User Accounts in Vista Home Premium?

I am working on a laptop computer running Microsoft Vista Home Premium. I
wanted to access the utility for modifying user account permissions;
normally found in the 'Local Users and Groups' dialog within the Windows
Computer Management utility (right-click Computer icon and select Manage).
However, I cannot find any 'Local Users and Groups' option in Vista Home
Premium. Without this feature how can we enable or disable user accounts or
profiles?

Blue Max

Just like the XP Home versions, the Vista Home versions do not include the
management console snap-ins like local users and groups.

Most everything that you can do with the MMC can be done in the home
versions using direct registry edits.

There is no way to actually 'disable' an account in Vista, but you can
'hide' an account so that it is invisible on the login screen.

Let me know if this is what you want to do.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"Blue Max" <> wrote in message
news:B0AB9C15-7F6F-49CD-A59D-...
>I am working on a laptop computer running Microsoft Vista Home Premium. I
>wanted to access the utility for modifying user account permissions;
>normally found in the 'Local Users and Groups' dialog within the Windows
>Computer Management utility (right-click Computer icon and select Manage).
>However, I cannot find any 'Local Users and Groups' option in Vista Home
>Premium. Without this feature how can we enable or disable user accounts
>or profiles?
>

On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:04:12 -0700, Ronnie Vernon MVP wrote:

> Just like the XP Home versions, the Vista Home versions do not
> include the management console snap-ins like local users and
> groups.

The Event Viewer seems to be a MC snap-in, available in
Home-Premium.

--
Chris Game

"Hopefully the net-dwelling paranoid delusional conspiracy theorists
won't descend upon me " -- Chris Pratley, MSFT.

Chris

That's correct. The only snap-ins that are not included are things like
Group Policy, Security Policy, etc. These components are focused on managing
large numbers of systems and large groups of users, which is not usually
important to the home version users.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"Chris Game" <> wrote in message
news:1a6b4r11ijcaj$....
> On Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:04:12 -0700, Ronnie Vernon MVP wrote:
>
>> Just like the XP Home versions, the Vista Home versions do not
>> include the management console snap-ins like local users and
>> groups.
>
> The Event Viewer seems to be a MC snap-in, available in
> Home-Premium.
>
> --
> Chris Game
>
> "Hopefully the net-dwelling paranoid delusional conspiracy theorists
> won't descend upon me " -- Chris Pratley, MSFT.

Thank you, Ronnie, see in-line replies below:

"Ronnie Vernon MVP" <> wrote in message
news:F9BDAA53-C51B-4DCD-AB83-...
> Blue Max
>
> Just like the XP Home versions, the Vista Home versions do not include the
> management console snap-ins like local users and groups.

I was afraid this might be the case. Thank you for the confirmation.

> Most everything that you can do with the MMC can be done in the home
> versions using direct registry edits.

This is good go know, a little more technical than I might have wanted, but
a useful possibility.

> There is no way to actually 'disable' an account in Vista, but you can
> 'hide' an account so that it is invisible on the login screen.

Interesting, because my Vista property dialogs for each user have an option
titled "Account is disabled" versus "Account is hidden." Nevertheless, I
think I understand what you are describing. In Windows XP the
'Administrator' account was not displayed on the 'Welcome' screen, but could
still be accessed remotely or at the 'Welcome' screen using Ctrl-Alt-Del.
Is this the same behavior we should expect in Vista? In other words, the
account is hidden, but still active?

If so, how do we access the Administrator account, for example, from the
'Welcome' screen as we did in Windows XP? And now back to our concern in
our original message, how would one ever 'Unhide' or 'Enable' the
Administrator account in Vista Home Premium, which is hidden or disabled by
default, but has no snap-in? Are we going to be forced into the registry to
change a default or is there a utility like TWEAKUI that will help with
these changes?

Thank you for the help.

> Let me know if this is what you want to do.
>
> --
>
> Ronnie Vernon
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows Shell/User
>
>
> "Blue Max" <> wrote in message
> news:B0AB9C15-7F6F-49CD-A59D-...
>>I am working on a laptop computer running Microsoft Vista Home Premium. I
>>wanted to access the utility for modifying user account permissions;
>>normally found in the 'Local Users and Groups' dialog within the Windows
>>Computer Management utility (right-click Computer icon and select Manage).
>>However, I cannot find any 'Local Users and Groups' option in Vista Home
>>Premium. Without this feature how can we enable or disable user accounts
>>or profiles?
>>
>

Ronnie Vernon MVP wrote:
>Most everything that you can do with the MMC can be done in the home
>versions using direct registry edits.
>
>There is no way to actually 'disable' an account in Vista, but you can
>'hide' an account so that it is invisible on the login screen.
>
>Let me know if this is what you want to do.
>

Ronnie,

I would like to know the registry edits to hide an account in Vista Home
Premium, and access it via Ctrl-Alt-Del twice at Welcome screen, similar to
XP Professional. Or is there another way in Vista?

