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User Access Denied

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10 replies

by erdo

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I have setup a WinXP Pro workstation with two user and one admin account. Everything works good and reliably, except when new applications are installed onthe system.

If new apps or upgrades are installed with the admin account, the user accountsare denied access to the workstation after the reboot. The user logon message indicates that a bad password has been entered.

The only way to clear the problem (a solution I found by chance) is to logon with admin access and to clear the event log. Once the event log is cleared (which has an entry for userevent attempting to access a running resource [paraphrased]), then each user may log in with no problem.

I have attempted to get a resolution from MS without success, claiming that I should deal with the OEM (i.e. Dell). Dell indicates that they are not capable of handling the problem and to take it to MS. ThechNet of Knowladge Base have no info on this problem nor I have seen it reported anywhere else.

Not a critical item since we have a workaround, but here are a bunch of points for anyone with a true solution.

10 replies

by rrv

If the application you are installing uses inner system resources, OS internals [example installing VS6] in admin profile it is wrong. These apps have to be installed in the actual user profile and the user needs to be local admin. clearing eventlogis not the solution. to find in what mode your application is running check task manager processes [select all required columns]. Check how many threads are in admin and how many in user profile. There is the solution.
RV
All the best

by erdo

This is not the case, the installations involved are not apps and need to be installed in Admin mode. For example, OS hot fixes.

However, the answer has merits and it is accepted regardless.

by beermonster

Hi,
I could be totally off track here, but non admin users can be prevented from logging on to an xp box when the security log is full. This prevents a user making changes or performing tasks that the system is unable to log. This typically occurs if the security log is set to not delete events. In one way it fits your scenario, as in a heavily logged environment, and depending on how big the log file has been set to, an installation or upgrade may generate enough messages to fill the log - thus preventing non admins from logging in. However, I would expect a message, stating that the log was full, to be displayed in this circumstance - perhaps worth looking into though...

by erdo

This is not the case, the event log is cleared on a regular basis and it has been emptied prior to an incident also. The answer is correct, in that a not recycled log a message is provided.

Nonetheless, I did not provide this level of detail andit is something to check. Hence, the answer is accepted regardless.

by cdue

I think this is an deafult install of Xp and the Fast user switching is enabled. If you are in an profesional environemt you should turn this of and reinstall the apps, this changes how both registry and user profiles are behaving and will also makesure that no resource installed in the admin user context can run when the admin account is not logged on already. To turn off the Fast Switching mode, go to controlpanel as adminstrator and de-select both "user welcome screen" and the Fast switching check box

by erdo

This is something I need to look into. This answer has possibilities. Something I did not think about. Thanks.

by mike (from canada)

is your hard drive full?

Maybe when someone logs in to the server, the server attempts to write temporary data. If it cant get written, the user cant login.

Also, the disk could be bad. Scan it for errors and fix them.

by erdo

Not the case at all. It is a new computer with plenty room for growth. The hard disk is checked on a regular basis.

I will accept the answer anyway since I am in a good mood today. Thanks.

by erdo

Thanks for all the answers. As a result of me not providing some additional details, some answers had more merits than others.

Hence, all answers were accepted since they were provided in a good faith attempt.

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