Question on Lesson 5, so to speak

[Andrea]

Faizul, I'm stuck!

Here is what I have problems with:

I have an Admin account and a limited Surf1 account.
Now Surf1 account has a "My Documents" folder with things in it.
I created a Surf2 account, especially as Surf1 appears to have some problems. So now I would like to have the "My Documents" of Surf1 become accessible to Surf2 (I know, by dragging into Shared Documents), but I would also like to remove Surf1 if I can't figure out the problem with Surf1.

Problem with Surf1 - I can't log in, it gives me the error of "unplugged cable" and the like, but Admin and Surf2 can connect without problem. And the internet settings appear to be the same. So I thought that I'd just delete this account, but I can't seem to transfer My Documents out of the account.

I know, sounds confusing... I am indeed.

Andrea

[Admin]

Hi Andrea,

Yeah sounds like you are in quite a pickle.

OK, I am guessing that you can not connect to the Internet with Surf1's account correct? If you are using wireless to get on to the Internet using a limited user account could be a challenge to get connected especially since it does not have certain privileges to configure network settings. It is usually OK if you have a LAN cable connected to your computer to surf the Internet.

But there are some workarounds with that and one way is to log on the very first time with your Admin account then get connected to the Internet with your wireless connection and then switch user to the limited account Surf1. Try not to log off the admin account.

So next would be moving files, when you log on as your Admin account you can get to Surf1's Documents by following this path

C:\Documents and Settings\Surf1\Surf1's Documents

You can cut or copy whatever is inside that folder to whatever account you have created to replace it. You can also copy the favorites folder from Surf1's profile and paste it to the Surf2's profile.

Copy
C:\Documents and Settings\Surf1\Favorites
Paste to
C:\Documents and Settings\Surf2\Favorites


Later you can delete Surf1 from the Control Panel under User accounts and click on Surf1 and choose 'Delete the Account'. It will prompt you if you wish to backup certain folders on Surf1 too so you have added precaution just in case you didn't manage to copy all of Surf1's documents to Surf2's Documents folder.

Let me know if this is what you were looking for. Kudos for trying.

Cheers
Faizul

[Andrea]

Thanks Faizul.

Yes, that is exactly what I was looking for. I was just wondering whether I was overlooking some simpler way, or whether I could just change some settings. Leaving the Admin account logged in and switching users did not help on the wireless, and you just confirmed my dilemma of the limited account. As I have no clue what brought about the change, I did not want to temporarily change Surf1 to Admin for trouble-shooting purposes.

I chose a more complicated route of copying all subfolders of MyDocuments to a flash drive (by the way - I have never figured out whether there are real differences or just marketing differences between flash drive, pen drive, thumb drive, I bet there are more out there) and then to Surf2 MyDocuments.

For some reason Favorites transfered just right, without me copying, but I think that is because Yahoo does that when going in for the first time through the login. My main browser is Yahoo, as it has Parental Control, where I can limit the amount of time the kids access the computer every day, and can also change settings - I still need to figure that out on Explorer. However, once Yahoo Parental Control is ON, the kids' time on the internet is limited on whatever browser they connect through. Now that I think of, maybe Parental Control being ON does not allow your solution with leaving Admin logged on and switching User to work, as Parental Control will "lock" the internet connection every time someone switches users. May be a pain, but worth while with my 10 year old

The only transfer problem still left (at least that I can think of right now) is the transfer of the Outlook settings and contacts, unless I somehow go through the Backup feature.

See you in class. Thnx, Andrea

[Admin]

Hi Andrea we will go through exporting of contacts and addresses in outlook express in class if you want just come in early. You might be right on the Yahoo Parental Control settings. If it is your laptop do bring it in so I can have a beter look at the issue.

In the meantime if you are using Outlook Client from Microsoft Office which I think you are, this is the link in the forum to teach you how to export and import contacts and emails and other folders in the application.

sasit.proboards105.com/index.cgi?board=microsoftoffice2003tips&action=display&thread=1171864331

As for the wireless connectivity issue, there is another workaround I think but I am worried that the steps could be a bit complicated.

What you can try is to again promote Surf1 or Surf2 as an Admin account and then configure your wireless settings in thise accounts by creating a profile of it after which get connected and then reboot.

Log in again as Surf1 or Surf2 still in Admin mode and see if you can get connected without configuring anything by now the wireless network profile should be ale to connect by itslef automatically.

If it can do that then log off and log in as a true admin account and demote Surf1 or Surf2 depending on which account you are testing with, back to limited user accounts.

Afterwhich log back on as either Suff1 or Surf2 in their limited user account mode and see if you can get connected again without configuring or joining any wireless network as the profile you created earlier should do the connecting for you.

I have personally not tried this step yet but it has always been in the back of my mind to try it the other way is to give rights to the Surf1 or Surf2 account to the Network Configuration Operators Security Group if you have XP Professional.

Cheers
Faizul