(SOLVED) Adminstrative help...

[ardvark71]

Re: Adminstrative help...

Most of those settings are done through REGEDIT and/or POLEDIT (either old style POLEDIT or MMC Policy Editor) and if you don't know exactly which entries were altered it will be very difficult to repair. They would still have to have an Administrative account to do this and if they were any reputable firm that set this up I can guarantee you they do not have it as Administrator and that account is locked down as well. After that I can say they probably also removed it's profile name to keep miscreants from trying to find that out. I'm afraid without those pieces and what Registry entries were set your only option is to rebuild. If this isn't for any proprietary purpose and offers no other benefit to tenants other than restricted Internet then I would strongly recommend switching over to a Linux system kiosk.

Hi guys...

Yeah, to be honest, what you are describing is a "bit" more than what I am willing to do for free for a business entity, if going through the registry and undoing all the entries would be possible in this case, as Moonrise has described. This is Windows XP Home, not Professional, so there would be no Group Policy editing, at least legally. And I really doubt I would have the approval of the manager and owner to go so far as to remove the protections they sought by having it set up this way.

However, installing Linux is a possibility that I can broach with them, although I would need step by step instructions on installing it in kiosk mode and that it would need to work flawlessy with the wireless card (from Netgear, the chipset is from the Marvell Corporation. I forgot what the model number is but lspci gave its code name as "libertas,") and the router. I would need assurances myself of this before I would try to sell the idea to them. Are there any programs or ways to configure the OS or Opera to block out pornography?

I really appreciate everyone's help, you have given me a much greater understanding of a mode that until now, I didn't know even existed in this format or way.

Regards...

[woodsmoke]

Re: Adminstrative help...

I'll still advocate using Kannotix or Knoppix to see if you can find the appropriate files and just delete them.

woodsmoke

[ardvark71]

Re: Adminstrative help...

I'll still advocate using Kannotix or Knoppix to see if you can find the appropriate files and just delete them.

Thank you, woodsmoke, but I've already taken the system back and explained to her some options. We'll see what happens.

Regards...

[wizard10000]

Re: Adminstrative help...

Simple to repair but you'll need the password to the built-in administrator account.

I used to be a Microsoft MVP - one of my fellow MVPs wrote a utility that should reverse some or all of what's been locked down -

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

This thing can be run from a thumb drive - but you'll still need to be logged on with the local admin account.

[ardvark71]

Re: Adminstrative help...

Simple to repair but you'll need the password to the built-in administrator account.

I used to be a Microsoft MVP - one of my fellow MVPs wrote a utility that should reverse some or all of what's been locked down -

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

This thing can be run from a thumb drive - but you'll still need to be logged on with the local admin account.

Hi...

Thank you you so much for the link!

The only problem is that there does not appear to be an administrative account to try and log into.

Regards...

[wizard10000]

Re: Adminstrative help...

There is.

At the welcome screen hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete twice and a standard Windows login box will appear. Unless it's been changed the username is Administrator but you'll have to get the password from the person who set up the machine. You can try a blank password, which may or may not be successful.

[ardvark71]

Re: Adminstrative help...

There is.

At the welcome screen hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete twice and a standard Windows login box will appear. Unless it's been changed the username is Administrator but you'll have to get the password from the person who set up the machine. You can try a blank password, which may or may not be successful.

Hi...

Doesn't seem to be working, it just logs straight into the user account.

Regards...

[wizard10000]

Re: Adminstrative help...

Then log off. You'll get a welcome screen then

[ardvark71]

Re: Adminstrative help...

Then log off. You'll get a welcome screen then

Hi...

Let me explain this better. I get a moment's welcome screen as the OS is automatically logging into the user account. Hitting ctrl+alt+delete at the welcome screen only brings up the task manager after the desktop comes up. If I try to log off, the user account just loads up again.

Regards...

[wizard10000]

Re: Adminstrative help...

Hi...

Let me explain this better. I get a moment's welcome screen as the OS is automatically logging into the user account. Hitting ctrl+alt+delete at the welcome screen only brings up the task manager after the desktop comes up. If I try to log off, the user account just loads up again.

Regards...

Create a second user account. *Then* you should get a welcome screen

[ardvark71]

Re: Adminstrative help...

Create a second user account. *Then* you should get a welcome screen

There is no icon to access user accounts in the control panel and the run box has been disabled. I wouldn't know how to access it otherwise.

Regards...

[wizard10000]

Re: Adminstrative help...

If you can get to it in control panel you can edit the current user account to force the welcome screen. There's a tickbox in there to show the welcome screen.

[ardvark71]

Re: Adminstrative help...

If you can get to it in control panel you can edit the current user account to force the welcome screen. There's a tickbox in there to show the welcome screen.

I can get to the control panel but there is no icon for user accounts. I am also able to bring up the task manager. In regular mode, it shows no account whatsoever. In safe mode, it shows the name of the one account I am logged into. This is the most I can do. I guess I don't understand what you mean or how to get there.

Regards...

[wizard10000]

Re: Adminstrative help...

I can get to the control panel but there is no icon for user accounts. I am also able to bring up the task manager. In regular mode, it shows no account whatsoever. In safe mode, it shows the name of the one account I am logged into. This is the most I can do. I guess I don't understand what you mean or how to get there.

Regards...

Okay, let's see how smart the guy was who locked down the system

Hit Win+R (Win is the Windows key between the left side Ctrl and Alt keys). In the run box that appears, type

control userpasswords2

You should be able to either enable the welcome screen or add a second user account there.

cheers -

[ardvark71]

Re: Adminstrative help...

Hi again...

Thank you, I'll try that here in a second. I'm having to walk back and forth to the office area where the computer is located.

Win+R is disabled, however, I just glanced through the thread again and noticed Telengard's post about how he thought there was a run option in the task manager box. That does work so I tried regedit and msconfig, both of which were denied although with two different messages.

Regards...