I am comfortable editing the registry.

Thanks.

KMarkum

First, a Warning. Be very careful when hiding user accounts in Vista. If you
hide the only available administrative account, you can effectively lock
yourself out of performing any tasks that require administrative privileges
on the system. This is because the CTRL+ALT+DEL procedure is no longer an
option at the login screen. Also, if you hide the only user created,
visible, administrator account on the system you will not be able to log on
with this account, even in Safe Mode. Also, if you hide the only visible
administrator account, you will also not be able to logon with the Built-in
Administrator account in Safe Mode. You must have administrator privileges
to hide or un-hide a user account in Vista.

In Vista when you hide a user profile, it is really "hidden". You cannot
access this account in normal or Safe mode.

Hide Users from the Welcome Screen

Go to Start and type: regedit.exe Right click regedit.exe in the results
and select the Run As Administrator option.

Navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserLis t

If the SpecialAccounts and UserList keys are not there, you will need to
create them.

Right click the Winlogon key and select New/Key from the menu.
Name the Key SpecialAccounts (Case sensitive)
Right click the SpecialAccounts Key and select New/Key.
Name this Key UserList (Case sensitive)

With the UserList key selected, right click in the right side pane and
select New / DWORD Value (32-bit).
Name this Value the same exact name of the user account that you want
hidden.

Double click this Value and place a 0 (Zero) in the Value Data line. Click
OK.

This will prevent the user from showing up on the welcome screen.

Do this for each account you want hidden.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"kmarkum" <u38668@uwe> wrote in message news:7a7267f04f99b@uwe...
> Ronnie Vernon MVP wrote:
>>Most everything that you can do with the MMC can be done in the home
>>versions using direct registry edits.
>>
>>There is no way to actually 'disable' an account in Vista, but you can
>>'hide' an account so that it is invisible on the login screen.
>>
>>Let me know if this is what you want to do.
>>
>
> Ronnie,
>
> I would like to know the registry edits to hide an account in Vista Home
> Premium, and access it via Ctrl-Alt-Del twice at Welcome screen, similar
> to
> XP Professional. Or is there another way in Vista?
>
> I am comfortable editing the registry.
>
> Thanks.
>

Blue Max

Sorry for the long delay, I had to deal with the CA wildfires this past
week.


> Interesting, because my Vista property dialogs for each user have an
> option titled "Account is disabled" versus "Account is hidden."
> Nevertheless, I think I understand what you are describing. In Windows XP
> the 'Administrator' account was not displayed on the 'Welcome' screen, but
> could still be accessed remotely or at the 'Welcome' screen using
> Ctrl-Alt-Del. Is this the same behavior we should expect in Vista? In
> other words, the account is hidden, but still active?

Actually, you can 'disable' an account in Vista, either by using the option
you describe or from a command line. Unfortunately, the resulting behavior
has been changed in Vista. If you disable a user account, that account will
no longer be available, anywhere. The CTRL+ALT+DEL behavior has changed in
Vista. You can no longer use this keyboard combination to bring up the old
style login dialog. If you disable or hide a user account, that account will
no longer appear even in Safe Mode. As a result, you must be very careful
when disabling or hiding any user account.

>
> If so, how do we access the Administrator account, for example, from the
> 'Welcome' screen as we did in Windows XP? And now back to our concern in
> our original message, how would one ever 'Unhide' or 'Enable' the
> Administrator account in Vista Home Premium, which is hidden or disabled
> by default, but has no snap-in? Are we going to be forced into the
> registry to change a default or is there a utility like TWEAKUI that will
> help with these changes?

The only way to access the built-in Administrator account is to enable the
account from within Vista. You can do this from an elevated command line.
Start cmd.exe with administrator privileges and type the following.

net user administrator /active:yes

Press Enter.

To disable the account, change the 'yes' to 'no'.

You can use this command to enable or disable any user account.

You can also use a registry edit, in the Home versions of Vista, to force
the old style login dialog box to appear. If you do enable this, the login
dialog will appear everytime you boot and no user accounts will be visible.

