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Admin. and User Accounts


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#1
nondaj

nondaj

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Just recently read an MS document about how to use the Admin. and User accounts. Have been using Admin. for everything and the article deemed this is not the best thing to do.

So created second account (user account); have passworded both accounts. But to my horror when I went to the User Accounts most of my files are NOT there. I expected this but thought surely there would be a way to copy/paste, send to, drag files into shared files, import/export - but all seem to run into a dead end when I attempt to use them. So either I am off base as to how to utilize this User Account or will have to give up on using it.

I am a teacher and have a tremendous amout of files in my Admin. account plus rely on my Favorites to access many educational sites. Getting these files which have accumulated over the years into the User Account one by one will take me forever.

So am I missing something here re this whole account/file transfer business?

My PC stats:

Windows XP Pro
Version 2002
Service Pack 2
2.79 GHz and 2.00 GB Ram
Dell XPS 400 Computer

Is there anything more I need to add to this information to enable you to help me?
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#2
piper

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Hi nondaj!

Your files are still located under Administrator. Browse to C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator. Check under My Documents and Favorites for your stuff. You can try copying everything from her to your new account, but due to security restrictions, you may not be able to.

You can copy the entire profile for Administrator to your new account.

To copy a profile:
  • Reboot the computer and log in with an administrative user account that is neither the Administrator or Your account the old.
  • As a back-up, copy the the entire user folder for Administrator under Documents and Settings to the desktop.
  • Right-click My Computer and select Properties.
  • Select the Advanced tab.
  • Click the Settings button in the User Profiles section.
  • Select the Administrator.
  • Click the Copy To button.
  • Click the Browse button and then browse to Documents and Settings, and select the new account.
If you do this part wrong and copy the profile from the new account to the old account, you will delete all the settings and everything out of the My Documents folder for the old account.

Manually copying profile: http://support.micro....com/kb/811151/
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#3
nondaj

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Thanks so much for your helpful reply - will try your first suggest and think I am too inexperienced to try the second. Just can't afford to lose any files as a teacher, particularly my business files.
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#4
piper

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As long as you make an extra copy of all the files for Administrator, you'll be fine. If you need further assistance, please post back.
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#5
nondaj

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Thanks for the encouragement. May take me a bit to try all of this as the semester is just starting at college and am super busy but eager to try your ideas. Do you agree, may I ask, with the idea presented in MS bulletin about the Admin. account should be used for just specific things re the PC and the User account for all other things? Wish I had known this when I set up the PC:(
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#6
piper

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Yes, I agree with that. The default Administrator account should only be used for maintenance, not daily stuff.
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#7
nondaj

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Ah thank you - will pursue on. I also used my Mini Scan Disc which only has 128 MB but was able to put a file on it from Admin. acct. and successfully installed it on the User Account. Hooorrraaayyy!

I also have one that is huge - forget how many Gigs. That holds my whole C drive. In fact I have my C drive on it and it is the kind that will update your files when you use again so that I can update and then perhaps install the whole C drive on User Account.

Now is that OK? Will it overwrite any files that are already on User Account.

Not sure I should go this way or do it folder by folder. Don't want to create a problem using this method.
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#8
piper

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The kind of backup system you're describing sounds like it would only affect the files for Administrator (since they've been backed up before), not for your new user account. I'd probably get all the files moved to the new account, create a new backup job and go from there :whistling:
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#9
nondaj

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Discovered that not all files I put on the scan disc and then put on User Account desktop or in a folder will show up when I try to access them to move or use. So guess I had better go slow and figure out why this is happening.

Moving ALL the files at once may not be the best bet.

Keep you posted. Thanks for following my thread.
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