Hello Benjamin,

I Wish to enable the Guest account (and show it on thw welcome screen)

I figured out I can use the Status.x Command in order to enable the account,
but what is the status for Enabled? Where can I find a list of avaliable status?

Thanks,
Moshe

Hi mow,
you can find a list of status flags on http://www.kalytta.com/wihu.manual.php

I also added the function to show/hide user account on welcome screen in new WIHU version 2.1.20.0. Corresponding inifile keyword is ShowOnWelcome.x

your status could be status.x = 0x200 (UF_NORMAL_ACCOUNT)

Benjamin Kalytta

HI Benjamin,

upgraded to latest version but now the Administrator account shows up on the Welcome screen which it never did before. I don´t have any setting for the Admin account in my ini file yet, can you quickly tell me what I have to add so that the Admin account does not appear (like in previous versions ?)

Sorry, I am a bit in a hurry these days and don´t have much time to look for the solution myself ...

If you have the time ...

Thanks !
Alex

Hi Again,

maybe I already got it ...


would the following work ?



?

Thanks,
Alex

Yes your solution would work. The default behaviour is to show the user account. There must be an item in your users section of your INI file where you change some Administrator account settings. This causes WIHU to override Windows default behaviour.

(*) Some days ago I read a posting where one user was wondering why Administrator isn't showed on welcome screen any more after he created one additional account with administrative privileges.

It seems that Windows will hide this account on welcome screen even if it isn't explicitely specified this way.

But to be sure I need some information from your Windows Registry.

Please could you tell me the content of the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList

So if you don't want to show Administrator account on welcome screen you have to add ShowOnWelcome.x=0

If I want to restore Windows default behaviour as explained in (*) I need some one who can verify this.
Then it will be a bit more complicated, but not impossible.

Benjamin

Hi Benjamin,

nice to hear from you again !

Here´s the entries for the regkey you mentioned:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList]
"Hilfeassistent"=dword:00000000
"TsInternetUser"=dword:00000000
"SQLAgentCmdExec"=dword:00000000
"NetShowServices"=dword:00000000
"HelpAssistant"=dword:00000000
"IWAM_"=dword:00010000
"IUSR_"=dword:00010000
"VUSR_"=dword:00010000
"ASPNET"=dword:00000000
"Administrator"=dword:00000000
"Alexander"=dword:00000001

By the way ...

The administrator entries, I mentioned above ... they worked. However, they somehow cleared the administrator password I set in winnt.sif which is bad and I don´t want to add the pw in two places if I can avoid it ... so maybe you succeed in restoring the default Windows behaviour ...

One other thing ....

As you can see at the attached pic, the Alexander account I created with Wihu shows a strange profile path (D:\Administrator). I don´t know how long that error exists, just saw it ...



ah ... no, I don´t have anything in my ini file in the [Users] section except for the following:




Bye,
Alex

Hehe, what i ment was the list before your ShowOnWelcome.1=0



What about /Admin=x or /AdminPwd=x switch? As I said, I need the registry keys before you added ShowOnWelcome key.



Just use Password.x = *



That's no strange profile path

I'll explain step by step:

1. In [Users] you set default home path (which will be used for each user if not overidden per user) Home = %PERSONAL%
2. In [Environment] you set Personal = D:\%ThisUser%
3. So this causes to create D:\Administrator for "Administrator" account, D:\Alexander for "Alexander" user account and so on.

Benjamin

Benjamin,



sorry, but your are missing the point here ...

Look at the picture again: That profile is for the username "alexander", yet it shows a profile path: D:\Administrator ...

Get it ?

Something is wrong, it should be D:\Alexander, not D:\Administrator

Also, I just found out, that Wihu created a second profile folder in the C:\Documente und Einstellungen folder named Administrator.Computer .... !?!? (see pic)

As for the regkey ... mhh, sorry, don´t have what you want unless I reinstall Windows again, which I may do soon anyway, but not now.

Thanks,
Alex

You set Home=%PERSONAL%, I think what you ment was Home.0=%PERSONAL%

Update: But indeed there seems to be a bug which causes %ThisUser% not to be replaced correctly.



Home isn't the profile folder, only the base directory! So if you want to change the profile folder use profile.x=<path>

Administrator.Computer isn't created by WIHU. Wihu will create folders like:

Administrator
Administrator.0001
Administrator.0002
etc.

Windows will use another schema:

Administrator
Administrator.Computer
Administrator.001
Administrator.002
etc.

The reason Windows creates this folder is, that Windows found out that Administrator directory already exists during profile directory creation. This could be after windows reinstallation on the same partition without formating it before.

Did you use /Admin=x or /AdminPwd=x switch? Please note, that Default values like Home = x will also applied on this account then!


Benjamin

I found and fixed the bug which causes your problem. Correct shellfolders weren't loaded before user creation.

Please note, that %ThisHome% and %ThisProfile% can't be used any more in [Users] section only in Software sections.

In [Environment] section you may only use %ThisUser%

HI Benjamin,

just tried your new version. A quick test showed that it seems to work now, I will use that version for my next installation and tell you. Thanks !


No, I do mean Home=%PERSONAL% as I want this to be the default for all users. It always worked .... can I still use it ?



Yeah, I know, I just mixed up the words. I did mean base directory.



Mhh, I did reformat C: before installation and I did not use any of the switches you mentioned. Strange.

