Changing a username on 2003 Server

[Eggdog]

Hi, we have a "ghost user" on our Windows 2003 server: someone who used to come in and help my wife, but isn't here any more. I would just delete her account, except for one thing: our installation of Quicken only likes to print when we're logged on as her. (It's theoretically possible to print from my wife's account, but Quicken only remembers printer settings and location from Katherine's account. Quicken has many virtues, but it's not especially designed with home networks in mind.)I've noticed in Administrative Tools | Computer Management | Users and Groups that I can rename user accounts. If I renamed "katherine" to, say, "office," would the account retain all the settings? Or would renaming be more equivalent to starting all over again?This is the type of question that probably doesn't come up all that often in real-world situations; I never really had to think about it before.Thanks,Eddie

[Tushman]

Hi, we have a "ghost user" on our Windows 2003 server: someone who used to come in and help my wife, but isn't here any more. I would just delete her account, except for one thing: our installation of Quicken only likes to print when we're logged on as her. (It's theoretically possible to print from my wife's account, but Quicken only remembers printer settings and location from Katherine's account. Quicken has many virtues, but it's not especially designed with home networks in mind.)I've noticed in Administrative Tools | Computer Management | Users and Groups that I can rename user accounts. If I renamed "katherine" to, say, "office," would the account retain all the settings? Or would renaming be more equivalent to starting all over again?This is the type of question that probably doesn't come up all that often in real-world situations; I never really had to think about it before.Thanks,Eddie

Renaming the user account name should not wipe out all the settings.As I thought about some possible solutions to your problem, I first thought maybe a "run as" shortcut on your desktop would be good. e.g. runas /profile /user:ghost user "C:\Program Files\Quicken\Quicken.exe"(Quicken.exe might not be the actual executable. You'll need make sure the path and the executable file names are correct. Alternatively, if there is a shortcut on your desktop for Quicken, then right click and choose 'Properties'. In the target command line, you might be able to make it run as the ghost user by adding what I've got above in red text at the beginning of the line.It also occurred to me as I was typing this that you might be able to just copy all the file settings over to your wife's account. Copy what I've got between the lines into Notepad. Save it to your desktop or any other folder you'd like and give it a file name something like: copy settings. You should see "copy settings.txt" on your desktop. Change the file extension to *.bat and double click it to run.================================================================copy "C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Application Data\Quicken" *.*"C:\Documents and Settings\Kathleen\Application Data\Quicken"copy "C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Local Settings\Application Data\Quicken" *.*"C:\Documents and Settings\Kathleen\Local Settings\Application Data\Quicken"================================================================Make sure you change {username} to the actual name of the "ghost user" you referred to in your original post.

[Eggdog]

Thanks, that looks interesting and quite doable.A quick question about

runas /profile /user:ghost user "C:\Program Files\Quicken\Quicken.exe"

In that, the option /profile is literal, e.g.

runas /profile /user:katherine "C:\Program Files\Quicken\Quicken.exe"

I will check the name of the actual executable. It might be quickenw.exe or something.Thanks!Eddie

[Ed_P]

I run Quicken 2001 and the printer settings are stored in a file in the program's folder named WPR.ini. It's possible on your wife's id is a limited access account and thus restricted from updating files in the Program Files folder. Give her admin privileges let her set up the Quicken printer the way she wants then switch her access back to limited.

[Tushman]

Thanks, that looks interesting and quite doable.A quick question about

runas /profile /user:ghost user "C:\Program Files\Quicken\Quicken.exe"

In that, the option /profile is literal, e.g.

runas /profile /user:katherine "C:\Program Files\Quicken\Quicken.exe"

I will check the name of the actual executable. It might be quickenw.exe or something.Thanks!Eddie

I believe that the /profile switch is optional. But yes if you wanted to use it, you would type the actual word out as in the example I provided. And note that you actually want to run as "{name of the ghost user}" instead of Katherine. Has the actual "ghost user" account been deleted ?Ed P's idea might also work.

[Eggdog]

I believe that the /profile switch is optional. But yes if you wanted to use it, you would type the actual word out as in the example I provided. And note that you actually want to run as "{name of the ghost user}" instead of Katherine. Has the actual "ghost user" account been deleted ?Ed P's idea might also work.

In this case, Katherine is the "ghost user", that is, the person who used to help Sue but isn't here any more. I probably miscommunicated that in the earlier post. So I think I'd want to /runas Katherine?My wife (Sue) is an administrator, so that shouldn't be a factor.I think that Quicken and Windows 2003 Server have some mild relationship issues. We've run into a few instances of otherwise reputable programs running not quite as expected. I've never run Quicken on any other network-based installation, so I'm not sure if it's a 2003 issue or if Quicken doesn't like networks. (It's not a licensing or site issue.)Eddie

[Tushman]

In this case, Katherine is the "ghost user", that is, the person who used to help Sue but isn't here any more. I probably miscommunicated that in the earlier post. So I think I'd want to /runas Katherine?

Yes, Katherine is the one.

My wife (Sue) is an administrator, so that shouldn't be a factor.I think that Quicken and Windows 2003 Server have some mild relationship issues. We've run into a few instances of otherwise reputable programs running not quite as expected. I've never run Quicken on any other network-based installation, so I'm not sure if it's a 2003 issue or if Quicken doesn't like networks. (It's not a licensing or site issue.)Eddie

Your comment prompted me to do a quick Google search. I found this link that perhaps explains the problem. According to the link, you need to install a multi-user version of Quicken if you're going to install it on Windows 2003. http://www.itedge.net/blog/2006/01/30/inst...breaks-windows/Additionally, there is a forum for Quicken users. You might want to post your question if the Runas method does not work out for some reason.

[Eggdog]

Thanks for all your help!Sorry if I've been acting overly insecure, but (a) I don't actually use the server that much except for storage, and ( my wife's patience with my computer capers has its limits, especially if I'm getting too near our more important records. I'll give all this a try this weekend.Eddie

[Eggdog]

Just to let you know, changing the name of the user worked just fine. Oddly, Windows let me do that, but wouldn't let me change the password without warning me that I was going to lose some settings and data. I went ahead, and I probably did lose something, but I haven't missed it yet, and Quicken prints perfectly.So thanks -- everything's good now.Eddie