MCDST 70272: Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Microsoft Windows XP Ope

1
MCDST 70-272 Supporting Users and
Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a
Microsoft Windows XP Operating System
Chapter 4 Configure User-related Issues
2
Objectives

• Configure access to applications on multiuser
  computers
• Configure the operating system to support
  applications

3
Configuring Access to Applications on Multiuser
Computers

• Versions of Windows XP
• Windows XP Home
• Designed for usage in the Small Office Home
  Office (SOHO) setting
• Windows XP Professional
• Designed for usage in the corporate business
  environment

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Multiuser Desktop for SOHO Networks Using User
Accounts

• User accounts personalize Windows for each user
  who is sharing a computer
• User Accounts window
• Used to manage user accounts
• To access the window
• Click Start
• Point to Control Panel
• Click User Accounts

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Using User Accounts (continued)
Figure 4-1 User Accounts window
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Change an Account

• Click the Change an account link in the User
  Accounts window
• Choose the account that you wish to change from
  the Pick an account to change window
• Choose an action from the screen

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Change an Account (continued)
Figure 4-2 Pick an account to change screen
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Change an Account (continued)
Figure 4-3 What do you want to change about
user01s account? screen
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Create a New Account

• New Account wizard
• Started by clicking the Create a new account link
  in the User Accounts window
• Account types
• Computer administrator
• User can create, change, and delete accounts
  make system wide changes install programs and
  access all files
• Limited
• User can change or remove his or her own
  password, change desktop settings, view files,
  and view files in the Shared Documents folder

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Fast User Switching

• Fast User Switching allows users to switch among
  user accounts without closing programs

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Fast User Switching (continued)
Figure 4-5 Select logon and logoff options screen
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Fast User Switching (continued)

• When Fast User Switching is enabled, the user
  will see the following when he or she tries to
  log off
• Switch User
• Switch to any running user or log on to other
  users that are currently not running
• Log Off
• Log off the user account

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Multiuser Desktop for Corporate Networks

• In a corporate network
• Desktop is defined as the settings that control
  how the desktop appears
• Multiuser desktop is defined as individualized
  desktop settings for each one of the multiusers
• In a multiuser desktop, each user is provided a
  unique user name and password
• A user account may be a local account or a domain
  account

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Multiuser Desktop for Corporate Networks
(continued)

• With the multiuser desktop configuration on a
  computer, individual users can
• Modify Internet Explorer settings
• Modify the desktop settings, such as themes and
  screensavers
• Run installed applications
• Configure some Control Panel options, such as
  Display and Mouse

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Multiuser Desktop for Corporate Networks
(continued)

• With the multiuser desktop configuration on a
  computer, individual users may not be able to
• Use the Run command in the Start menu
• Add, remove, or configure hardware devices
• Change the settings of other users

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Problems with Logons

• Interactive logon
• The user logs on to a local computer at which he
  or she is seated
• Network logon
• The user logs on to a system that is running an
  operating system, such as Windows Server 2003, on
  a computer other than the one on which the user
  is logged

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Interactive Logon

• Local user account logon
• User logs on matching the user name and password
  in the local accounts database
• Only the resources on the local computer can be
  accessed
• Domain account logon
• User logs on matching the user name and password
  in the Active Directory
• Resources in the domain on any server in the
  domain can be accessed

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Interactive Logon (continued)
Figure 4-8 A Local user account compared to a
domain account
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Interactive Logon (continued)

• Components involved in the interactive logon
  process
• Winlogon
• Coordinates the security-related user
  interactions and then starts the Windows Explorer
  to display the desktop
• Graphical Identification and Authentication
  (GINA)
• Obtains the user name and password and passes it
  back to Winlogon the familiar logon dialog box
• Local Security Authority (LSA)
• Obtains the username and password and determines
  if the authentication will be against the local
  accounts database or the Active Directory

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Interactive Logon (continued)

• Components involved in the interactive logon
  process (continued)
• Security Account Manager (SAM)
• Accesses the local accounts database to verify
  the user name and password
• This accounts database would be on a local
  computer
• Active Directory
• Accesses the Active Directory to verify the user
  name and password
• This accounts database would be on a domain
  controller

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Interactive Logon (continued)
Figure 4-9 Components involved in an interactive
logon
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Network Logon

• In a network logon, the user is authenticated
  against the user accounts database on a network
  server
• After logon, the user is able to access resources
  on the network server

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Network Logon (continued)

• During a network logon
• LSA on the users computer presents the users
  credentials to the LSA on the server
• LSA on the server determines if the credentials
  match an entry on the local accounts database or
  the Active Directory
• If the credentials are acceptable and the user is
  authorized to access the resource, the resource
  is made available to the user

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Network Logon (continued)
Figure 4-10 Client presents credentials to the
server
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Logon Dialog Boxes

• Interactive logon dialog box
• Displayed for the user to enter the user name and
  password
• Types of interactive logon dialog boxes
• Two-line
• Contains entries for only user name and password
• Three-line
• Contains entries for user name, password, and
  domain name

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Using Strong Passwords

• Characteristics of a strong password
• Contains at least six characters
• Contains characters from each of these three
  groups
• Uppercase and lowercase letters (A, a, B, b, and
  so on)
• Numerals (0 through 9)
• Symbols (special characters such as !, _at_, , and
  so on)

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Using Strong Passwords (continued)

