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Power user

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Can I create a user with rights to load software on any PC and still not have Administrative rights.
Using Active Directory.
I don’t see the option to make them a power user when I am in AD.

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in AD users and computer, right click on the user. you can choose add member to a group or choose properties. If you choos properties, in the users properties page, click the member of tab, this will display the users membership status. you can add/remove the member from the different groups e.g. add them to the power users group.

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I do not see any option in Active Directory about Power Users. I know how to open up the member of window in AD.

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You’ll have to add that user to the local power users group. If you want all users to be this way, just add the group Domain Users to the power users group.

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I think the question was how to create a single user that can add software to any machine, but not have admin rights. Following the previous answer will give all your domain users rights on every computer. From a security standpoint, this probably isn’t your best option.

As the previous answer details, you need an account that has local PowerUser access on each system. You can create a Domain account (ie “SoftInstall”), and put that account in every machines local PowerUsers group.
You can manually add this account to each poweruser group, you can also script this action, or you can use Active Directory to make these changes for you.

There are a number of ways to automate putting this user into the local powerusers group, but a little more info about your environment is needed for that.

Something to keep in mind:
PowerUsers don’t have full rights to the registry and system – so they will not be able to install all software. The first piece of software that comes to mind is AOL IM, which doesn’t install unless you have Admin rights. I am unsure if AOL has changed their software, but this was the case when I worked on a migration project.

I hope that helps – if you need more info, provide some additional info about your environment.

Chris

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If you are using and AD environment, the easiest thing to do would be to create a GPO that has a computer startup script. This script could be a simple CMD file that contains:
net localgroup “Power Users” /add \

Computer startup scripts run with localsystem access – so it has the rights to modify local security settings.

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