Windows Vista : Logon and Profile Options (part 2)

5. Log In As the Administrator

When you first install Windows Vista, Setup walks you through the process of setting up a user account for yourself by asking for your name and then having you choose a picture. One of the requirements of the username is that it not be "Administrator."

The account named Administrator is a built-in account, mostly as a holdover from earlier versions of Windows. For more intents and purposes, it's pretty much the same as any other administrator-level account, except that it can have the name "Administrator." So, what's the point?

Truth is, there's not much point for most users. But if you have a network with PCs running older versions of Windows, like XP or 2000, and any of them are using the Administrator account, you may need enable the Administrator account on your own PC to overcome a peculiarity in the way that Windows handles usernames and passwords for folders shared over a network.

Or, maybe you just like the name.

Either way, here's how you do it:

1. Open the Start menu, type lusrmgr.msc in the Search box, and press Enter to start the Local Users and Groups tool .

2. In the left pane, select Users.

3. In the middle pane, double-click Administrator.

4. Turn off the Account is disabled option, and click OK.

5. Right-click Administrator and select Set Password.

6. Choose a password for the new account, type it into both boxes, and click OK.

7. Close the Local Users and Groups window when you're done.

8. Log out of your current session, and then log in as Administrator. If the Administrator account doesn't show up on the Welcome screen. But once you log in as Administrator a few times, it should start appearing on the standard Welcome screen.

Despite the fact that the Administrator account is turned off by default, it's perfectly acceptable to use it as your primary login. You may wish to do this for no other reason than you've simply gotten tired of seeing your name in huge, blazing letters in the Start menu.

Two caveats: first, in each successive version of Windows since Windows 2000, Microsoft has gone to greater lengths to discourage use of the Administrator account, which may complicate your efforts to upgrade to Vista's successor. Second, one of the reasons Microsoft has tried to get rid of the Administrator account is that having a common username (and Administrator would be the most common) might be seen as a security risk, and it could make it easier for someone to break in to your PC.

If you've already started using the Administrator account, and you want to change the name of your account without creating and breaking in a brand-new account, then you can rename it. If you're using Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, open the Local Security Policy window (secpol.msc), go to Local Policies → Security Options, and double-click the Accounts: Rename administrator account entry in the right pane.

If you're using Vista Home Basic and you don't have access to the Local Users and Groups window, you can enable the Administrator account from the Command Prompt. First, open a Command Prompt window in administrator mode and at the prompt, type:

net user Administrator/active:yes

and press Enter. Close the Command Prompt window and follow step 8, previously, to complete the process.

6. Customize the Welcome Screen Background

Unless you've opted to log in automatically (described earlier), you'll see the Welcome screen every time you turn on your PC (not to mention every time you shut down). Why not dress it up a bit with some custom wallpaper?

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to your \Windows\System32 folder. Take ownership of the imageres.dll file, and then set the permissions to Full Control for your user account. When that's done, create two copies of the file in the \Windows\System32 folder, naming them imageres-new.dll and imageres-old.dll.

Next, download and install the XN Resource Editor, freely available at http://www.wilsonc.demon.co.uk/d10resourceeditor.htm. Open the XN tool and select View → Options. From the Choose which parser to use list, select XN Resource Editor internal resource parser, and click OK.

Then from the File menu, select Open, find imageres-new.dll, and open the file. On the left, you'll see the various graphical and user-interface resources in the file organized into a collapsible tree; expand the IMAGE branch and then open one of the numbered folders therein. Inside each numbered folder is a single entry representing a different resolution of the stock Welcome screen background image. Select an entry to view the image along with its dimensions (shown in the gray box at the top of the window). Choose the version corresponding to your PC's current display resolution; if you don't know the current resolution, open the Personalize page in Control Panel and click the Display Settings link.

You can edit the image right in XN Resource Editor, but you'll likely want to grab a photo from somewhere else. Any portrait-oriented photo will do, provided it has exactly the same pixel dimensions as the one it's replacing. If your photo is too big, use your favorite image editor to shrink and crop it to size; if it's too small, just pad it with black space. When you're ready, just copy your new image to the clipboard (Ctrl-C), and then return to XN and press Ctrl-V to paste it over the selected image. (Resist the urge to use any of the options in the Resource menu, lest you render the file unusable.) Save the file and close XN when you're done.

The last step is to replace the imageres.dll file with the one you've modified, but since it's in use, Windows won't let you touch it. To get around this, restart Windows, press F8 to show the Advanced Boot Options menu , and select Safe Mode with Command Prompt. When the Command Prompt appears, click inside the window and type:

copy imageres-new.dll imageres.dll

When prompted, answer Y to confirm that you'd like to replace the file. When you're done, type exit to close the Command Prompt. (If Windows doesn't restart at this point, press Ctrl-Alt-Del, click the arrow next to the red button on the bottom-right of the screen, and select Restart.)

When the Welcome screen appears, your new wallpaper should be plastered all over the background. If it isn't, you likely updated the wrong dimension, or you weren't successful in replacing the original imageres.dll file.

If Windows won't start, or if you don't like your change, you can restore the original file by returning to the Safe Mode with Command Prompt, as just described, and typing copy imageres-old.dll imageres.dll.