• Characteristics of a strong password (continued)
• Contains at least one symbol between the second
  through sixth positions
• Is significantly different from prior passwords
• Does not contain a name or user name
• Is not a common name or word

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Problems with User Profiles

• User profile
• A record maintained for the user of a computer
  system that contains the users personalization
  settings
• Local user profile
• Stored on the hard drive of the local computer
• Roaming user profile
• When the user logs off, the user profile is
  copied back to a file server
• As the users migrate from machine to machine, the
  desktop settings follow each user

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Problems with User Profiles (continued)

• Mandatory user profile
• Functions like a roaming profile but prohibits
  any changes to the profile to be saved on the
  file server
• Repairing a damaged profile
• When a users profile is damaged, the new profile
  created by Windows does not reflect the My
  Documents folder that was used by the damaged
  profile
• System Restore can be used to return the profile
  to a state prior to when the profile was damaged

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Configuring the Operating System to Support
Applications

• When Windows applications are installed, the
  program files are usually stored in subordinate
  folders to the C\Program Files folder
• The All Programs menu, which contains the program
  shortcuts, is located on the Start menu
• In Windows Explorer, when a document icon is
  clicked, the proper application will start to
  process the document
• Occurs because the file type is a registered file
  type
• Registered file type a file type associated with
  a particular application

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Location of Programs Files

• When troubleshooting application programs, you
  may need to locate the program files
• C\Program Files folder
• Contains separate folders for each program which
  hold the files for that program
• Some program developers may place the program
  files in an alternate location

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Location of Program Shortcuts on Start Menu

• On the Start menu, the All Programs menu contains
  the program shortcuts
• You can click a program shortcut to start the
  program
• To answer your users questions about the Start
  menu, you must learn how the Start menu is
  constructed

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Folders that Hold the Start Menu Shortcuts

• Start menu is built from the information in two
  folders
• For a user called User01, with a display name of
  First User, these folders would be
• C\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\
• Start menu entries for all users of the computer
• C\Documents and Settings\User01\Start Menu\
• Start menu entries for a specific user of the
  computer

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Folders that Hold the Start Menu Shortcuts
(continued)
Figure 4-15 Diagram of folder structure
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Folders that Hold the Start Menu Shortcuts
(continued)

• In the All Programs menu for the First User
• A line divides the menu
• The shortcuts above the line are sourced from the
  All Users folder
• The shortcuts below the line are sourced from
  either the All Users or User01 folders, with the
  ones sourced from the All Users folder coming
  first

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Folders that Hold the Start Menu Shortcuts
(continued)
Figure 4-19 All Programs menu for User01
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Register File Types

• You can open certain documents by double-clicking
  their icons from Windows Explorer
• When you double-click the icon, the application
  associated with that document starts and the
  document opens within the application

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Details View

• When you create and save a document, the
  application adds a file extension to the file
  name you typed
• You can see the file types in Windows Explorer by
  selecting Details from the View menu

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Details View (continued)
Figure 4-20 Windows Explorer in Details view
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Details View (continued)

• The Type column entry is built according to these
  rules
• If the file extension is registered and will be
  recognized by Windows XP, the corresponding file
  type is displayed
• If the file has an extension, but is not
  registered, its type is the extension itself
• If the file has no extension, its type is File

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View Existing Registered File Types

• To view existing file types
• Select Folder Options from the Tools menu in
  Windows Explorer
• When the File Types tab is selected, a list of
  registered file types is displayed

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View Existing Registered File Types (continued)
Figure 4-22 Registered file types for Microsoft
Word
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Create a New Registered File Type

• From the File Types tab of the Folder Options
  dialog box, you can choose
• New
• Creates a new association between a file
  extension and a file type
• Creates and registers a new file type with
  Windows
• Delete
• Removes the association between the selected
  extension and file type
• Deletes the extension from the list

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Create a New Registered File Type (continued)

• From the File Types tab of the Folder Options
  dialog box, you can choose (continued)
• Change
• Changes the program that opens files of this type
• Advanced
• Modifies the settings of the selected file type

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Create New Extension

• To create a new extension
• Select the New button from the File Types tab of
  the Folder Options dialog box to open the Create
  New Extension dialog box
• When creating a new extension, you must decide
  whether you want to
• Use an existing file type
• Create a new file type

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Disable Error Reporting

• You can configure error reporting to send only
  specified information or disable error reporting
• To access the Error Reporting dialog box
• Right-click My Computer on the Start menu
• Click Properties
• Click the Advanced tab
• Click the Error Reporting button

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Disable Error Reporting (continued)
Figure 4-28 Error Reporting dialog box
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Disable Error Reporting (continued)

• Options in the Error Reporting dialog box
• Disable error reporting
• But notify me when critical errors occur
• Enable error reporting
• Windows operating system
• Programs
• Choose Programs

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Summary

• With multiple user accounts on a home computer,
  you can implement Fast User Switching to rapidly
  switch between sets of running applications
• Windows XP supports different types of logons and
  logon dialog boxes
• Rules for strong passwords six or more
  characters, letters, numbers, and special
  characters, no common words
• User profiles retain your users customization
  from logon to logon

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Summary (continued)

• You can repair damaged profiles with a System
  Restore4
• To support applications, you must know where
  windows applications store program files, and how
  Windows XP constructs the Start menu
• With registered file types, your users open an
  application by clicking the file with a
  registered file extension
• By disabling Error Reporting, you can avoid
  sending personal information to Microsoft when a
  Windows program fails