Anyway ... for my next installation I will use those values:



Administrator will still show up on the Welcome page this way, right ? Do you still need the regkey after such an installation ?

BYe,
Alex

Hi Benjamin,

I did a new installation (in VMware) with Wihu now, just so you get your regkeys ...
So I did it without mentioning Administrator in the ini file as I posted before.

Administrator now shows up on the welcome screen and this is the regkey you wanted:



I hope you can change the behaviour so Administrator does not show up on the Welcome screen by default

Thanks,
Alex

Yes of course you may use it.



Many thanks for testing this.

I see ... it means that WIHU don't change anything there. You must find "Administrator"=dword:00000001 in the list but I didn't find it.

So it seems that the default behaviour is to show the Administrator by default on welcome screen.

If don't want this you have to use ShowOnWelcome.x = 0.

What about "Administrator.Computer" profile folder now, is there such folder now?

Btw. you should use Primary = <idx> in future even if Default = <idx> is still be supported currently.

Benjamin

Mhh,

if that is so, why did it always work fine before in earlier Wihu versions ? I never mentioned the Administrator in the ini and it never showed up on the welcome screen until now ...

Also, I dont think that this is the default Windows behaviour. Usually, the Administrator only appears on the Welcome screen if there is no other useraccount available. If there is at least one account available, the Admin account does not appear. That is the default behaviour.

That was also the case with earlier Wihu versions, so I guess THAT was default behaviour. Now, the admin account appears even when another account exists.



No, but that only appeared when I used the User.1=Administrator entry in the ini. I will try that next :-)

Bye,
Alex

It must be default behaviour since WIHU (as expected) don't change anything in UsersList.
Please verify that user "Alexander" has administrator rights.



I'll verify this now.

Benjamin

Mhh, yes. Alexander has administrator rights.

Well, all I know is, that everything was fine until recently and now it isn´t :-)

But I will test now with this setting in the ini:



I hope that Wihu will leave the password from winnt.sif intact

Bye,
Alex

Showing user on welcome page isn't as easy as I thought before, may be I'll remove this again.

I tried to find out windows default behaviour of showing the user on welcome page.

1. Disabled user accounts will never be showed on welcome page
2. User accounts that don't belong to any group (users, administrators...) will ONLY be showed if set to 1 in "UsersList" but ONLY if "local logon" is permitted in local security poilicy.
3. Only user accounts which belong to folowing groups will be showed by default: Administrators, Users, Power Users, Guests, but ONLY if "local logon" is permitted in local security policy

Which is pretty difficult. If no idea how I can read out this information with Windows API calls, so Im currently not able to use this information.

Benjamin

Hi Benjamin,

well, I would not mind if you removed that feature but maybe mow would, at least I think you created that feature for him.

Anyway, I tried an installation now with the following entries in the ini:



It did work, Administrator did not show up on the Welcome screen. However, this password thing is not working. Wihu is changing the password for the administrator to a "*" instead of leaving the password from winnt.sif as it is. Thats what I thought.

Add the password in two places (winnt.sif and the wihu ini) is a bad idea, I don´t want that.

An additional thing that happened now is that the Administrator will get the personal folders on D: as all my other users do. I don´t want that either. I guess I could specify the "normal" Windows folders for the Administrator in the ini but all this is a workaround for something which used to work all the time ...

Well, I hope there is a solution that will be fine for everybody ...

Bye,
Alex

Yes I found the problem which causes this bug. Im currently fixing it.

I've also an solution for the welcome screen problem.

Since you set Home = <path> the path for each account also existing ones will be modified. May be I should change WIHU that way that NO default values will be applied to existing account. What do you think about that?

Benjamin
Benjamin

Yeah, cool ! That would be great !




You are the best, as always !

BYe and thanks
Alex

HI Benjamin,

while you are fixing bugs, I think I have just found another one for you ...

I have the following in my ini:



I have that one locked as you can see, so that people cannot uncheck that entry. That works, one cannot uncheck the program BUT if you untick "Alles auswählen" so that nothing is checked, the software above will not be installed although it is still ticked for installation !!



Thanks,
Alex

Ok thank you, I'll also fix this one

Update: I also find out various bugs concerning shell folders. In [Users] Section for example none of shellfolder.x = <path> worked, it seems that no one had used it so far

I you want test it in advanced I've uploaded it as http://www.kalytta.com/wihu.test.zip

Now Im going to rewrite Welcome Screen things as mentioned before
Benjamin

Hi Benjamin,

The test version you posted corrected the Password bug, thanks. Any news on a new version ?

Bye,
Alex

Yes
Im currently working on 2 tools at the same time, thats the problem for being so slow.

But the problems on ShowOnWelcome will be resolved soon. Btw. that Administrator is showed even if another admin account is created isn't a WIHU problem. That's a strange windows behaviour, Im trying to find out why this is sometimes showed and sometimes not.

Im also currently disassembling advapi32.dll (LsaEnumerateAccountRights) because I get strange (Object Not Found) errors when calling this function to get a list of account rights assigned to an user account like "Administrator"

Benjamin

Hey Benjamin,

no problem ! What other tool are you working on ?

Bye,
Alex

Im working on a helper tool for the FTP Client SmartFTP (SmartFTP Client Backup Tool) where Im also the translator of this FTP Client.

Benjamin