User folders

[keithr]

Hi,
I have just got a new laptop with windows 7 and am confused about users. I have set up Admin (administrator), Jean (standard) and Keith (standard).

If I log in as Admin and copy a file to the desktop, then check the file properties, it shows C:\users\Jean\desktop. Is this in order?

Also I notice that in C:\Users I have:
Administrator
Default (greyed out)
Jean (with a padlock shown on the icon)
Jean_2 (which I did not create)
Keith

Can anyone give some basic help to sort this out please

 

[gregrocker]

Is it possible you set up a quasi-Admin Jean account during install/setup of your computer?

If so, go to User Accounts in Control Panel to delete the unwanted account(s). Place the files on the desktop to check if there are any you want to save.

It is normal for the installer or setup (if OEM) to set up the owner as a quasi-Admin account. If you are unsure of yourself you can delete that account and set up a Standard account.

However neither of these account-types are the hidden Administrator account which requires no permissions. You will still have UAC protection in either quasi-Admin or Standard accounts but your other Standard User's permission requests will come to you more directly with a quasi-Admin account.

 

[Kari]

Your Users folder seems not to include the Admin account, which as you said is the name of the administrator account you created, so here's what's most probably happened:

When you install Seven yourself, or finalize the so called Welcome phase when first time booting a pre-installed Seven, one user account must be created. This account is an administrator account, which (as Greg mentioned here above) should not be mixed with the built-in account Administrator.

It seems that the account created when first time booting has been that of Jean. This account was then renamed Admin, and standard accounts to Keith and Jean were created. Because changing the name of the user account does not change the name of the user folder (read this), the account Admin had now a user profile folder in C:\Users\Jean.

If I'm right with the above, then when you have (re-)created the Jean account, that name could not be given to her user folder because the original Jean folder now belonging to account Admin already exists. In this case Seven normally renames the user folder as UserName_2, to separate the folder from the one with the same name.

The profiles (folders) currently in your Users folder are then (Folder name > User it belongs):

• Administrator > the built-in administrator
• Jean > Admin
• Jean_2 > Jean
• Keith > Keith

You can test this; I'll bet you find all Jean's documents and files from folder Jean_2, and Admin's from folder Jean.

Kari

EDIT: To be sure, I tested this just now on a virtual machine running Seven. I renamed a user account Larry to LarryLaffer, and then created a new account Larry. The result was as I told you above that user LarryLaffer had its user profile in folder Larry, and the new Larry account in folder Larry_2.

 

[gregrocker]

Brillllliant, Inspector!



I recall that there's no way to remove that originally set-up "owner's" account without reinstall or recovery.

 

[Kari]

I recall that there's no way to remove that originally set-up "owner's" account without reinstall or recovery.

Isn't this the reason for the padlock?

Also I notice that in C:\Users I have:
Administrator
Default (greyed out)
Jean (with a padlock shown on the icon)
Jean_2 (which I did not create)
Keith

 

[gregrocker]

I think the padlock means it isn't shared with HomeGroup, or shared at all.

We've had several cases where Users deleted the originally set up Admin-level account yet the folder remains under Users and cannot be deleted, due I believe to some security precaution.

I think you nailed the situation, Kari. Waiting to hear what is reported back.

 

[Kari]

I think the padlock means it isn't shared with HomeGroup, or shared at all.

I just played around with a virtual machine, wanted to find out this with the padlock. Funny, I have always seen it but never thought what it means.

Anyway. It seems the padlock simply indicates the current account, the account you are currently using. When switching users and checking Users folder, the padlock is always on the current account. Logically this means that the user account you are currently using is "locked" i.e. it can not be deleted because it is in use?

Kari

 

[keithr]

Hi Karl, gregrocker.

Thanks for your replies, tho' it did make me a little dizzy.

I do recall at first setup renaming an account, but cant recall which one!

I am now wondering if its worth all the trouble - the laptop is not part of a network (except when on the net). I thought a standard user would give me some extra secuirity when on the internet. Also I hoped to protect some of my files from other users (my wife who is even less computer savvy than myself!)

My setup is that I have partitioned my disk to C: and D: with all my files on D so I can reinstall windows without loosing my files.

Re the mysterious padlock on the users folders, if I login as admin, Jean is locked; If login as Jean, then Jean and Jean_2 are locked; and if logged in as Keith, Jean and Keith are locked.

Karls analysis looks spot on. User folder file size shows 0 bytes against Administrator, Jean_2 and Keith. Jean has 268 MB, Default 1.5MB and Public which I hadn't noticed before, 50.8MB. Presumeably the 268MB in Jean are all system files, since all user files are on D drive.

Do I need to do a complete re-install to get these folders to align with the log-ins shown in control panel, or is there a back door method?

 

[keithr]

I did a re-install and used the name Admin when first asked for a user name. Now all sorted. My tip is dont rename the user name you first put in on installation.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

My tip is naming anything any form of "Admin ... " in Windows is a very bad idea.

 

[keithr]

My tip is naming anything any form of "Admin ... " in Windows is a very bad idea.

Are you suggesting I have accidentally created a security weakness?

 

[Kari]

My tip is naming anything any form of "Admin ... " in Windows is a very bad idea.

Are you suggesting I have accidentally created a security weakness?

Username Administrator is reserved for the built-in administrator account in Windows. Because of this name being reserved, the most common username users give to their administrative account is Admin. These two usernames are the first, together with your name, that every hacker who tries to hack in to your computer tries.

Not a fact, just a guess, but I'll say over two thirds of our members reading this have a user account called Admin.

Kari

 

[logicearth]

The padlock overlay means "File/Folder is not shared". It is private to so-n-so.
What are those little overlay icons: Windows 7 edition - The Old New Thing - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

A padlock. This means that you have a private item in a non-private directory. (See below.)

....

A private item is an item where the only user account with access is you.¹ You create one of these, for example, by going to the sharing wizard and saying Share with: Nobody. To avoid clutter, the overlay is shown only when there is a transition from non-private to private. (Otherwise you'd have a lock overlay on everything in your Documents folder, for example.)

Does everyone understand now what the padlock means?

 

[keithr]

Thanks everyone for your input. I guess I will leave my Admin user name as is, otherwise I will be back where I started.