7. Customize the Default Profile for New Users

Have a lot of user accounts to create, and don't want to waste hours customizing each one? Here's a simple way to customize a single account and then use it as the default for all new user accounts on your PC.

1. From an administrator-level account, use the User Accounts window in Control Panel to create a new account on your PC.

2. Log off and then log on to the new account.

3. Make all the changes you like.
   

4. When you're done, log off and then log back in to your normal, administrator-level account.

5. If you haven't done so already, use the Folder Options window in Control Panel to show hidden files and folders in Windows Explorer.

6. Next, open the System window in Control Panel and click the Advanced system settings link on the left side.

7. Under the Advanced tab, in the User Profiles section, click Settings.

8. Highlight the user account you just created and customized, and click Copy To.

9. In the Copy To window, click Browse, select the C:\Users\Default User folder, and click OK.

10. Click OK and then answer Yes to initiate the copy. Windows will delete the contents of the Default User folder, replacing them with the ones you've just customized.

When it's done, the new settings you've created will be in place to be used as the template for new user accounts. If you like, you can go ahead and delete the temporary account you created in the first step.

8. Rename Your Profile Folder

If you've ever uploaded a file to a web site or used a peer-to-peer file sharing program , you've probably noticed that it's possible in some circumstances for others to see the full path of the files you're sharing.

This means that if you upload the file personal.doc to a web site, the web site might be able to record that the full path of the file is actually:

C:\Users\Guy Q. Incognito\Documents\Some stuff of mine\personal.doc

And there it is: your full name.

Now, you can't fix this by renaming your account with the User Accounts window in Control Panel. But you can change the location of your profile folder without renaming your account; here's how:

1. Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to C:\Users. Create a new, empty folder here. This will be your new home folder, so name it whatever you like.

2. Next, use the User Accounts window in Control Panel to create a new, temporary, administrator account on your PC.

3. Log off and then log on to the new account.

4. Open the System window in Control Panel and click the Advanced system settings link on the left side.

5. Under the Advanced tab, in the User Profiles section, click Settings.

6. Highlight your user account (the old one you want to move) and click Copy To.

7. In the Copy To window, click Browse, select the folder in C:\Users you created in the first step, and click OK.

8. Click OK again and then answer Yes to initiate the copy.

9. Now, use the Folder Options window in Control Panel to show hidden files and folders in Windows Explorer.

10. Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to your old home folder (e.g., C:\Users/Guy Q. Incognito).

11. Press Ctrl-A to select everything in your home folder, and then, holding the Ctrl button, drag the selected files into the new location. When Windows asks whether you want to replace a file that already exists, turn on the Do this for the next x conflicts option, and then click Don't copy.

12. When it's done, open the Start menu, type lusrmgr.msc in the Search box, and press Enter to start the Local Users and Groups tool .

13. In the left pane, select Users.

14. In the middle pane, double-click your username, and then choose the Profile tab.

15. In the Home folder section, select Local path, and in the Local path field, type or paste the full path of the new folder you created in step 2. (Ignore the User profile section at the top of this window.)

16. Click OK and then close the Local Users and Groups window when you're done.

17. Log out of the temporary account and log back in to your real account.

18. Once you've confirmed everything is working, open Windows Explorer again and delete the old home folder from C:\Users.

9. Change the Locations of Personal Folders

Every user account on your system has its own home folder, stored, by default, in C:\Users. In this folder are such special user folders as Desktop, Send To, Start Menu, Documents, and Application Data, among others. Files placed in the Desktop folder appear as icons on the user's desktop, shortcuts placed in the Start Menu folder appear as Start menu items, and so on. This arrangement lets each user have her own desktop, Start menu, etc.

There's also an All Users folder, used, for example, to store icons that appear on all users' desktops. Likewise, the Default User folder is a template of sorts, containing files and settings copied for each newly created user. All in all, the use of these folders is pretty self-explanatory.

You can change the default locations for any user's special folders, but the process is different for different folder types:

Home folder

To change the location of any user's home folder, open the Local Users and Groups window (lusrmgr.msc). Open the Users category, double-click a user, and choose the Profile tab.

Documents, Send To, etc.

To change the location of any system folder in a user's home folder, such as the Documents folder or the Send To folder, you must be logged in as that user. Start TweakUI, open the My Computer category branch, select Special Folders, and choose the folder to relocate from the Folder list. Note that this only changes the place that Windows looks for the associated files; you'll have to create the folder and place the appropriate files in it yourself.

For folders not listed in TweakUI, you'll need to edit the Registry. Most user folders are specified in these two Registry keys.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
         Explorer\Shell Folders
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
         Explorer\User Shell Folders

One of the exceptions is the Application Data folder, which is defined by the DefaultDir value in:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
         ProfileReconciliation\AppData

You'll need to log out and then log back in for any of these changes to take effect.

Program Files

The Program Files and Common Files folders (shared by all users) are both defined in:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

For Program Files, you'll need to change both the ProgramFilesDir and ProgramFilesPath values; for Common Files, just change the CommonFilesDir value.

When relocating system folders, keep in mind that there can be hundreds of references to them throughout the Registry, especially Program Files and Common Files. You'll probably need to use a program like Registry Search and Replace (available at http://www.annoyances.org) to easily get them all.