Why a limited Account?

[mpyr]

Hi all,

I've been reading all the great information here for a while and I'm attempting my first unattended install for windows. It all works great and I followed the instructions on the website with great success. I do have a small problem that I cannot find addressed by previous forum posts.

I'm using MS Virutal PC to test my install setup and when I finish installing my setup I end up with a limited account instead of an administrator. I've read the website thoroughly and can't seem to figure this one out.

Here is my useraccounts.cmd file

net user User /add

net localgroup Administrators User /add

net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited

REGEDIT /S autologon.reg

EXIT

If someone can give me an idea why I end up with a limited account instead of an adminstrator one that would be great. I work for a computer retailer and I would like to have a unattended install to do the installs but I need to end up with an adminstrator account without a password as the default user.

Thanks in advance and for all the answers I've read here in the past.

mpyr.

[Alanoll]

is Administrators the way you spell it in your language version of Windows?

[mpyr]

Yes it is. I'm using an english version of windows. Regional settings, if they matter in this instance, are Canadian.

Thanks for the reply.

mpyr.

[minalgar]

Is the script processed? meaning is the User "User" added? And does the autologon work?

[mpyr]

Yes to both questions, the script is processed. I just end up with a User account that is limited and I have to go to safe mode to have access to an administrator account to make a new account that will have admin rights.

I tried doing some stuff with oobeinfo.ini but that didn't work either (tried it seperately and together with useraccounts.cmd.)

I'm kinda stuck at this point. Thanks for the replies.

mpyr

[prathapml]

I work for a computer retailer and I would like to have a unattended install to do the installs but I need to end up with an adminstrator account without a password as the default user.

And your case is perfectly suited for using the oobeinfo.ini method. Don't use the useraccounts.cmd method.

I still say it works perfectly fine, try reading through the entire thread (and spend an hour on experimenting with it is all it takes to get it working) - oobeinfo.ini usage

[Synapse]

ok.. just entered this into a Command Prompt.. and it made the user "User" and when going to the control panel it does say "Administrator" under the user "User".

however.....

I went to Run -> Control userpasswords2

and it says that the user "User" is in the users and administrators account as seen in the picture below.

now.. i think this will work.. but put this under "net localgroup Administrators User /add"

net localgroup users User /delete

*EDIT* Yeap it works, just waiting for imageshack to work so i can upload a pic lol

that will remove the user "User" from the users group and switch that account to "Administrators"

*thinks that should be mentioned in the unattended guide*

and 1 side tip.. insted of going to safe mode to access the Administrator account just press ctrl+alt+delete twice at the logon page. NOT A JOKE. it will bring up the classic log on box. B)

*anyone else see the word "user" way too many times in this topic lol*

Edited December 7, 2004 by Bi0haZarD

[mpyr]

Thanks all for your help. I got it working using a combination of things including the oobeinfo.ini and some edits to the winnt.sif file. I will post my sif file if anyone cares.

Thanks again.

mpyr.

[darksith88]

I would appreciate seeing your winnt.sif please. Thanks.

Could you also post your useraccounts.cmd file?

[Synapse]

Thanks all for your help. I  got it working using a combination of things including the oobeinfo.ini and some edits to the winnt.sif file. I will post my sif file if anyone cares.

Thanks again.

mpyr.

IF YOU POST YOUR WINNT.SIF PLEASE REMEMBER TO REMOVE YOUR CD-KEY!!!

sorry for the caps... had to grab attention

[darksith88]

I'm actually inerested in how you got this combo of oobeinfo and edits to the winnt.sif working, because i've been attempting to do that too.

[mpyr]

I'm not sure it this will help anyone but here are the files you requested. They work for me now.

useraccounts.cmd

net user "User" /add

net localgroup Administrators "User" /add

net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited

REGEDIT /S autologon.reg

EXIT

autologon.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]

"DefaultUserName"="User"

"DefaultPassword"=""

"AutoAdminLogon"="1"

winnt.sif

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]    AutoPartition=1

    MsDosInitiated="0"

    UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[unattended]

    UnattendMode=FullUnattended

    OemSkipEula=Yes

    OemPreinstall=Yes

    TargetPath=\WINDOWS

    Repartition=Yes

    Filesystem=NTFS

    UnattendSwitch="yes"

    WaitForReboot="No"   

[GuiUnattended]

    AdminPassword=*

    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO

    OEMSkipRegional=1

    TimeZone=35

    OemSkipWelcome=1

[userData]

    ProductKey=would'nt-you-like-to-know

    FullName="User"

    OrgName=""

    ComputerName=*

[TapiLocation]

    CountryCode=107

    Dialing=Tone

    AreaCode=807

[RegionalSettings]

    LanguageGroup=1

    Language=00001009

[Identification]

    JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]

    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

oobeinfo.ini

[UserInfo]Identity000="User"

I hope this helps someone because I have no idea why it works now but others should be able to explain it.

If anyone has any ideas about my other problem (I decided to make my life more interesting by adding drivers to my install) please check out this thread. Bashrat's Driver Pack Error message

[prathapml]

After taking a look at it, the reason why your useraccounts.cmd did not work is because you have quotes around the name of the user you wanted to create.

What you need to know about the command-line is that if your parameter (such as "USER NAME") has a space, only then you should add quote-characters around it. Otherwise, in your case where there was no spacing (you simply had it named User) the quotes is not needed.

[Cartoonite]

Actually, parthapml, he says the files do for him now.

I'm not sure it this will help anyone but here are the files you requested. They work for me now.

While you're right that the quotes are not needed if the user name parameter is a single string, they don't cause any problems either. Both of the following lines were able to create a user on my test machine:

net user cheshire /add

and

net user "cheshire" /add

There was no difference whether or not I included the quotes in the line to add the account to the Administrators group either.

My first thought was that maybe there was a conflict because of the specific name "User." For some reason I believed that WinXP had a built-in user account with that name. Since that turned out not to be the case, that quickly put an end to that theory.

I don't know what was causing the issue, but my testing reafirmed my belief that the presence (or lack thereof) of quotes when working with a username that is a single string shouldn't make a difference.

Just a thought, but I noticed that mpyr never posted his original autologon.reg file. Is it possible that omission of either of these two lines could have been the source of his trouble?

"DefaultPassword"=""
"AtuoAdminLogon"="1"

As I said, just a thought from someone who is admittedly still very new to this. Maybe this will give some of you more experienced players some ideas.

[darksith88]

Update: I got mine working now using the files mpyr posted. Thanks!