Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   pauloparra
   Member

   Hello,

   For some unknown reason (I'm in contact with Microsoft), the PC account that I was using to install and activate all the GAOTD software got screwed. The end result was that, even though I have created only four user accounts on my computer, now there are five user entries in "c:\\Documents and Settings". The extra account looks like a newly created account, but it has the same user name as the GAOTD account and its windows name is similar too. Also any attempt to logging to the account that I was using to install and register GAOTD programs, would open the user account that was magically created.

   Since the only change I had made to the computer was the installation of the Oronto Burning Kit, I uninstalled it and things went back to normal for a while. I was able to logging my real account. The big problem was that recovered account lost the ability to run GAOTD software as registered.

   I though that the account was not able to run the GAOTD software as registered because of the mess of having two accounts that are almost identical and that if I just use another admin account to run the GAOTD software I should be ok. Wrong!
   GAOTD programs seem to run only under the account that activated them and I don't understand why. Why can't I run the GAOTD software from a different admin account on the same computer on registered mode?

   Thanks
   -Mario

   PS: Backups don't seem to help as I haven't lost any files. I haven't been able to learn how to use system restore.

   Posted 17 years ago #
2. 

   BuBBy
   Teh adnim

   This is just the way windows works. To oversimplify an explanation on how the registration database works, there are two levels of scope (actually there are more - but this will suffice to explain the concept).

   1. Private User Settings (HKCU)
   2. Global System Settings (ie. All Users) (HKLM)

   In terms of permissions - users can read & write only to #1 and can only read from #2. To write to #2 you must be an Admin.

   Most applications read and write to #1, as the user doesn't need Admin to install or run the program. The programs that you need to be Admin is because they write to #2.

   Each user account has their own #1 section. A user cannot normally see another users #1 section. (This is for example how each user can have have their own settings. eg Desktop Wallpaper)

   Therefore if an application writes preferences, activation details, settings to #1, when running the application as a different user - there will be a completely fresh (or empty) set of settings - so in this case the program may not know it was ever registered.

   So there is nothing wrong. It's just how the registry works. It has always worked that way. If you want to run a program from 3 user accounts - it will probably be necessary to activate the program from each account separately. (unless the program writes to #2 - then all users share the same settings).

   Posted 17 years ago #

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