XP Security Issue?

So I have been reinstalling XP on an old Dell C640 laptop. After installing, I went into the XP Tips and Tweaks section (in the sticky thread) and performed most of the tweaks.

I'm not sure if one of those tweaks would have cause this issue, but what I'm getting now is a complete inability to install programs and drivers.

E.g., I tried to install an HP print driver and utilities program and get an "Unauthorized Access error", which was a pain after a 170mb download (hopefully it's sitting in my temp folder!?).

I tried to install it off of an old CD, same error.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

I believe one of those tips told you to use a limited user account instead of an admin account, just switch to an admin account or set your account back to an admin account, to do so, of course you'll need to switch to an admin account first.

1. Log off the current account.

2. At the logon screen, hold Ctrl + Alt and press Del twice.

3. Enter "Administrator" for user name.

4. If you have entered a password during XP installation, then enter the password you entered. If you didn't, then the password should be blank.

5. Now go to Control Panel -> User Accounts, change your account back to an admin one.

Of course you can also install everything from the Administrator account if you feel safer to use a limited account for daily usage. Another method is run the installation with secondary logon from/inisde the limited account, hold the Shift button and right-click on the setup program, you will see "Run as", select that and enter the admin account credentials.

 

Hmmm ... didn't think I used that tweak, assuming it's this one:

In any event, thanks for the tip, couldn't recall how to get into the Admin account.

I'll see if that works!

Thanks!

 

Nope, my user ID is setup as the Administrator. Is there a place in XP that assigns what each user can and/or can't do? Checked the "User Accounts" in the control panel but couldn't find it there.

Tx

 

Are you running XP Pro or XP Home Edition?

 

Seems to be an access issue with accessing CD's as well. Whether I try to access the CD ROM drive in the lappy or my external drive, I get the following error:

Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.


I can see all the files, just not access any of the executable files (I can access the txt files for instance, but can't run setup).

Same message when I try to run any setup file on the harddrive as well?

Thanks!

 

XP Professional ..

 

There is - XP Pro allows you to set fairly customized access permissions. Unfortunately, I'm not at home right now and I can't remember how to get to the dialog window that allows you to fine-tune permissions.

Basically, regardless of what title is applied to your user account, it sounds like one of the tweaks you did basically limited your account's ability to execute programs, and until you get into reset the permissions on your account, you probably won't be able to run much.

 

Hmmm ... let me know when you get home. In the mean time, I tried booting up in safe mode. I can now run the setup executable, but midway through get a "The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation".

Must have been one of the changes I made, but none of them seem to indicate they'd do this unless I accidentally changed the wrong thing?

 

Just in case, try looking under the "Folder options..." item on the "Tools" drop-down menu to see if there's a way to set file permissions from that dialog.

 

Thanks, but nope.

Another odd thing, thought maybe the Antivirus software did something. So removed AVAST, then tried removing Online Armour, but it won't let me. Keep clicking remove and I get nothing (just a little window that pops up and dissappears). Doesn't matter if I try to remove it via the start menu option, or the control panel.

Strange.

 

Strange, it appears to have been something in Online Armor. Went into Safe mode, uninstalled it, went back into normal mode and am now installing the HP utilities.

Wonder why that happened? Pretty sure I didn't change any of the settings in Online Amor.

Odd?

 

Oh ... and thanks a lot for your help BTW! If you could also tell me where I can set user security let me know!

Thanks!

 

Start -> Run -> gpedit.msc

You can also go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy

But gpedit.msc covers that already.