of the pane you will see the word
Folders with a up tick. Click on Folders to expand if it is not already
expanded. Once it is expanded you will see a the folders and drives and
such. Not knowing your setup, I will have to assume that everything you
need to get to is on your C drive, which you should see in the folder pane.
When you hover you mouse over the C folder Click on the little > arrow next
(C and that will expand where you can see more icons of more folders. As
you look down the list you will find a folder "Users" click the Users
folder. Now this will expand showing a separate folder for each user
account that YOU have setup on your computer. Now all you have to do is
expand each user by hover click the little > arrow to expand them so you can
see all the personal folders for each user. You should see the 11
blue/green folders for each user. By hovering you mouse over any of these
folders you will see the little > arrow if in fact any subfolders have been
created in any of these folders. This way you will be able to drag drop,
keeping in mind if weather you want to copy or move, since your dealing with
multiple accounts don't move until its the last account that you can then
move things to. Now that each user account is showing in the folder pane.
Notice we only expanded those folders we did not open them.

At this point you look up in the folder pane and find the Desktop folder for
your admin account and double click to open and now in the main window of
Windows Explore you will see everything you have on your admin account
Desktop all the shortcuts and any subfolders you have created. You can all
so still see in the folder pane each Desktop folder for each User. You have
already opened your admin desktop so you see everything on it in the main
window. You can use any View that works best for you, I use the Detail
View. Now by selecting the items you want to move to a Standard user
account (name) drag and drop to the desktop of that user. You can select
using Ctrl+click to drag and drop multiple shortcuts so you don't have to do
them one at a time. You will complete this operation for each user one at a
time. That why you don't want to move those shortcuts you want to have them
copied to each user desktop folder at least until your working with the last
user account and you want it to also disappear off your desktop. You can do
this for each folder in your admin account that has files you want them to
have in their folders. As e.g. you may have in your admin account Favorites
folder shortcuts that a user will need or want in their Favorites, Contacts,
Pictures, Music etc. etc.

Once you have gotten all the files and folders moved or copied to each user
account, in your admin account there still may be shortcuts on your start
menu to programs that you need to get to the other user accounts so they can
open a program that did not have a shortcut on the desktop that you copied
before. In that case in your admin account open your start menu and create
a shortcut on your desktop for each one you want to include in another user
account, then go back into Computer, windows explorer and drag and drop as
you did before for the programs you wish that user to have and be able to
use. When you get everything copied or moved, I say move here because once
you are dealing with the last account during your drag and drop operation
you can do a move for those you want off your admin desktop or other files
from some of your other folders. Also when I say shortcuts to programs I am
only talking about programs you have installed NOT the ones that ship with
Vista.

Because and since you have installed all the programs using your admin
account when you created a standard user account the shortcuts to those
programs could already be included on the other users desktop and or start
menu all program. Other may not have, because during the installing of
some/many programs you choose to install for all users if that program
offers that option. Many older programs do not offer that option. You will
need to login to each user account to get those programs shortcuts you
copied from before to their start menu if that's want you want or leave them
as short cuts on the desk top. Or you could sit down with each user and
teach them how to do this. The main thing here is to delete the shortcuts to
programs you don't want them to open and use.
Any programs that you installed on your account and that open and run with
out having to answer any UAC prompt should work the same for each user as
well. If you do have programs on your admin account that in order to open
and run/use you are having to answer any UCA prompt then so will the other
users. If that happens I don't think you want standard users having your
admin password so they can run them. There are ways to to keep that from
occuring but that's a subject for a different post should you not be able to
find the info required to keep the user from have to answer a UAC prompt
when trying to use a piece of software you installed. While your in those
user accounts give them a spin around the block to see if everything is
working and that everything is was included and where you wanted it to be.

Notice you don't have to deal with the paths because its not necessary for
doing what you are wanting to do. Once you are satisfied you got everything
moved around go back to your admin account and clean up / delete the
shortcuts/ files / folders that you don't want in your admin account being
sure you got those things that other will want in their user account be fore
you delete any files or folders, shortcuts can be replaced. I will stop and
say here again you should setup another admin account (read my previous
threads) then change the old admin account you have been using all this time
to the Type Standard User use it for your day to day computing activities
and only use the admin account when necessary. I have not said anything
about the Public folder that each user account has access to simply because
I think you don't at this time need to use it. As you, or any user creates
files or folders that they wish to make Public each should do that from
their on accounts. When the public folder is used it is a copy of what's
already on your hard drive, IMO that if there is a file or folder an other
user needs access to, move or copy that file/folder to the user account in
question. It make it a little easier to get to. I am not saying not to use
the public folder but before you do, bone up on using the Public folder by
opening your start menu, open Help and Support and in the search bar at the
top type in "Sharing files with the Public folder ".

If nothing else setting up an account for each person that is allowed to use
your computer will keep everything for each user a little easier to find and
use with out having to wade through 4 our peoples stuff to find it.

H Brown







RHamper" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:a374da56eb77b3a40982abcdfcf32a1b@xxxxxx-gateway.com...