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Windows 2000 User Management
User Management and Security is
one of the major differences between Windows95/98 and the new
Windows 2000, because Windows 2000 is based on Windows NT (remember: it was first called Windows NT5, before
Microsoft renamed it for marketing purposes to Windows 2000), it has inherited the User Mangement and Security from Windows NT4.
Best example:
When a Windows95/98 system presents of startup the Network
Login-screen:

you can press the ESC-key or click on the Cancel-button,
Windows95/98 continues and allows to access to the computer,
while on WindowsNT4 and Windows 2000, you will be refused access
:

(but there are possibilities to allow a bootup without a
logon-screen in both Windows
NT4 and Windows 2000.
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Lets first look at the applet for "Users
and Passwords"
in the Control-panel |
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Like on Windows NT4,
the installation procedure
creates by default the users
"Administrator" and "Guest".
If security is no issue, you
can use always the username
"Administrator", otherwise
you should now create new
usernames by pressing the
"Add" button. |
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Enter a Username, which is
the name to use later to
identify yourself.
All other fields are just
"for information". |
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You are asked to enter
a password.
If you work alone on the
system or if security is no
issue, you can work without
any passwords. |
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Here you now need to define,
which permissions the user
will have.
For now, use the description
provided here (for the
details on these groups and
their rights/privileges , see:
User Permissions).
usually, you create here a
"Standard user" or a
"Restricted user" |
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In my example, I have
created "Helmig" as a
"Restricted User":
Member of the group: "Users"
I have also created a user
"jhelmig" as "Standard User":
Member of the group: "Power Users". |
Lets see now the impact of these different type of users, so I
now logged in using
the new username "Helmig" as a "Restricted
User", accessing in the Control-Panel the System-Applet:

Lets view our Hardware - Configuration in the "Device
Manager":


Lets translate this message:
For each piece of hardware (a modem, a
scanner, a CD-Burner,...), which you like
to
connect to your system, you need the software to talk/use this
hardware.
In Tech-Talk-Language, such additional hardware is called "Device"
and
the software for the system to be able to communicate to
("talk to"/"use") the hardware
(the "Device") is called
"Device Driver".
Translation of this Message:
"to be able to connect or
disconnect or configure hardware components,
you need to be the Administrator (or be a user with the same
rights as
the Administrator)."
Lets see this in action:
Logged in as "Regular User"
(without Administrator rights) |
Logged in as "Administrator" |
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The "Administrator" has
additional Menu-items, allowing to install, disable and
un-install
hardware components (= "Devices").
Golden-Rule for using an
Windows NT4 or Windows 2000 System:
If you try to do a certain job and you
cannot find the menu-item
or toolbar-button, ask yourself:
Do you have the permission to perform this job ? |
A "Standard User" (member of the group "Power
Users" ) has more permisisons:
but some activities are limited to the Administrators :
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If you are NOT logged in as Administrator, you will
need
to know the Username and password of an administrator
to be able to view/add/modify the list of Users:
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You need to be an Administrator to
make any change to the Properties of your Local Area network:

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If your are NOT logged on as
Administrator, this warning will
be displayed and |
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the buttons "Install",
Uninstall" and
"Properties" are not accessible. |
For a detailed view on the rights/privileges of the different
user: User
Permissions
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