--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User


"Blue Max" <> wrote in message
news:C0A55E0A-4590-46FC-8A27-...
> Thank you, Ronnie, see in-line replies below:
>
> "Ronnie Vernon MVP" <> wrote in message
> news:F9BDAA53-C51B-4DCD-AB83-...
>> Blue Max
>>
>> Just like the XP Home versions, the Vista Home versions do not include
>> the management console snap-ins like local users and groups.
>
> I was afraid this might be the case. Thank you for the confirmation.
>
>> Most everything that you can do with the MMC can be done in the home
>> versions using direct registry edits.
>
> This is good go know, a little more technical than I might have wanted,
> but a useful possibility.
>
>> There is no way to actually 'disable' an account in Vista, but you can
>> 'hide' an account so that it is invisible on the login screen.
>
>
> Thank you for the help.
>
>> Let me know if this is what you want to do.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Ronnie Vernon
>> Microsoft MVP
>> Windows Shell/User
>>
>>
>> "Blue Max" <> wrote in message
>> news:B0AB9C15-7F6F-49CD-A59D-...
>>>I am working on a laptop computer running Microsoft Vista Home Premium.
>>>I wanted to access the utility for modifying user account permissions;
>>>normally found in the 'Local Users and Groups' dialog within the Windows
>>>Computer Management utility (right-click Computer icon and select
>>>Manage). However, I cannot find any 'Local Users and Groups' option in
>>>Vista Home Premium. Without this feature how can we enable or disable
>>>user accounts or profiles?
>>>
>>
>

> Actually, you can 'disable' an account in Vista, either by using the
> option you describe or from a command line. Unfortunately, the resulting
> behavior has been changed in Vista. If you disable a user account, that
> account will no longer be available, anywhere. The CTRL+ALT+DEL behavior
> has changed in Vista. You can no longer use this keyboard combination to
> bring up the old style login dialog. If you disable or hide a user
> account, that account will no longer appear even in Safe Mode. As a
> result, you must be very careful when disabling or hiding any user
> account.

This is pretty scary stuff! Why didn't they build in a feature that would
prevent the user from hiding or disabling the only remaining administrator
account? It doesn't take a psyhic to foresee that there are going to be
some really angry users down the road who fall prey to this oversight;
potientially at great cost to themselves or their business entity.

Thanks Ronnie, I appreciate the help. Actually I had already accomplished
that and the account is hidden, but you have confirmed that I did it
correctly, I was looking for the way to use that account occasionally from
the Welcome Screen, as I did in XP, but it doesn't seem that will be possible.
It appears that this account will need to be unhidden before it can be used,
which kinda defeats the purpose, in my opinion.

Is this possible in other vista versions? Would you know if there is a
posibility that this functionality might reappear in a service pack, due to
popular demand, or is it gone forever? Where would one make this request of
Microsoft, if it is a possibility, or can you pass it on?

It seems there is the option to require Ctrl-Alt-Del, with no Welcome Screen,
and "Don't remember last login name", but that would disable quick user
switching. I might like to try that to see how it works. Is that possible
in Visata Home Premium, and would you outline the steps to accomplish this.
Thanks in advance! I have learned much from your other posts, that show up
on many sites.

Oh, and thanks for the warning about hiding the only admin account. Good to
know. I had read that somewhere, probably one of your posts, but it hadn't
sunk in yet how that might apply to me.

-km

Ronnie Vernon MVP wrote:
>KMarkum
>
>First, a Warning. Be very careful when hiding user accounts in Vista. If you
>hide the only available administrative account, you can effectively lock
>yourself out of performing any tasks that require administrative privileges
>on the system. This is because the CTRL+ALT+DEL procedure is no longer an
>option at the login screen. Also, if you hide the only user created,
>visible, administrator account on the system you will not be able to log on
>with this account, even in Safe Mode. Also, if you hide the only visible
>administrator account, you will also not be able to logon with the Built-in
>Administrator account in Safe Mode. You must have administrator privileges
>to hide or un-hide a user account in Vista.
>
>In Vista when you hide a user profile, it is really "hidden". You cannot
>access this account in normal or Safe mode.
>
>Hide Users from the Welcome Screen
>
>Go to Start and type: regedit.exe Right click regedit.exe in the results
>and select the Run As Administrator option.
>
>Navigate to the following registry key:
>
>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
>NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserLi st
>
>If the SpecialAccounts and UserList keys are not there, you will need to
>create them.
>
>Right click the Winlogon key and select New/Key from the menu.
>Name the Key SpecialAccounts (Case sensitive)
>Right click the SpecialAccounts Key and select New/Key.
>Name this Key UserList (Case sensitive)
>
>With the UserList key selected, right click in the right side pane and
>select New / DWORD Value (32-bit).
>Name this Value the same exact name of the user account that you want
>hidden.
>
>Double click this Value and place a 0 (Zero) in the Value Data line. Click
>OK.
>
>This will prevent the user from showing up on the welcome screen.
>
>Do this for each account you want hidden.
>
>>>Most everything that you can do with the MMC can be done in the home
>>>versions using direct registry edits.
>[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>>
>> Thanks.

--
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